Learn French with a podcast. This clip from Balades ep. 1 has 42 words in 19 seconds. How much do you understand? Try a transcription quiz with us!
Learn French with a podcast snippet! This clip is from Balades Episode 1. Listen and fill in what you hear below. Read more and find a translation below. Find the full podcast here.
Tally it up…
Let’s continue with lesson 16. I am definitely one of those foreign visitors who thinks that la bise is quite an art.
Especially when you tally it up and it’s 200+ kisses in a day. Fortunately I don’t work anywhere with that many people. Or in France.
Overall I found this clip reasonable. Isabelle’s pace if not rapid, about 2 words per second means even at my level I’m able to follow along.
That said, a couple words and phrases in this clip threw me for a loop. The way that “mp” turns into “n” in the word compte is remarkable, and fits with the word’s meaning in English. I was surprised by the words “ainsi” and “peuvent penser” – especially that penser seems to rhyme with Francais so closely.
These clips make me think the French language is an art, just like la bise.
How much of this snippet are you understanding?
Can you only hear the articles or are you catching keywords?
What’s your favorite part about this?
There’s absolutely no way that I could get through an entire podcast in French without melting my brain, that’s why I broke it up into snippets like this. Join me for the next snippet.
The snippet in English
Find a translation of this snippet here, how much of this did you hear?
Faites le compte : vous arrivez ainsi très vite à 100, 150, 200 bises et même plus… A propos de bises : En France, faire la bise est tout un art. C’est en tout cas ce que certains visiteurs étrangers peuvent penser.
Take the count: you quickly arrive at 100, 150, 200 kisses and even more … About kisses: In France, kissing is quite an art. In any case, this is what some foreign visitors may think.
The above text courtesy of Google Translate. Source
What does “faites le compte” mean in French?
“Faites le compte” is a French phrase that translates to “do the math” or “work it out” in English. It’s used to indicate that someone needs to calculate or figure out something. It’s often used as an instruction to someone else to perform a calculation or to imply that the answer is easily obtained by simple arithmetic.
Examples:
“Le prix est de 10€ le kilo, faites le compte pour savoir combien cela va vous coûter” (The price is 10€ per kilo, do the math to know how much it will cost you)
“Il y a 20 personnes dans la salle, faites le compte pour savoir combien de chaises il faut” (There are 20 people in the room, work it out to know how many chairs you need)
“Il y a 10% de réduction, faites le compte pour savoir combien vous économisez” (There’s a 10% discount, do the math to know how much you save)
In general, “faites le compte” is used as an instruction or suggestion to someone to perform a calculation or to imply that the answer is easily obtained by simple arithmetic. It’s a way to encourage someone to think and calculate something by themselves.
What words did I look up in this snippet?
Find keywords for this snippet below, from fr.wiktionary.org or Wikipedia.
faites le compte
ainsi
très vite
même plus
cas ce que
peuvent
What did you love about this?
Comment below with your feedback! Tells us what you think. Send a note or leave a comment below. We appreciate the feedback. Also, we’re always looking for partners to build this site and grow the content available.
