Improve your ear for French with this clip from the Balades podcast. It’s 53 words in 18 seconds. How many can you hear and understand?
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.
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Why this bit of Balades?
I am continuing to work my way through this first podcast one bite at a time. We’ll get through it eventually. I love this, like I love the first episode form Manger – the “why am I doing this whole thing” thing. We get a glimpse into their meaning and reasons for starting the podcast and why they’ve set it up this way. Even if it’s just a sentence, it’s still a juicy nugget of inspiration. And that’s exactly what this snippet from Isabelle is saying to me.
She is setting this series up to be a wandering in her memory, a meandering dialogue to explore. And this is often how my brain works, so it’s good to know I can understand when someone else is doing the same thing in French. Does your mind wander or are you to the point?
I found this section pretty challenging on the elementary level. My ear for differentiating en and un and une is still learning. That and the pace with which she says the section after eh bien really threw me for a loop. I think I listened to this one 10 or so times through before I finally got it! Now on to intermediate…
How much of this snippet are you understanding?
Can you only hear the articles or are you catching keywords?
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?
Pourquoi le titre « Balades » pour ce podcast ? Eh bien, tout simplement parce que j’ai envie de vous emmener en balade dans des villes et régions de France et de vous raconter des histoires qui se promènent dans ma mémoire. Et puis on verra bien où toutes ces balades nous mèneront…
Why the title “Balades” for this podcast? Well, quite simply because I want to take you for a walk in cities and regions of France and to tell you stories that roam in my memory. And then we’ll see where all these walks will take us …
The above text courtesy of Google Translate. Source
Keywords from the snippet?
Find keywords for this snippet below.
parce que
j’ai envie
emmener
raconter
où
mèneront
What does “balades” mean in French?
“Balades” is a French word that means “walks” or “strolls” in English. It refers to the act of going out for a walk or a leisurely walk in a park or a countryside. It can also be used to refer to a trip or an excursion that’s taken on foot or by bike.
Examples:
“J’aime faire des balades le week-end” (I like to take walks on the weekends)
“Il y a de belles balades dans les montagnes” (There are beautiful walks in the mountains)
“Nous avons fait une balade en bateau” (We took a boat ride)
In the context of podcasts, it might be referring to a podcast where the host takes you on a virtual walk, describing the sights, sounds and stories from a certain place. It can also be used in the context of music, referring to a genre of music characterized by its slow and peaceful melody and lyrics.
In general, the word “balades” is used to indicate an activity that is enjoyable, relaxing and allows you to appreciate the scenery around you.
What did you love about this clip?
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Hey,
Just a heads-up the last box doesn’t fill properly due to the ellipsis I think
This should be fixed. thank you!