Thank you for listening to Fluent French Audio! In Transcript B, we have included a word-forword translation of your CD or cassette.

This will help you spend more time listening and less time thumbing through your French dictionary. Our translation is unique: rather than telling you what an English speaker would have said, we aim for a semi-literal translation that makes the French speakers word choice and sentence structure clear. We underline individual words that cannot be translated literally and groups of words that need to be understood as a whole. However, we do not underline common expressions that intermediate learners will recognize, such as tout le monde and aprs-midi. We hope you enjoy listening to these recordings as much as we enjoy bringing them to you! Sincerely,

mai juin 2004 CONTENTS

Article 1: La Bise Martin Venzal speaks with Agns, Audrey, Stphanie and Vincent about that famous French custom, the kiss on the cheek to say hello. section/track # 1 - 13 page 1 - 31 Article 2: LAstrologue Irne Andrieu is a well-known astrologer. She spoke with Pierre-Guillaume Calvet about her work. section/track # 14 23 pages 33 - 50 Article 3: Les formules de vacances Sandra Artor speaks with Vronique Lopez about the different types of lodgings available to tourists in France. section/track # 24 - 31 pages 51 - 65 Article 4: Souvenirs de guerre Clmence Saint-Georges interviews her father, JeanNol Mathieu. He was 10 when the Second World War started and has vivid memories of the period. section/track # 32 - 41 pages 67 - 89 Article 5: Rgisseur de cinma Philippe Rebbot is a film production manager. He spoke with Nathalie Faucher about his experiences in the French film industry. section/track # 42 - 50 pages 91 - 113

Galle Domon, Editor

David Tolman, Publisher

Toll free 1-888-259-9601 contact@fluentfrench.com

Mai Juin 2004

La bise 1

SECTION 1 Bonjour ! La rdaction vous souhaite une Hello ! The editorial staff wishes you a bonne rception de votre exemplaire de Fluent French Audio good reception of your copy of Fluent French Audio des mois de mai et juin 2004. for the months of May and June, 2004.
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Le crmonial des salutations lors de rencontres The ritual of greetings upon meeting people se pratique de manires diverses et varies, et parfois is practiced in ways that are diverse and varied and, sometimes, trs surprenantes, dans le monde. very surprising in the world. Cest le cas en France ; Martin Venzal, journaliste, That is the case in France; Martin Venzal, a journalist, va nous clairer sur les pratiques en usage dans l'Hexagone.1 will enlighten us on the practices in use in the Hexagon. SECTION 2 La France, pays du toucher, du tactile et du bisou.2 France, country of touch, of tactile experiences and of the kiss. La bise, ce fameux crmonial qui peut prendre parfois The kiss, this famous ritual that can take sometimes plusieurs minutes et qui ponctue la journe quand vous several minutes and which punctuates the day when you rencontrez une personne que vous connaissez. meet a person whom you know.

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lHexagone : France. This is a reference to Frances 6-sided shape. le bisou : also called la bise, which is colloquial for le baiser (the kiss.) La bise et le bisou always refer to a kiss on the cheek. La bise is the standard word, and le bisou is more often used with children. (Father to child as he drops the child off at school: Tu me fais un bisou? = You give me a kiss?).

Fluent French Audio

Mai Juin 2004

La bise 3

On sembrasse, on senlace, parfois mme quand We kiss, we hug, sometimes even when
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on ne connat pas forcment, et pourtant, il y a autant de we dont necessarily know (people), and, yet, there are as many faons de dire bonjour que de1 rgions franaises. ways to say hello as there are French regions. Tout le monde ne sembrasse pas de la mme faon, et Everybody does not kiss in the same way and
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Agns

les codes sont parfois difficiles deviner, mme pour the protocol is often difficult to guess, even for un Franais. Et pour compliquer encore davantage, la bise a Frenchman. And to complicate (things) even more, the kiss nest pas systmatique, loin sen faut.2 Beaucoup prfrent is not systematic, far from that. Many prefer serrer la main, ou tout simplement marquer leur distance. to shake hands or quite simply to keep some distance. Ainsi Agns se prte au3 rituel de la bise, mais elle Thus Agns practices the ritual of the kiss, but she naime gure4 cet exercice impos. hardly likes this imposed exercise.
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SECTION 3 Agns, bonjour. Agns, hello Bonjour, Martin. Hello, Martin. Alors, tu es originaire1 du nord de la France, Well, you are originally from the north of France, ct de2 Lille. Tu as vingt-six ans. Comment on dit near Lille. You are 26 years old. How do they say bonjour du ct du nord3 de la France ? hello in the area of the north of France?
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Alors, dj,4 cest trois bises. Et donc, ben,5 moi, Well, in the first place, its three kisses. And so, well, me,

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autant de... que de... = as many... as... loin sen faut : an idiom meaning far from that. se prter = to lend oneself to; to go along with. See an example of se prter au jeu on page 8. gure = hardly; scarcely.

tre originaire de... = to come from... (a city, a province, etc.) ct de = near; next to. le ct = the side. See page 16 for an example of un ct used as an aspect. Compare ct de Lille (near Lille) to ct Reims (nearby in Reims; next door in Reims) on page 72. du ct de = over there in, somewhere around. dj : literally, already. In this context, it carries the meaning, in the first place, to start with. The reason the speaker needs to specify this is that she is being interviewed in the Southwest, at Toulouse, where people normally give two kisses. (Martin asks Audrey about this on page 11.) ben : an informal version of bien. See page 6 for an example of eh ben.

Fluent French Audio

Mai Juin 2004

La bise

mon avis et peut-tre que je me trompe1 , je trouve que in my opinion and perhaps I am mistaken I find that dans le nord de la France on est plus chaleureux.2 On dit in the north of France people show more warmth. We say souvent cest peut-tre un lieu commun3 quon a le soleil often it is perhaps commonplace that we have the sun dans le cur, celui quon na pas dans le ciel,4 et je trouve in our hearts, the one that we dont have in the sky, and I think quil y a plus de chaleur dans les changes dans le Nord que that there is more warmth in the exchanges in the north than
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de demander des nouvelles, de sintresser lautre, voil, of asking about others, of showing interest in others, thats it, dans une approche o on peut-tre on va tre in an approach where we perhaps we are going to be plus curieux de lautre, on va aller plus vers lui, on va, enfin,1 more interested in others, we will go more toward him, we go, I mean, on va vers lautre, quoi,2 plus que dans le Sud, mon avis. we go toward the other, in short, more than in the south, in my opinion. Alors, tu parles de la bise, justement.3 a, cest Well, you speak of the kiss, in fact. That, is un crmonial4 quon a surtout quand on est jeune. a ritual that we have mostly when we are young. Est-ce que a continue aprs ? Does that continue afterwards? Ben, mon avis, pas. Tu parles dun crmonial, Why, in my opinion, not. You speak of a ritual,
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peut-tre dans le Sud, dans le grand Sud, voil. perhaps in the south, in the deep south, there you have it.
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Cest mon opinion, en tout cas. Thats my opinion, in any case. Cest une chaleur It is a warmth qui peut se traduire5 comment ? that can be expressed how ?
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cest vrai que pour moi dans les annes collge et peut-tre its true that for me in my junior high school years and perhaps encore au lyce, cest le crmonial du matin, cest--dire still in high school, it is the morning ritual, that is to say se saluer, a prend plusieurs heures, voil. Mais je pense greeting one another, that takes several hours, thats it. But I think

Ben, peut-tre par des changes plus chaleureux, Why, perhaps through friendlier exchanges, au-del de la bise, dans la faon de se saluer, beyond the kiss, in the way of greeting one another,

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se tromper = to be mistaken. See pages 42 and 75 for other examples of se tromper. Compare to tromper quelquun = to trick someone; to mislead someone; to cheat on someone. See page 44 for an example of someone being fooled (tromp) by something. chaleureux = warm. la chaleur = heat. un lieu commun = a common expression; a common argument; a commonly held tenet. The speaker means that people in the north of France dont have the sun in the sky, but they do have it in their heart. se traduire par quelque chose = to be conveyed by something; to be expressed by something. Compare to traduire (to translate).

enfin : literally, at last, finally. Often introduces a correction to ones own words. Depending upon context, one might translate enfin as in short', actually, I mean, or well. quoi : literally, what. Often used to finish a thought. Can be translated variously as you know, in short, etc. justement : Note that justement and effectivement usually refer to something that was said or implied previously. justement carries the meaning of yes, precisely; in point of fact. effectivement carries the meaning of yes, in fact, as was mentioned earlier. See page 6 for an example of effectivement. un crmonial = a rite, a ritual.

Fluent French Audio

Mai Juin 2004

La bise

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qu lge adulte, eh ben, on met une distance raisonnable that as an adult, well, we put a reasonable distance
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respect, en fait, marquer le respect envers la personne ainsi. respect, in fact, to show respect for the person in that way. Et a peut se traduire avec des personnes que And that can be expressed with persons whom tu connais et galement avec des personnes you know and also with persons, que tu [ne] connais pas ? whom you dont know?
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avec les autres et que cest quelque chose qui (between ourselves and) others and that it is something that se perd,1 enfin, moi, que jai perdu en tout cas, par, gets lost, I mean, me, that I have lost, in any case out of, peut-tre, respect, ou voil. Je ne sais pas, mais je trouve perhaps, respect or thats it. I dont know, but I find
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que a se perd, effectivement. that it disappears, yes indeed. Du coup,2 comment a se traduit quand tu dis As a result, how does that get expressed when you say bonjour ? Est-ce quil y a hello. Is there
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Avec des amis, fin, mme si japprcie normment With friends, I mean, even if I am very fond of mes amis, la bise, pour moi, c[e n]est pas, c[e n]est pas my friends, the kiss, for me, it is not, it is not un impratif. Et alors, qui plus est quand cest quelquun que a necessity. And also, whats more, when it is someone whom je [ne] connais pas, je naime pas particulirement ce ce I dont know, I dont like particularly thisthis cette manie qui consiste , quand on rencontre quelquun, this habit that consists of, when you meet someone, quon fait la bise quelquun quon connat dj, enfin, that you give a kiss to someone that you already know, I mean...

une attitude particulire ? a specific attitude? Moi, je prfre des changes plus lointains, Me, I prefer more distant exchanges, cest--dire un respect, fin,3 me tenir plus loin de that is to say, a respect, I mean, to keep myself further from la personne, lui parler, certes, la saluer, mais de loin, the person, to speak to him, yes, to greet him, but from a distance, sans mapprocher delle forcment et aller sa rencontre without coming near him, necessarily, and going to meet him pour lembrasser. Moi, je prfre la distance, toujours, un to kiss him. Me, I prefer distance, always, a

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se perdre = to get lost; to disappear. Du coup = so; as a result. Literally, from the strike, the hit, the blow. le coup = the strike, the hit, the blow. See pages 106 and 111 for other examples. fin : short for enfin.

Fluent French Audio

Mai Juin 2004

La bise

tre sur la route,1 en fait, faire partie du lot,2 et se retrouver to be next in line in fact, to be part of the group and to find yourself
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quelquun vient te faire la bise ? someone comes to give you a kiss? Oui, je [ne] le rejette pas, mais cest vrai que Yes, I dont reject them, but its true that je vais peut-tre marquer une distance ou une surprise qui I am going perhaps to keep some distance or (show) some surprise that qui [ne] sera pas forcment plaisante pour that will not be necessarily pleasant for

embrass(e) par quelquun quon connat peine,3 en fait, kissed by someone whom you hardly know, in fact, a, je cest quelque chose que je naime pas, that, I it is something that I dont like, sans tre pourtant asociale ou quoi que ce soit, without being nevertheless anti-social or anything,

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mais japprcie a modrment,4 voil. but it is not really my cup of tea, thats it. a veut dire5 que That means that tu te prtes quand mme au jeu6 quand you play along nevertheless when

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mon interlocuteur. the other person. Donc la bise nest pas obligatoire ? So the kiss is not a necessity ? Ah non, non, vraiment pas, pour moi, pas du tout. Ah no, no, certainly not, for me, not at all.
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Merci, Agns. Thank you, Agns. Merci, Martin. Thank you, Martin. SECTION 4 Pour une premire rencontre, donc, mieux vaut1 For a first meeting, then, it is better

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tre sur la route : this is not a common expression. Literally, to be on the road; to be in the road (as the person who is giving kisses to all of the members of a group passes by.) In English speaking countries, it is common to see one person approach a group and shake hands with one or two members of the group and acknowledge others with a nod and a hello or simply wait until later to say hello if the other members of the group are engaged in conversation. In France, it is common to see one person who meets a group take the time to shake the hands or give a kiss to every member of the group. On a different note, a French person does not give a hello handshake or kiss to the same person twice in one day. If he has already greeted one of the members of the group, he will skip that person, perhaps saying, On sest dj dit bonjour. (Weve already said hello.) faire partie de quelque chose = to be part of something. une partie = a part. un lot = a batch, a set, a lot. See another example of faire partie de on page 29. peine = hardly, barely. Literally, with difficulty. la peine = 1) the sorrow, the sadness, 2) the effort, the difficulty, 3) the penalty, the punishment. modrment : literally, moderately; only a little bit. vouloir dire = to mean. Literally, to want to say. se prter quelque chose = to lend oneself to something; to go along with something. se prter au jeu = to play along; to play the game. le jeu = the game. prter = to lend. Compare to prter on page 10.

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serrer la main, sauf pour la famille. En famille, la bise est to shake hands, except in the family. In a family, the kiss is presque systmatique, on sembrasse entre filles, almost systematic, girls kiss each other, on sembrasse entre filles et garons, et mme parfois entre boys and girls kiss each other, and even sometimes between

mieux vaut... = it is better...; it is safer... vaut is a form of valoir (to be worth) mieux = better. See other examples of this construction on pages 21, 54, 62, and 99.

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garons. On embrasse les enfants sur le front ou les deux boys. People kiss children on the forehead or both joues, et mme les personnes ges apprcient le contact cheeks and even older people appreciate the contact du bonjour , ce fameux poutou comme on dit dans of the hello, this famous poutou as they say in le sud de la France. Et au bureau ? Au bureau, pas toujours the south of France. And at the office? At the office, not always

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Alors comment on dit bonjour dans le sud-ouest Well, how do you say hello in the southwest de la France ? of France? On se fait deux bises pour dire bonjour . We give each other two kisses to say hello. Est-ce que cest un crmonial qui volue ? It is a ritual that evolves?

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facile de dire bonjour sans prter parfois 1 quivoque. easy to say hello without creating some ambiguity. Audrey, jeune Parisienne, prfre rester prudente. Audrey, a young Parisian, prefers to remain cautious.

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Est-ce que, par exemple, lorsque tu tais lcole, For example, when you were in school, tu faisais la bise systmatiquement ? did you give kisses systematically ? Non, pas du tout mme, hein. On se fait la bise No, not at all, really, you know. We give each other kisses
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depuis quand on devient adulte ou au lyce, au moins, since when we become an adult, or in high school, at least, voil, minimum au lyce. there it is, at least in high school.

Audrey.

SECTION 5 Audrey, bonjour. Audrey, hello.

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Daccord. Dans ton cadre1 professionnel, All right. In your professional environment, a se passe comment ? how does that go ? Je [ne] fais pas la bise, justement, quand jarrive I dont give a kiss, actually, when I arrive au boulot.2 Je la fais partir du moment o je connais les at work. I do it from the moment when I know the gens, voil. ce moment-l seulement, uniquement. people, thats it. At that moment only, solely.
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Bonjour. Hello. Alors, tu as vingt-sept ans. Tu es originaire de, Well, you are 27 years old. You are originally from, de Paris, mais tu es Toulousaine depuis vingt ans. from Paris but you have been a Toulouse resident for 20 years.

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prter quelque chose = to give rise to; to lend itself to; to lead to. prter = to lend. Compare to se prter on page 2.

un cadre = 1) a frame, 2) a framework, an environment, 3) an executive; a manager. le boulot (colloquial) = the job; the work.

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Mai Juin 2004

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Je trouve que c'est un rapport un peu de proximit, donc, I find that it is a relation of proximity, so to speak, so je [ne] la fais pas tout le monde. I do not do it with everybody. Donc la bise nest pas systmatique au bureau ? So, the kiss is not systematic at the office ?
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Quest-ce que tu penses, justement, de What do you think, in fact, about ce crmonial de la bise ? this ritual of the kiss? Ben, en mme temps, jy suis habitue1 depuis Why, at the same time, I have been used to it for tellement de temps que a [ne] me choque plus, voil. so long that that no longer shocks me, there you have it. Parce que a ta choque, un moment ? Because that shocked you, at one time? Non, non, pas du tout. Cest, cest mme rentr,2 No, no, not at all. It is, it has even sunk in, cest presque systmatique, donc je [ne] me pose mme pas it is almost systematic, so I do not even ask myself

Non, elle [n]est pas du tout systmatique, non. No, it is not at all systematic, no. Une fois1 quil y a une bonne entente 2 et que je connais Once there is a good relationship and I know bien les gens, pourquoi pas, oui. the people well, why not, yes. Et entre amis ? And between friends?

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Entre amis, tout le temps. En se disant bonjour , Between friends, all the time. When we say hello on se fait la bise ; et en se disant au revoir , we give each other a kiss and when we say good-bye on se fait la bise aussi. we give each other a kiss also.
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la question de [ne] pas faire la bise ou pas. the question of whether or not to give the kiss. Il y a seulement au boulot o il y a un petit, It is only at work that there is a small, un petit dcalage,3 mais a sarrte l. a bit of hesitancy, but that stops there.
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Donc l, par contre, cest systmatique ? So there, on the other hand, it is systematic? L, cest systmatique, oui. Cest deux bises There it is systematic, yes. It is two kisses pour dire bonjour , deux bises pour se dire au revoir . to say hello, two kisses to say good-bye.

Donc, lorsque tu rencontres une personne dans So, when you meet a person in ton cadre professionnel, your professional environment,

une fois que... = once... (one thing has happened...) Une fois quil a son permis, il pourra conduire. (Once he has his license, he will be able to drive.) la fois = the time. See pages 103 and 108 for other examples of une fois que, page 55 for an example of la fois, (at the same time; at once) and page 38 for an example of chaque fois (each time; at each instance.) lentente (f) = harmony; agreement; understanding.

tre habitu quelque chose = to be accustomed to something. habituer quelquun quelque chose/ faire quelque chose = to accustom someone to something/to doing something. lhabitude = habit; custom. rentrer = to enter, to re-enter. She means that it has become part of the daily routine. a rentre ? = Are you getting it? (This can be asked when a person is studying for a test. Literally, Is the information getting into your head?) un dcalage = a gap; an interval; a discrepancy.

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Fluent French Audio

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est-ce quil tarrive1 plutt de serrer la main ? do you end up shaking hands instead? Oui, dans ce cadre-l, oui, quand je vais, donc, Yes, in that environment, yes, when I go, then, rencontrer une personne pour linterviewer,2 je serre la main, to meet a person to interview him, I shake hands, oui. Je [ne] fais pas la bise. yes. I do not give a kiss. Est-ce que t[u]as eu dj des anecdotes ou Have you ever had episodes or
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jai fait la bise aux deux, et jai vu la dame repartir I gave a kiss to both of them and I saw the lady leave comme si [de] rien ntait,1 donc jai pos la question : as if nothing was wrong, so I asked the question: Mais tu connais cette dame ? C[e n]est pas ta mre ? ; Why, do you know this lady? This is not your mother? Non, non, cest une passante de la rue , bon, voil. No, no, that was a passer-by on the street, okay, thats it. Et donc, finalement, la, la bise sest faite. And so, in the end, the, the kiss was given.
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des situations o tu tais un petit peu mal laise situations in which you were a little bit ill at ease par rapport ce fameux crmonial de la bise ? in connection with this famous ritual of the kiss? Oui, a mest arriv, donc, de faire la bise des gens Yes, it happened to me, then that I gave a kiss to people
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Elle a rendu la bise ? She gave the kiss back? Oui, exactement. Un peu surprise, elle tait, la dame, Yes, exactly. A little surprised, she was, the lady, mais moi jai rougi, et puis bon, but me, I blushed, and then, okay, cest pass comme une lettre la poste.2 it went without a hitch. Daccord. Bon, merci Audrey. All right. Well, thank you, Audrey. Mais de rien. Why, you are welcome. SECTION 6

que je [ne] connaissais pas du tout, donc, en fait, il y a whom I did not know at all, so, in fact, there are Jai rencontr une copine qui tait accompagne dune I ran into a friend who was accompanied by a passante quelle avait rencontre dans la rue, passer-by that she had met on the street qui lui demandait son chemin,3 et donc who was asking her for directions, and so, elles sont venues me voir toutes les deux, et they came to see me, both of them and

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Trois bises dans le Nord, quatre dans le Centre, Three kisses in the North, four in the Center, deux dans le midi de la France, two in the South of France,

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arriver quelquun = to happen to someone. arriver = to happen. See pages 14, 26, 35, 40, and 43 for other examples of arriver quelquun. Audrey is a journalist. demander son chemin quelquun = to ask someone for directions. un chemin = a path.

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comme si de rien ntait = as if nothing was wrong, just like that. comme une lettre la poste : a common expression, meaning very easily, very smoothly, without a hitch. Literally, like a letter through the post office.

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il y a de quoi en perdre son latin.1 la Runion, its enough to confuse a person. In the island of Runion se dire bonjour le matin peut mme amener une saying hello in the morning can even lead to an
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Alors, comment tu dis bonjour , finalement, So, how do you say hello finally, Stphanie ? Stphanie ?
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dbauche des sens. La chaleur des les, sans doute. orgy of the senses. The heat of the islands, without a doubt. Stphanie, qui est dorigine runionnaise, reconnat que Stphanie, who is originally from Runion, admits that sa faon de saluer est parfois dstabilisante. her way of greeting can be unsettling, at times.

Alors, quand je dis bonjour , Well, when I say hello, je fais primer1 le contact, donc, cest--dire, jai tendance I emphasize physical contact, so, that is to say, I have a tendency to mettre une main sur lpaule de la personne laquelle je dis put a hand on the shoulder of the person to whom I say bonjour . Et la plupart des gens, quand ils font la bise, hello. And most people, when they give a kiss, ils font le bruit de la bise, mais ils ne font pas vraiment they make the sound of the kiss, but they do not give really la bise. Moi, je fais vraiment la bise, je cest peut-tre a kiss. Me, I really give a kiss, I it is perhaps

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Stphanie

SECTION 7
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j[e n]sais pas comment dire, je dirais, pas tendancieux2 ou I dont know how to say, I would say, not suggestive or
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Stphanie, bonjour. Stphanie, hello. Bonjour. Hello. Tu as vingt-sept ans, tu es originaire de You are 27 years old, you are originally from la Runion.2 Et justement cette origine-l te donne Runion. And indeed, this provenance gives you

ambigu, mais voil, une bise, cest une vraie bise, ambiguous, but thats it, a kiss, its a real kiss, cest--dire on pose les lvres sur la joue de la personne, that is to say you put your lips on the cheek of the person et voil. et there you are.
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Et on fait un gros smack ? And you make a big smack?

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un petit ct particulier quand tu dis bonjour . a little particular aspect when you say hello.
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perdre son latin : literally, to lose (to forget) ones Latin. The French way to conveying the notion that they are confused. la Runion : a dpartement franais doutre mer, in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar.

primer = to come first, to take precedence; to be the dominant feature. faire primer = to emphasize something; to put the accent on something. tendancieux = tendentious, biased, manifesting an unexpressed idea or intellectual or ideological tendency.

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Voil. Un vrai pas seulement le bruit , qui est Youve got it. A real not just the sound which is vraiment un, un don, quoi, quand on fait la bise, really a, a gift, you know, when you give a kiss,
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mais pas forcment tout de suite. Donc je veux aussi but not necessarily right away. So I want also faire comprendre1 ds le dpart que, bon, voil, jai besoin to make it clear from the beginning that, here you are, I need de connatre les personnes, un contact, c[e n]est pas to know the persons, a contact, it is not quelque chose danodin, fin, vu2 la faon dont je fais something trivial, I mean, given the way in which I do dont je donne mon bonjour , c[e n]est quand mme pas in which I say my hello, it is not actually
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quand on dit bonjour . when you say hello. Comment ragissent-elles, les personnes How do they react, the persons qui tu dis bonjour de cette manire ? to whom you say hello in this way? Alors, a dpend du sexe de ces personnes. Well, that depends on the sex of those persons.

anodin. Donc, quand je [ne] connais pas la personne, trivial. So when I do not know the person, je tends la main, cest un contact galement, mais voil I extend my hand, it is a contact also, but, there it is Et cest ce moment-l aussi quil y a quelque chose And it is at that point also that there is something (that is) dun peu paradoxal qui se passe, cest--dire les gens a bit paradoxical that happens, that is to say the people qui sont prompts faire la bise et qui voient devant eux who are quick to give a kiss and who see before them une main tendue, ce moment-l, ce sont eux qui sont an extended hand, at that point, it is they who are tonns, voil. surprised, thats it.

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En gnral, la gent masculine1 nest pas enfin, j[e n]ai pas In general, men are not I mean I have not eu de problmes Cest plutt pour les femmes que a fait had problems It is rather for women that that seems un petit peu bon voil. Cest un peu c[e n]est pas a little bit okay, there it is. It is a little it is not

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toujours forcment bien accueilli, mme si j[e n]'ai jamais always necessarily well received, even though I have never vraiment eu de problmes, voil. really had problems. There you have it. Quand tu rencontres des personnes que tu When you meet persons whom you
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ne connais pas, est-ce que le crmonial est le mme ? do not know, is it that the ritual is the same? Ah non, videmment. Non, je suis familire, Ah, no, obviously. No, I am informal,

SECTION 8 Est-ce quil y a des codes particuliers Is there a specific protocol

la gent masculine = men. la gent = the race; the tribe. See another example on page 24. la gent fminine = the fair sex; women.

faire comprendre quelque chose = to make something clear, to make something understood. vu = considering. vu (seen) is the past participle of voir (to see.)

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21

dans le au moment de faire la bise, in the at the point of giving a kiss, ou tout simplement, plus gnralement, or, quite simply, more generally,
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on fait la bise, et a se rsume1 un coup de joue,2 you give a kiss and it is reduced to a touch of the cheek, boum, boum, et, et c[e n]est pas il [n]y a pas boom, boom, and, and it is not there is not la gnrosit du bonjour . the generosity of the hello. Donc le bonjour se perd un petit peu dans So the hello gets lost a little bit in les habitudes ? the routine? Oui, moi je pense, oui. 'fin, en tout cas, fin, Yes, me, I think so, yes, I mean, anyway, I mean [il] vaut mieux,3 au moins, faire tendre une main, hein, it is better, at least, to do to extend a hand, you know, au moins chaleureuse que de faire une bise par simple (which is) at least warm, than to give a kiss as a mere
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au moment de dire bonjour ? at the time of saying hello? Je dirais pas des codes ou alors, fin, cest le contexte I would say not codes or else, I mean, it is the context qui ce moment-l est codifi, mais cest vrai que which at that moment is codified, but its true that
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le crmonial peut tre inflchi1 en fonction de la situation, the ritual can be modified depending on the situation, cest certain, quoi. Aussi, en fonction de lmotivit that is certain, you know. Also, depending on the emotionalism Des codes, je [ne] sais pas, je pense en fait quil y a (Are there) codes? I dont know, I think in fact that there are plusieurs contextes, quil soit formel ou informel. Quand il est several contexts, whether it is formal or informal. When it is formel, on a plus tendance tendre la main ou , rduire formal, you have rather a tendency to offer your hand or to, to minimize laspect sensuel du bonjour . Quand il est informel, on est the sensual aspect of the hello. When it is informal you are davantage2 amical, il y a une plus grande gnrosit qui more of a friend, there is a greater generosity that
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formalit, voil. Parce que cest moi, je trouve que cest un formality, thats it. Because it is me, I find that it is a geste qui rapproche, qui donne pas mal, quoi, gesture which brings people together, which gives a lot, you know, fin, qui dit tout de suite le niveau4 de sympathie quon a I mean that says right away the degree of friendship that you have pour quelquun ou pas, et il [ne] faut pas il [ne] faut pas for someone or not, and it must not it is not desirable, justement que a devienne un geste anodin. Que ce soit une actually that that become an insignificant gesture. It should be a

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sexprime dans le bonjour , je pense. is expressed in the hello, I think. Pour certains, cest une simple formalit remplir, For some, it is a mere formality to fulfill,

3 1 2

inflchi : from inflchir (to bend; to shift around; to reorient.) davantage = more; longer; even more.

se rsumer = to amount to; to boil down to. Compare to rsumer (to summarize.) un coup de joue : from un coup (a bit; a touch. Literally, a blow; a hit) + la joue (the cheek). un coup de vin = a bit of wine. il vaut mieux = it is better...; one is better off... See other examples on pages 9, 54, 62, and 99. le niveau = the level; the degree.

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Mai Juin 2004

La bise

23

vraie sympathie qui sexprime travers le bonjour , voil. true warmth that expresses itself through the hello, thats it. Merci, Stphanie. Thank you, Stephanie. Ben, merci vous. Why, thank you. SECTION 9 Et les hommes, dans tout cela ? Ce sont ceux qui And men, in all that? They are the ones who rechignent1 le moins embrasser et tre embrasss. object the least to kissing and to being kissed. Par exemple, pour Vincent, vingt-sept ans, For example for Vincent, 27 years old, quimporte2 le bonjour , the type of hello does not matter, du moment que celui-ci soit naturel. as long as it is natural.
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quelle est ta faon, finalement, de dire bonjour what is your way, in the end, of saying hello aux personnes que tu ne connais pas ? to people whom you do not know? Eh ben, cest prcisment dadapter, en fait, Well, it is precisely to adapt, in fact, chaque interlocuteur, en fait. Il ny a pas de disons que to each person, in fact. There is no Lets say that la personne prime par rapport au contexte. Je pense que the person comes first, with respect to the context. I think that cest le sentiment par rapport la personne, ce quelle it is the feeling toward the person, what he dgage, que je la connaisse ou non, dailleurs, projects, whether I know him or not, moreover, qui me conduit , , ben, ventuellement, embrasser ou that leads me to, to, why, sooner or later, to kiss, or serrer la main et, et embrasser de telle ou telle faon. to shake hands and, and to kiss in such and such a way. a veut dire que tu peux That means that you can faire la bise quelquun que tu ne connais pas ? give a kiss to someone whom you do not know ?
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SECTION 10 Vincent, bonjour. Vincent, hello. Bonjour. Hello. Tu as vingt-sept ans, tu es originaire de You are 27 years old, you are originally from
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Absolument, oui. Je peux faire la bise quelquun Absolutely, yes. I can give a kiss to someone que je [ne] connais pas, oui. whom I do not know, yes. Et Est-ce quil y a des faons diffrentes And Are there different ways de dire bonjour of saying hello

Talence, en Gironde, dans louest de la France. Talence, in the Gironde, in the west of France. Comment tu ragis quand on pour dire bonjour , How do you react when someone in order to say hello,
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1 2

rechigner faire quelque chose = to balk at doing something. quimporte... = it does not matter...; it is not important...

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Mai Juin 2004

La bise

25

selon le contexte, galement, professionnel ? depending on the professional context also?

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est-ce que finalement, faire des bisous, is it that, in the end, giving kisses, a te gne ou pas ? that bothers you, or not? Non, mais a ne me gne absolument pas. No, why, that absolutely does not bother me. Je pense que au contraire, moi, je me mfie de1 tous I think that on the contrary, me, Im wary of all
810

Encore une fois, cest la personne qui le dterminera. Once again, it is the person who will determine this. Cest vrai que a priori1 embrasser des personnes dans Its true that at first glance to kiss people in
770

le cadre strictement professionnel, a peut tre mal peru2 a strictly professional environment, that can be misunderstood ou ambigu, pas si le, la relation avec la personne est or ambiguous, not if the, the relationship with the person is naturelle en fait. En fait, si vous voulez, le, le fait de dire natural in fact. In fact, if you will, the, the fact of saying

les discours qui mettent en exergue2 the public debate that stresses le harclement psychologique, harclement sexuel, psychological harassment, sexual harassment, harclement au travail, harclement, et cetera de Moi, harassment at work, harassment, etc. of Me, je pense que les gens sont suffisamment matures pour I think that people are mature enough to sadapter les uns aux autres et, et mettre des barrires adjust to each other and, and to put up walls sil faut mettre des barrires. if it is necessary to put up walls. Donc, quand on fait la bise, So, when you give a kiss,

780

bonjour sinscrit3 doit tre continu, on [ne] doit pas, hello is part must be continuous, we must not, a [ne] doit pas tre une espce de parenthse, du genre it must not be a sort of parenthesis, of the type a doit tre a doit couler en fait, tout seul. it must be it must flow, in fact, all by itself. Quelque chose de naturel, finalement. Something natural, in the end. Exactement. Exactly. En tant que4 reprsentant de la gent masculine, As a representative of the male gender,
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il [ne] faut pas y voir forcment de sous-entendu ? you should not see in it necessarily any innuendos? Aucun, sinon des sous-entendus favorables, mais None, except favorable innuendos, but

a priori = a priori. Note that the a does not carry an accent. This is Latin, not French. tre mal peru = 1) to be misunderstood, 2) to be poorly received; to be looked down upon. percevoir = to perceive; to make out. sinscrire = 1) to sign up; to put ones name on the list. 2) to fall within the boundaries of; to be a part of. en tant que = as; in the capacity of. See another example on page 101.

encore une fois, bon, libre chacun once again, okay, everyone is free

se mfier de quelque chose = to be wary of something; to be distrustful of something. mettre quelque chose en exergue = to highlight something; to bring out or underline something.

26
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La bise

27

de mettre ses propres barrires. to put up his own barriers.

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on va dire. shall we say. Donc on peut marquer son affection auprs de, Then one can show ones affection for dun homme quand on est un homme, a man, when one is a man, en lui faisant la bise, by giving him a kiss sans quil y ait forcment dquivoque ? without there necessarily being any misunderstanding? Ben, je vous dis, moi, a priori, au tout dbut, javais, Why, I tell you, me, at first, in the very beginning, I had, il y a quelques annes, javais, javais une espce de several years ago, I had, I had a sort of prjug dfavorable, puis finalement je, encore une fois, bias against this, then finally, I once again,
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SECTION 11 Et est-ce quil tarrive de And do you sometimes faire la bise un homme ? give a kiss to a man?
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Euh, alors l, effectivement, au dbut, je trouvais Er.. well, there, indeed, at first, I found a a faisait un peu 1 mafiosi , quoi. Je trouvais que that... that seemed a little mafioso, you know. I found that cest ctait un petit peu ridicule et puis en fait, finalement, it is it was a little bit ridiculous and then in fact, in the end, je me rends compte2 que je revois des amis denfance et que I realize that I see again childhood friends and that je [ne] les revois pas forcment tous les quinze jours,3 ben, I dont see them again necessarily every two weeks, why, finalement, cest trs naturel, en fait. Et a permet de, in the end, it is very natural, in fact. And that allows one, effectivement, de ben de faire le distinguo,4 si besoin est, indeed, why, to make a fine distinction, if need be,

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quand cest naturel, quand a coule de source1 when it is natural, when it feels natural Finalement, cest le plus important. Cest Ultimately, this is the most important. It is le contexte et le fait que ce soit naturel ou pas ? the context and the fact that it (feels right) or not?

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entre, effectivement, son ami denfance et, effectivement, between, indeed, ones childhood friend and, indeed, donc, quelquun quon croise de faon plus bnigne, then, someone that you cross paths with in a more casual way,

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Exactement, exactement. En fait, si vous voulez, Exactly, exactly. In fact, if you will, effectivement, on peut dire que le bonjour , yes, we can say that the hello, cest un crmonial. Moi, personnellement, le bonjour qui it is a ritual. Me, personally, the hello that

1 2

a faisait : faire can be used to mean to seem; to appear. se rendre compte que... = to realize that...; to come to understand that... See another example on page 109. quinze jours : two weeks. Literally, fifteen days. Compare to huit jours (a week, literally, 8 days.) See another example of quinze jours on page 108. un distinguo = a subtle difference. From Latin, distinguo (I make a distinction). faire distinguo = to make a distinction.

a coule de source : Note that this expression is almost always used to say, Thats only logical. That stands to reason. Literally, a coule de source = that flows from the spring. La source = the spring. leau de source = spring water.

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La bise

29

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est un crmonial ne me plat pas,1 si vous voulez. Si on doit is a ritual does not appeal to me, if you will. If we must
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parce que moi, Montpellier, ils font trois bises, ou quatre because me, in Montpellier, they give three kisses or four mme, et donc il y a toujours cette espce dhsitation even, and so there is always this sort of hesitation au troisime bisou, donc a, c'est vrai que c'est un peu at the third kiss, so that, its true that it is a little bon, a fait partie du1 charme aussi. Mais, pour okay, that is part of the charm, also. But for
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se demander quand est-ce quil faut faire le bisou, et, ou wonder when we should give a kiss and, or quelle distance on doit se tenir en serrant la main, etc., at what distance we must stand when shaking hands, etc., bon, a veut dire que on n'est pas dans le naturel, voil. okay, that means that we are not acting naturally, there you have it.
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Alors, cest trs bien pour quelquun qui connat So then, this is very well for someone who knows les codes. Pour un tranger qui arrive en France, et qui the protocol. For a foreigner who arrives in France, and who finalement se retrouve dans la famille, in the end finds himself in a family,
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les trangers ben, effectivement, on est, on est plus, foreigners well, yes, we are, we are more, on est plus attentifs, on essaie de voil. we are more attentive, we try to... thats it. Daccord. Donc il faut quils soient eux-mmes All right. So, they need to be themselves attentifs, savoir si on leur tend la main, attentive, to know if people extend their hand to them, ou si on leur tend la joue, finalement. or if people turn their cheek toward them, in the end. Voil, exactement, exactement. Thats it, exactly, exactly. Merci, Vincent. Thank you, Vincent.

est-ce que les codes sont les mmes ? is the protocol the same? Eh ben, pour un tranger ou, mme, pour un Well, for a foreigner or, even, for a un Franais dune autre rgion, par exemple moi, jai une a Frenchman from another region, for example me, I have a plusieurs amis qui habitent Montpellier, donc, tant several friends who live in Montpellier, so, being in Toulouse, on nest jamais qu trois heures de voiture,2 Toulouse, after all its just three hours away by car, mme pas, et en revanche, bon, cest toujours le gag, not even that and on the other hand, okay, it is always a joke,

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Avec plaisir. My pleasure. SECTION 12 Finalement, quimporte le bonjour . En France, In the end, the hello does not matter . In France,

plaire quelquun = to please someone; to appeal to someone; to be liked by someone. on nest jamais qu trois heures de voiture = one is never but 3 hours away by car. tre 3 heures de quelque part = to be 3 hours away from somewhere. 3 heures de voiture = 3 hours of driving; 3 hours by car.

on peut sembrasser, on peut se serrer la main. Mais le plus one is able to kiss, we can shake hands. But the most
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faire partie de quelque chose = to be a part of something.

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important retenir,1 cest que, finalement, important thing to remember, it is that, in the end, cest un geste important pour lequel il convient de2 rester it is an important gesture for which we must remain naturel, et cest bien l3 lessentiel. natural, and that is whats most important.
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Bon, ben, nickel1 ! Okay, well, cool! 

SECTION 13 Salut, Stph, bonsoir. Hi, Stephanie, good evening Bonjour. Quest-ce que t[u]as fait ce week-end ? Hello. What did you do this weekend ? Bon, alors ? Ben... du bricolage, du bricolage. Okay, well? Well odd jobs around the house.
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Cest super ! Great! Bon, et toi ? Okay, how about you? Ben, bof, lecture, tl, ben, voil. Why, well..., reading, TV, well, thats it. Un petit week-end ppre,4 quoi. A nice, cozy little weekend, in short.

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1 2

retenir = to retain; to remember; to keep in mind. il convient de... = 1) it is proper, right, fitting; 2) it is a good idea, it is desirable. Il convient de fermer la porte cl. = It is a good idea to lock the door. Compare to convenir = to suit; to be suitable for. If two people are trying to set a date for a meeting, one might say, Le 20 fvrier 14 heures, a vous convient? = February 20th at 2 PM, does that work for you? See page 63 for another example of convenir. cest bien l = it is really there; that is really it. l = there. See a similar example on page 96. ppre = easy, simple, quiet, uneventful. From un ppre = a granddad, a grandpa.

nickel = nickel. In French, it is usually used to mean perfectly clean; spotless. This usage (cool; great) is a little less common.

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Mai Juin 2004

Lastrologue 3 3

SECTION 14 L'art divinatoire, cherchant dterminer l'influence The art of divination, seeking to determine the influence des astres sur le cours des vnements terrestres et of the stars on the course of earthly events and en1 tirer des prdictions d'avenir. Voil comment to draw from it predictions of the future. This is how le Petit Larousse dfinit 2 le mot Astrologie . the Petit Larousse defines the word astrology. Pierre-Guillaume Calvet interviewe pour notre plaisir Pierre Guillaume Calvet interviews for our pleasure
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l'astrologue Irne Andrieu. the astrologer Irne Andrieu.

Irne Andrieu.

SECTION 15 Irne Andrieu, vous tes astrologue. Alors, euh, Irene Andrieu, you are an astrologer. Well, er, comment ltes-vous devenue ?3 how did you become an astrologer?
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tirer une prdiction de quelque chose = to draw a prediction from something. le Petit Larousse = name of the monolingual French dictionary, similar to the Websters Dictionary in the U.S. devenir = to become. tre devenu = to have become.

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Mai Juin 2004

Lastrologue 3 5

Je suis tombe dedans1 quand javais vingt-trois ans. I happened into it when I was 23 years old. C'est--dire que jai rencontr un un matre tibtain. That is to say that I met a a Tibetan master. Jai suivi son enseignement pendant dix ans, et ctait I followed his teachings for ten years and he was
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Non, pas du tout. Jai t trs, trs loigne de tous No, not at all. I was quite removed from all les domaines sotriques. Jen avais assez peur.1 the esoteric areas. I was rather afraid of them. Mais, par contre, ce qui minterpellait2 beaucoup, ctait But on the other hand, what was calling me a lot, it was
1110

quelquun qui avait recherch les sources de someone who had looked for the sources of lastrologie antique et qui les avait associes ancient astrology and who had connected them with la philosophie tibtaine. Alors jai travaill avec lui Tibetan philosophy. So I worked with him pendant dix ans, et puis jai eu lide de, dessayer de for ten years and then I got the idea to, to try transcrire tout ce quil mavait appris, en termes dastrologie, to transcribe all that he had taught me, in terms of astrology, pour des Occidentaux. Donc, ce que je pratique, cest for Westerners. So, what I practice, it is un rapprochement de lastrologie orientale et (establishing) a relationship between Oriental astrology and

la question quon se pose en gnral plus tard, cest--dire the question that one asks in general later, that is to say qui suis-je, quelle est ma libert, pourquoi est-ce que who am I, what is my freedom, why is it that les choses me sont arrives. Et a, cest une rponse que things have happened to me. And that is an answer that lastrologie ma permis de dcouvrir. astrology has enabled me to discover. SECTION 17 Et, vingt-trois ans, vous avez donc rencontr And at age 23, you have thus met le matre qui a rpondu vos questions. the master who has answered your questions. Non, le matre qui ma oriente sur la bonne No, the master who directed me to the right faon de me poser des questions. Et cest ce que je fais avec way to ask myself questions. And that is what I do with les clients maintenant. Mais en fait clients now. But in fact,

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de lastrologie occidentale. Western astrology. SECTION 16 Dj, enfant, a vous dmangeait,2 Already, as a child, did you have an itch for le, lastrologie ? astrology?
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1 2

Je suis tombe dedans : literally, I fell into it. dmanger = 1) to cause to itch; 2) to cause a great desire.

avoir peur de quelque chose = to be afraid of something. la peur = fear. interpeller quelquun = to call out to someone; to shout out to someone; to question someone. In this context, it means to touch someone. a minterpelle. = This touches me; This makes me think; I relate to this.

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Mai Juin 2004

Lastrologue 3 7

je ne suis devenue astrologue que1 beaucoup plus tard. I only became an astrologer much later.
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enfants, la question du mariage, la question du mtier, children, the question of marriage, the question of profession, pratiquement toujours la question de la sant. Donc practically always the question of health. So
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Je [ne] crois pas quon puisse tre astrologue quand I dont believe that one can be an astrologer when on na pas une maturit suffisante. Et, donc, jai pris one does not have sufficient maturity. And so, I took des cours dastrologie occidentale, javais trente-cinq ans. classes in Western astrology, I was 35 years old.
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il faut aussi avoir des bases mdicales it is also necessary to have some medical background (that is) suffisamment labores pour ne pas dire nimporte quoi.1 sufficiently developed so as not to say just whatever. Les hommes sont beaucoup plus mfiants au dpart, Men are much more distrustful at the start,
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Jai fait ma premire confrence trente-sept ans et I gave my first conference at age 37 and jai ouvert mon cabinet en ralit quarante-quatre ans. I opened my office actually at age 44. SECTION 18 Alors quelles sont les questions que les gens Well what are the questions that people

et donc posent des questions qui appellent2 des rponses and therefore ask questions that call for answers trs, trs prcises, parce quils testent lastrologue sur (that are) very, very specific, because they test the astrologer on sa comptence. Et une fois3 quon a acquis4 leur confiance, his skills. And once we have gained their confidence, ils considrent lastrologue comme un ami qui ils peuvent they consider the astrologer as a friend to whom they are able parler comme ils ne peuvent pas le faire ailleurs. Donc les to speak as they are not able to do it elsewhere. So the questions peuvent tre trs varies, et questions can be very diverse and on en arrive5 aussi souvent aux questions sentimentales, we end up also often (talking about) sentimental issues

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vous posent le plus souvent lorsquils ask you most often when they viennent vous consulter ? come to consult you? a dpend de la clientle. Et les hommes et That depends upon the clientele. And men and les femmes ne posent pas les mmes questions. Les femmes women do not ask the same questions. The women posent, suivant2 le, lge de leur vie,3 la question des ask, depending on the, (see note), the question of

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aux questions de couple. about issues concerning couples.

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ne... que = only. suivant = according to; depending upon. Literally, following. suivre = to follow. See another example on page 53. lge de leur vie : a somewhat unusual expression. The speaker could have simply said leur ge (their age.)

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nimporte quoi = whatever; anything. See page 55 for an example of nimporte quel (whichever one.) appeler = to call, to call for. une fois que... = once... (one thing has happened...). See pages 12 and 108 for other examples. acqurir = to acquire. en arriver ... = to end up at...

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Mai Juin 2004

Lastrologue 3 9

SECTION 19 Il y a des personnes qui vous consultent trs, There are people who consult you very, trs rgulirement ? very regularly?
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repartent avec la matire ncessaire leave with the elements necessary pour avoir du travail, sur eux. to be able to work on their situation. Donc cest une consultation consistante ? So, it is a substantial consultation?
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Les hommes daffaires me consultent Businessmen consult me trs rgulirement, chaque fois quils ont very regularly, each time that they have des dcisions prendre,1 oui. Il y a des personnes aussi qui decisions to make, yes. There are persons also who
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En une heure et demie, je peux rpondre In one hour and a half, I can answer peu prs toutes les questions que se pose la personne, roughly all the questions that the person is asking himself, situer la priode dans laquelle elle1 est. Au dmarrage, determine what stage the person is at. In the beginning, ltude, le dcodage du thme2 la premire fois prend bien the study, the decoding of the birth chart the first time does take une heure et demie, donc on approfondit3 moins one hour and a half, so we dont go as far into les motivations ou le sens des vnements. Mais, ensuite, the motivations or the meaning of the events. But, then, mme au niveau des4 vnements, even as far as the events,

me considrent comme un superviseur, qui viennent consider me as a supervisor, who come une deux fois par an. Et en moyenne les clients fidles one to two times per year. And on the average, faithful clients viennent tous les deux ans, parce que le contenu de come every two years, because the content of la consultation permet de tenir2 deux ans en ayant3 the consultation allows (a client) to go two years with les conseils ncessaires. Cest--dire quune consultation the necessary advice. That is to say that a consultation dure une heure et demie, on ne je ne me contente pas de lasts one hour and a half, we dont I do not just rpondre une question de passage,4 et, donc, les gens answer a casual question, and so people

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je ramne toujours la personne aux raisons pour lesquelles I always bring the person back to the reasons for which

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elle : personne is a feminine word, so the speaker must use elle, even though she is not necessarily thinking of a female. le thme astral = the birth chart. approfondir = to go deeply into. au niveau de = as far as, as regards; with respect to. Literally, at the level of.

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prendre une dcision : literally, to take a decision. tenir : literally, to hold. Here, the person can last 2 years, can go 2 years. en ayant : literally, in having, while having. de passage = passing, casual.

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Mai Juin 2004

Lastrologue 4 1

elle vit lvnement1 ; je ne lui dis pas : the event is happening to her;2 I do not say to him: Il va vous arriver a. Cest--dire que This will happen to you. That is to say that
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SECTION 20 Pouvez-vous nous donner quelques exemples Can you give us a few examples de tmoignages1 vcus par vos patients ? of anecdotes that your patients have experienced?
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la prvision nexiste pas dans le contexte astrologique. forecasting does not exist in the context of astrology. Par contre, aprs, on se perd dans le bavardage, On the other hand, afterwards, we get lost in chitchat, cest--dire que je prfre dire quelquun : Vous avez that is to say that I prefer to say to someone: You have les lments de rflexion sur votre question. Rappelez-moi the elements of reflection about your question. Call me back au tlphone si vous avez une question supplmentaire, ou on the telephone if you have an additional question, or si le projet volue, on en reparlera , plutt que if the project evolves, we will talk about it again, rather than laprs-midi. de faire durer un entretien making a meeting last (through) the afternoon.
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Les tmoignages vcus par moi en consultation The anecdotes Ive experienced during consultations plutt. rather. Cest--dire quils vous ont rapport2 : That is to say, that they came back to tell you :
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Oui, vous aviez raison Yes, you were right Il y a, il y a deux types de patients. There are, there are two types of patients. Il y a les patients qui attendent3 quon leur donne des There are the patients who expect that we give them informations toutes prtes et qui se ralisent dans labsolu. ready-made information that will come true in the absolute. Ces patients-l, une fois sur deux,4 me tlphonent Those patients, half of the time, call me on the phone en disant : Ctait fantastique, cest arriv , et, saying: It was fantastic, it happened, and

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On [ne] prend pas le th5 quand on fait la consultation. Were not having tea when we have a consultation.

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vivre = to live. vivre quelque chose = to experience something. In this case, the astrologer is trying to help the people understand why the event has happened to them. elle : personne is a feminine word, so the speaker must use elle, even though she is not necessarily thinking of a female. Il va vous arriver a : from Il va (It is going) + vous (to you) + arriver (to happen, to take place) + a (that). arriver quelquun = to happen to someone. See pages 14, 26, 35, and 43 for other examples of arriver quelquun. se perdre dans = to get into, to get involved in, to get mixed up in. Literally, to get lost in. The speaker is saying that she wants to avoid talking on and on with no specific goal in mind. prendre le th = to have tea. The speaker is saying that it is not a social event; the meeting has a professional purpose.

1 2

le tmoignage = 1) the testimony 2) the account, the story. rapporter = to bring back. rapporter des paroles quelquun = to come to tell someone something. attendre = to wait for. attendre que... = to expect that... Note that attendre que is followed by a verb in the subjunctive. donne is a subjunctive form of donner. See page 55 for an example of sattendre quelque chose (to expect something.) The French way to say a fraction: (numerator) sur (denominator). Un sur deux = one out of two. Une fois sur deux (one time out of two; half of the time; half of the instances) See page 59 for 24 heures sur 24 (24 hours out of 24; 24 hours a day.)

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Lastrologue 4 3

lautre fois,1 Non vous vous tes trompe2 , mais si the other half, No, you were mistaken, but if
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Tout ce que vous mavez dit est arriv, mais All that you told me has happened, but je [ne] lavais pas compris parce que ce ntait pas I had not understood it, because it was not
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je leur pose des questions sur les vnements, I ask them questions about the events, je ne me suis pas trompe sur lvnement, mais I was not mistaken about the event, but ils nont pas accept lvnement, parce que ce ntait pas they did not accept the event, because it was not
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ce que je voulais. what I wanted. SECTION 21 Il vous arrive de, de vous planter1 justement, Does it happen to you to, to get it wrong in fact, vraiment, compltement. Vous avez la sensation, truly, completely (wrong.) Do you have the feeling

ce quils attendaient. Et donc, what they expected. And so, dans ce cas-l, pour eux, il y a une erreur in that case, from their standpoint, there is an error Sur le contexte psychologique, les gens sont Regarding the psychological context, people are en gnral trs tonns de ce quon peut lire dans un thme. in general very surprised by what one is able to read in a birth chart. Cest toujours un choc, une consultation astrologique comme It is always a shock, an astrological consultation in the way je le fais, parce que je suis psychologue de formation, et I do it, because I am a psychologist by training and il leur faut3 du temps pour ragir. Ils me rappellent souvent they need time to react. They call me back often
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de temps en temps, de vous dire : from time to time, to tell yourself Je me suis plante, l. ? I got that one wrong ? Il marrive plus souvent de ne pas comprendre It happens to me more often not to understand pourquoi la personne est venue, parce quelle cache why the person came, because he is hiding des informations. information. Me planter vritablement, a arrive un peu comme a To get it wrong, really, that happens somewhat like it peut arriver un psychologue, cest--dire que il faut can happen to a psychologist, that is to say that it is necessary

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deux ou trois ans aprs, en me disant : two or three years later, saying to me :

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1 2

lautre fois : the other time out of the two previously mentioned. se tromper = to be mistaken. Compare to tromper quelquun = to fool someone; to cheat on someone. See other examples on pages 4 and 75. falloir = to be necessary. il faut = it is necessary. il faut quelque chose quelquun = someone needs something. Il me faut du beurre pour faire ce gteau. = I need some butter to make this cake.

tre trs vigilant, quand on fait une consultation, to be very alert when one does a consultation, ne pas faire de projections. Et, si je rencontre un client not to make any projections. And if I meet a client

se planter (colloquial) = to make a mistake; to get it all wrong.

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Lastrologue 4 5

dont la problmatique est trop proche de celle que whose problems are too close to those which
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il stait pos vis--vis de moi, de la philosophie, he had presented himself in relation to me, to philosophy , de la sagesse, je lui ai dit : coutez, mon avis, to wisdom, I told him: Listen, in my opinion, vous avez au moins cinq ans pour terminer le travail que you have at least five years to finish the work that vous avez fait. Et il a t paniqu, je lai appris you have done. And he panicked, I learned that par ailleurs, comme si je lui avais dit : Vous allez mourir from another source, as if I had told him: You are going to die dans cinq ans. Et, au bout de1 cinq ans, il ma tlphon in five years. And five years later, he phoned me
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jai eu dcoder moi-mme, il marrive dtre trop I have had to decode myself, its possible for me to be too much en sympathie et puis dtre trompe par lapproche du client, in sympathy and then to be fooled by the approach of the client, c'est--dire que, lui, ce moment-l, va rechercher that is to say that he, at that point, is going to seek to me faire aller1 dans son camp, et, moi, draw me into his camp, and me, je perds la conscience du travail que jai faire. I lose awareness of the work that I have to do. Et je suis toujours trs, trs vigilante a.2 And I am always very, very (see note). Se planter, franchement, cest, cest, cest un peu To get it wrong, frankly its, its, its a little

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en disant : Vous voyez, je suis toujours vivant ! saying : You see, I am still alive! Cest--dire que c[e n]tait pas un vrai sage, et That is to say that he was not a true sage and javais t trompe par labord2 dune personne qui avait lair I had been fooled by the appearance of a person who seemed
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par exemple, un jour, jai eu affaire 3 un yogi, quelquun for example, one day, I dealt with a yogi, with someone qui faisait du yoga depuis trs, trs longtemps, qui tait who had practiced yoga for a very, very long time, who was assez g et qui ma pos clairement la question du temps fairly old, and who asked me straight out the question about the time

beaucoup plus avance quelle ne ltait. Et a, cest much more advanced than he was. And that, it's le genre de chose quil ne faut pas faire. the type of thing that one must not do. SECTION 22 Jaurais voulu que3 vous nous racontiez I would like you to recount for us

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quil lui restait4 vivre. Et de la faon dont that he had left to live. And by the way in which

1 2

me faire aller = to make me go. It would be more common to say, Je fais trs attention a. (I pay close attention to that) or Je suis trs vigilante l-dessus. (I am very vigilant about that.) avoir affaire = to have to do with, to have to deal with; to have business with. il lui restait = it remained to him, it was left to him. rester quelquun = to be remaining to someone.

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au bout de = at the end of; after. le bout = the end; the nub. labord = the manner; the approach; the appearance. au premier abord = at first glance; from the first impression. jaurais voulu que vous.. : literally, I would have liked that you... This is a polite way of saying, I would like you to...

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Lastrologue 4 7

des anecdotes rigolotes1 dastrologue. some funny astrologers anecdotes. C[e n]est pas... c[e n]est pas toujours trs rigolo, It is not it is not always very funny, hein, une consultation astrologique, alors je dirais plutt you know, an astrological consultation, so I would instead say des anecdotes sympathiques, hein, si vous le voulez bien. fun anecdotes, you know, if you dont mind.

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enceinte avant son mariage et que elle navait pas os pregnant before her wedding and that she had not dared en parler son pre et que, donc, elle stait marie avec1 speak about it with her father and that, thus, she had married cet homme sans amour simplement parce quelle that man without love simply because she avait eu peur, et en fait elle avait eu une fausse couche2 et, had been afraid, and in fact she had had a miscarriage, and

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Il y en a une que jai raconte un certain nombre de There is one that I have told a number of fois parce que je la trouve extraordinaire. times because I find it extraordinary. Cest une trs vieille dame qui est venue me voir, It is (about) a very old lady who came to see me,
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partir de l, elle a considr que le ciel3 lavait punie. from then on, she considered that Heaven had punished her. Et nous avons parl pendant peu prs And we spoke for about une demi-heure du sujet, et je lui ai expliqu que, dans one half hour on that topic and I explained to her that, in

qui avait plus de soixante-cinq ans et who was over 65 years old and son mari pendant cinquante ans. qui stait refuse who had refused to give herself to her husband for 50 years. Et au cours de la consultation, alors que And during the consultation, whereas
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son thme, cest elle qui avait tendance 4 se juger tellement her birth chart, it was she who had a tendency to judge herself so svrement que cest elle qui stait condamne, et non pas harshly that it was she who had condemned herself, and not son pre, puisque son pre navait jamais su quelle tait her father, since her father had never known that she was enceinte. Et, ce moment-l, elle a pris son sac, pregnant. And at that point, she took her purse, elle ma paye trs, trs vite, puis elle a couru vers la porte. she paid me very, very quickly and then she ran to the door.

elle avait lair trs affirmative, elle considrait she seemed very assertive, she considered quelle navait pas tort, et puis que son mari avait that she was not wrong, and, anyway, that her husband had trs bien support2 a, elle ma avou3 quelle avait t accepted that very well, she confessed to me that she had been

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rigolo(te) (colloquial, but used often) = funny. supporter = to bear; to hold up. supporter quelque chose = to put up with something/someone; to accept something/someone. Compare to insupportable (unbearable). See another example on page 100. avouer = to confess; to avow; to acknowledge; to own up to.

2 3

Note that, in French, the mayor may marry a couple, (Le maire les a maris. = The Mayor married them.), but to get married with someone is se marier avec quelquun. Marie et Paul se sont maris. = Marie and Paul got married. accoucher = to give birth. une fausse couche = a miscarriage. le ciel = the sky; Heaven. Aide-toi et le ciel taidera. = The Lord helps those who help themselves, literally, Help yourself and Heaven will help you. avoir tendance = to have a tendency to, to tend to.

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Lastrologue 4 9

Et je lui ai dit : Mais pourquoi est-ce que vous partez And I said to her: But why are you leaving
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pour ne pas en tre esclave. so as not to be slaves to them. Les scientifiques reprochent lastrologie dtre Scientists reproach astrology for being irrationnelle, cest--dire de ne pas reposer sur des rgles irrational, that is to say for not being based upon rules suffisamment codifies pour tre reproductibles. (that are) sufficiently codified to be reproducible.
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comme a ? Elle ma dit : Parce quil est urgent like that? She told me: Because it is urgent
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que je dise mon mari que je laime ! that I tell my husband that I love him! SECTION 23 En France, certaines personnes contestent In France, some people question lastrologie. Que leur rpondez-vous ? astrology. What do you answer to them ?
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a, c[e n]est pas de lirrationnel, cest du non-rationnel, (Astrology) is not irrational, it is non-rational, hein. Jai lu cette phrase dans un journal rcemment et elle you know. I read this sentence in a newspaper recently and it ma beaucoup intresse, cest--dire que, comme toutes interested me very much, that is to say that like all les sciences humaines, on ne peut pas mettre ltre humain the human sciences, you are not able to put the human being en quation. Et a, les scientifiques forms luniversit in an equation. And that, scientists trained at the university ne peuvent pas comprendre quon ntablit pas un barme, are not able to understand that we dont establish a scale, une grille dun tre humain et que, l-dedans, on va a grid for a human being and that, within it, we are going

Alors, la contestation porte1 sur deux points, Well, the opposition stem from two points, cest--dire, pour le grand public, cest la peur dtre that is to say, for the general public, it is the fear of being dtermin. Cest--dire que, partir du thme, il nest pas put in a box. That is to say that, from the chart, there is no

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de choix personnel dans leur vie. Or, moi, je considre que personal choice in their lives. Well, me, I consider that cest exactement linverse, cest--dire quon est dtermin it is exactly the opposite, that is to say, that we are defined par les tendances quon ne veut pas reconnatre, et on by the tendencies that we do not want to recognize and we est libre de ces tendances partir du moment are free of those tendencies from the moment o on les connat. Donc, la consultation astrologique when we identify them. Thus, the astrological consultation doit permettre de dcoder suffisamment ces tendances must help (us) to decode sufficiently those tendencies
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chaque fois cocher des grilles et que a va donner each time to check off grids and that it will give un rsultat. Heureusement, ltre humain est libre. Et cest an output. Fortunately, the human being is free. And it is le plus important1 quil faut comprendre avec lastrologie. the most important (thing) that one must understand with astrology.

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porter sur = to be about something, to be based on...

Cest la chose la plus importante quil faut comprendre would be more correct.

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Les formules de vacances 5 1

Cest trs beau. Cest trs beau. This is very beautiful. This is very beautiful. Merci, Irne Andrieu. Thank you, Irene Andrieu. 

SECTION 24 La prparation de nos vacances mrite une The preparation of our vacation deserves a trs grande attention ! ! ! Vronique Lopez very close attention !!! Vronique Lopez s'est informe pour nous auprs de Sandra Artor, inquired for us from Sandra Artor,
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attache de presse du Comit dpartemental du tourisme press attach for the Departmental Committee for Tourism des Bouches-du-Rhne, sur les diffrentes in the Bouches-du-Rhne, about the different formules de vacances proposes dans ce dpartement. vacation options offered in this dpartement.

Sandra Artor.

SECTION 25 Sandra Artor, bonjour. Sandra Artor, hello.

20

Bonjour. Hello. Vous tes attache de presse You are the public relations director du Comit dpartemental du tourisme for the Departmental Commission on Tourism

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Mai Juin 2004

Les formules de vacances 5 3

des Bouches-du-Rhne,1 qui comprend la Provence. of Bouches-du-Rhne, which includes Provence. Et, en votre compagnie, nous allons faire le tour des2 And in your company, we are going to take a look at the possibilits de nuite3 qui existent dans notre pays. possibilities of overnight stays that exist in our country. Cest--dire, quand on veut passer des vacances That is to say, when one wants to spend a vacation la franaise, comment on peut se loger chez nous, French style, how can one stay in our region et notamment dans notre dpartement. Je crois and particularly in our department. I believe quil y a environ six possibilits qui soffrent nous. that there are about six possibilities that offer themselves to us.
80

qui sont une spcificit, je pense, franaise, which are unique to France, I think, et les chambres dhte. and the bed and breakfast. SECTION 26 Concernant les htels et les campings, Regarding hotels and campgrounds, grosso modo,1 tout le monde sait peu prs roughly, everybody knows just about ce que cest. On va juste rappeler que, chez nous, what it is. We will just recall that here, il y a ce quon appelle des toiles, et quils sont classs there are what we call stars, and that they are rated suivant2 diffrentes toiles. according to different (numbers of) stars. Tout fait. Alors, pour les htels, contrairement Absolutely. So, for hotels, unlike
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Oui, tout fait. Je pense que cest peu prs Yes, absolutely. I think that it is about les mmes que on peut retrouver ailleurs ltranger.4 Donc, the same as we can find elsewhere abroad. So, il y a tout dabord les htels, puis les campings, there are first of all. hotels, then campgrounds,
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des pays trangers qui vont jusqu cinq toiles, nous, foreign countries that go up to five stars, we nous allons de zro quatre toiles luxe, qui correspond we go from zero to four stars luxury, which corresponds peu prs un cinq toiles tranger ou un palace approximately to a foreign five star or a palace 100

les rsidences de tourisme, les locations meubles, tourist residences, furnished rentals, les gtes de France,5 Homes of France,

et surtout, jattire votre attention sur les langues parles and above all, I call your attention to the languages spoken par le personnel. Donc, si vous souhaitez avoir du personnel by the staff. So, if you wish to have staff

les Bouches-du-Rhne : one of the French dpartements. Its major city is Marseilles. faire le tour de = to go over; to review, to take a look at. Literally, to take the tour of. une nuite = 1) a whole night; a nights length of time; 2) an overnight stay (in a hotel or other lodgings). ltranger = abroad, in a foreign country. Compare to un tranger = a foreigner. une gte = a home; a shelter; a cottage. See page 57 for an explanation.

1 2

grosso modo = roughly. suivant = according to; depending upon. Literally, following. suivre = to follow. See another example on page 36.

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Les formules de vacances 5 5

qui puisse sadresser vous en langues trangres, who can address you in foreign languages, et plus spcifiquement en anglais, je vous conseille daller and more specifically in English, I advise you to go dans les deux, voire1 trois toiles, ce sera plus, plus sr. to the two-, even three-star (hotels), it will be more, more sure. Cest peu prs la mme chose pour It is about the same thing for les campings ? campgrounds ?
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plus les toiles sont leves et plus1 on peut the higher the number of stars, the more one can sattendre 2 un certain confort. expect a certain degree of comfort. SECTION 27 Ensuite, alors, il existe les locations meubles. Next, then. there are furnished rentals. Quel est lintrt de ce genre de location ? What is the advantage of this type of rental? Alors, lintrt de ce genre de location, cest que vous Well, the advantage of this type of rental, it is that you
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Tout fait. Les campings vont de une quatre Absolutely. Campgrounds go from one to four toiles, donc, pareil, les toiles sont dtermines stars, so, the same thing, the stars are determined en fonction du confort, des superficies, des emplacements, as a function of the comfort, of the square footage, of the locations,
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pouvez tre dans n'importe quel3 milieu, donc, vous pouvez can be in any environment, so, you can vraiment vous sentir comme un Franais, puisque vous truly feel like a Frenchman, since you pouvez tre la fois4 en ville, la campagne ou ailleurs. can be at the same time in town, in the country or elsewhere.

etc., et il vaut mieux2 aller en camping deux, etc., and it is better to go in a campground with two, voire trois toiles, quand mme, pour avoir even three stars, all the same, in order to have quelqu'un qui s'adresse vous en langue trangre someone who addresses you in a foreign language de faon sre et certaine. for sure. Et puis cest vrai que And also, it is true that
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La seule chose : jattire votre attention sur le fait quelles The only thing: I draw your attention to the fact that they ne proposent pas toutes un service de draps et do not all offer a service of sheets and linge de maison, donc, bien se renseigner5 au pralable household linens, so check thoroughly beforehand

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voire = perhaps even. Not to be confused with voir (to see.) See other examples on pages 57 and 103. il vaut mieux = it is better. See other examples on pages 9, 21, 62, and 99.

le plus... le plus... = the more... the more... sattendre quelque chose = to expect something. nimporte quel = any, whichever. See page 37 for an example of nimporte quoi (whatever). la fois = at once; at the same time. See pages 64 and 68 for other examples. se renseigner = to make inquiries, to ask for information, to find out about. un renseignement = a piece of information. demander un renseignement = to ask for a piece of information.

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avant de partir. Et la plupart du temps il est possible before leaving. And most of the time, it is possible den avoir en change dune... dun tarif de location. to have some in exchange for a a rental rate. Donc, la plupart du temps, il [n]y a pas de souci,1 So, most of the time there is nothing to worry about, mais je vous conseille tout de mme de vrifier. but I advise you nevertheless to check.
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donc, vous navez pas vraiment un contact avec then, you do not really have any contact with cette personne-l, elle vous loue son appartement. that person, he rents you his apartment. Donc, a nous permet justement de parler So, that allows us precisely to talk maintenant des gtes de France, o, l, si vous now about the Homes of France where, in this case, if you souhaitez vraiment un contact avec quelquun du desire really a contact with someone from the
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Alors, quand mme, un petit dtail. So, all the same, one small detail. Il faut savoir que les locations meubles, cest People should know that furnished rentals, it is tout simplement soit2 un appartement, soit une quite simply either an apartment, or a
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dpartement, quelquun des lieux, l, ce sera tout fait department, someone from the area, then, that will be absolutely le cas, puisque le gte de France vous permet dhabiter, the case, since the Home of France lets you live le temps dun week-end, ou dune semaine, voire de, during a weekend, or a week, even de deux trois semaines, chez vraiment des gens du cru.1 two to three weeks with really local people. Donc, que vous soyez, l, pareil, la campagne ou So, whether you are, there, same thing, in the country or en littoral, vous aurez vraiment limpression dhabiter chez on the coast, you will truly have the feeling of living with des gens, de les rencontrer, de parler avec eux, et ils seront some people, of meeting them, of speaking with them, and they will be

maison, soit une petite maison. Cest--dire quon va house, or a small house. That is to say that they are going vraiment simmerger totalement dans notre rgion, truly to become completely immersed in our region, puisque a va tre on va aller chez quelquun, en fait. since it will be they are going to go into someones home, in fact. Tout fait. Si ce nest que3 la personne vous donne Absolutely. Were it not for the fact that the person gives you les cls au dbut du sjour et fait ltat des lieux4 de sortie, the keys at the beginning of the stay and inspects the premises at the end
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l, disponibles toute la semaine, quand vous en avez besoin. there, available all week when you need them.
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il ny a pas de souci = there is no problem, there is nothing to worry about. un souci = a worry. se faire des soucis = to worry. se soucier de quelque chose = to worry about something. soit... soit = either... or. si ce nest que = were it not for the fact that. See another example on page 108. ltat des lieux = the condition of the premises. un lieu = a place. les lieux = the premises.

Cest pour, vraiment, une clientle qui est This is for, really, a clientele who is peut-tre plutt famille, qui recherche perhaps rather family oriented, who is looking for

des gens du cru = people of the region, locals. du cru = local.

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Les formules de vacances 5 9

des vacances1 assez calmes, sport, nature, vraiment a rather calm vacation, sports, nature, really quelquun qui... qui vite la plupart du temps someone who who avoids most of the time les stations touristiques. tourist spots. Et est-ce que le petit djeuner est compris ? And is breakfast included? Non. Il ny a pas le petit djeuner compris pour No. There is no breakfast included for les gtes de France. En fait, vous avez une cuisine, the Homes of France. In fact, you have a kitchen, qui vous permet de prparer vous-mme vos repas. which allows you to prepare yourself your meals.

ils sont l vingt-quatre heures sur vingt-quatre.1 they are there twenty-four hours a day. Ils sont trs discrets la plupart du temps, et vous avez trs They are very unobtrusive most of the time and you have... very souvent une entre indpendante, ce qui vous permet often a separate entrance, which allows you vraiment de vivre en autonomie. Les petits djeuners, really to live independently. Breakfasts, vous les prenez avec vos htes, ce qui vous permet davoir you have them with your hosts, which allows you to have vraiment un contact et un dialogue avec ces personnes-l, really a contact and a dialogue with those people et la plupart des chambres dhte proposent le soir and most of the bed and breakfasts offer, in the evening

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SECTION 28 Alors, le petit djeuner, cest encore une autre Well, breakfast, it is yet another formule, si jai bien compris ? option, if I have understood correctly? Voil. Alors l, en fait, on parle dautre chose, Right. So now, in fact, were talking about something else,
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une table dhte, et ce moment-l, donc, tous les, a table dhte and at that time, then, all the tous les locataires qui habitent ce moment-l dans all the guests who live at that time in la chambre dhte dnent ensemble, et cest souvent the bed and breakfast dine together and these are often des moments de convivialit trs sympathiques. moments of friendliness (that are) very pleasant. Les chambres dhte, avant, The B&Bs, in the past, il y en avait beaucoup la campagne. Maintenant, there were many of them in the country. Now, il y en a de plus en plus en ville. a, il faut le savoir. there are more and more of them in cities. That, people should know.

qui est la chambre dhte, donc lquivalent du B & B, donc, which is the chambre dhte, then, the equivalent of the B&B, then, dans les pays anglo-saxons, o, l, effectivement, in Anglo-Saxon countries where, there, indeed, vous habitez vraiment chez les gens, donc, you live really in peoples homes, then,

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les vacances = vacation, holidays. une vacance = a vacancy.

vingt-quatre heures sur vingt-quatre = twenty=four hours out of twenty-four hours; twenty four hours a day. Sur is used to express fractions in French. The numerator is sur (on top of) the denominator. See page 41 for another example.

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Les formules de vacances 6 1

Tout fait. Il y en a de plus en plus en milieu urbain, Absolutely. There are more and more of them in urban areas, ce qui permet vraiment de dcouvrir une ville. which lets people really explore a city.
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sil faut lemmener ou pas vous avez toujours la possibilit if you have to take any or not - you always have the option de le louer sur place, donc il suffit de le prciser lavance. of renting them on site, so, you only need to specify it in advance. Donc cest la journe, la semaine ou au mois, Thus, it is by the day, by the week or by the month, la formule la plus courante tant quand mme la semaine. the most popular option being nevertheless by the week. Et lintrt des rsidences de tourisme, And the advantage of the tourist residences,
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Il y en a de plus en plus, par exemple, qui souvrent There are more and more of them, for example, that are opening
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Marseille, et cest vrai que cest un moyen original et in Marseilles, and it is true that its a way (that is) original and agrable de dcouvrir Marseille, et dailleurs, pleasant to explore Marseilles, and besides, trs, trs souvent, les htes ont toujours beaucoup de very, very often, the hosts have always many
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qui vont de une quatre toiles, mieux elles sont classes, which go from one to four stars, the better they are rated, plus vous avez dquipements de loisirs. Et cest the more leisure facilities you have. And they are quand mme trs, trs souvent des endroits o lon va actually very, very often places where people go en famille, o il y a souvent des mini-clubs ou ce genre de as a family, where there are often mini-clubs, or that type of chose pour occuper les enfants. Bon, bien faire attention thing, to occupy the children. Okay, pay special attention au descriptif, tous ne proposent pas toutes ces prestations.1 to the description, all do not offer all these services. Mais cest vrai que cest un peu, peut-tre, le resort , But it is true that it is somewhat, perhaps, the resort,

bonnes adresses et des lieux conseiller. good addresses and places to recommend. SECTION 29 Et enfin, pour terminer, il y a And finally, in conclusion, there are les rsidences de tourisme. tourist residences.

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a correspond quoi exactement ? That corresponds to what, exactly? Jai envie de dire que a pourrait tre lquivalent I want to say that that could be the equivalent dun resort , je pense. Cest--dire que cest vraiment of a resort, I think. That is to say that it is really un lieu, donc, o vous avez un appartement. Et pour revenir a place, then, where you have an apartment. And to come back au linge de maison puisque cest important de savoir to household linens since it is important to know
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avec des installations de loisirs pour toute la famille. with leisure facilities for the whole family. SECTION 30 Je vais vous poser une question difficile. I am going to ask you a difficult question.

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une prestation = a service, a benefit, a level of performance.

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Je vais vous demander un avis. Je sais que cest I am going to ask you for an opinioin. I know that it is
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dbarquer1 au dernier moment, vous renseigner auprs de to turn up at the last moment, check with the loffice du tourisme de la ville, qui, lui, a la plupart du temps tourist office of the city that has, most of time,
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compliqu, mais que conseilleriez-vous des complicated, but what would you suggest to touristes trangers qui arriveraient par avion et foreign tourists who arrive by plane and qui voudraient passer quelques jours de vacances, who would like to spend a few days of vacation,
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un tat des, des rservations de ces htels. Alors, aprs, the status of the, of the reservations in those hotels. Well, beyond that, vous dire effectivement quel to tell you actually which... quel type de logement peut le mieux convenir, which type of accommodation is able to work the best, a dpend vraiment des attentes du visiteur, that depends truly on the expectations of the visitor, sil souhaite tre en indpendance totale, whether he wishes to be totally independent, sil souhaite vraiment rencontrer du monde, if he wishes truly to meet people, s'immerger en ville, tout, tout dpend vraiment, to become immersed in the city, everything, everything depends really,

quelques semaines chez nous. Est-ce quil vaut mieux1 a few weeks in our region. Is it better quils aillent lhtel, au camping, dans une that they go to a hotel, to a campground, to rsidence htelire ? Comment il faut les aiguiller ?2 a residence inn. How should we direct them ? Alors, avant toute chose, je conseille surtout Well, before anything, I suggest above all de rserver lavance. Parce quon a la chance dtre une (that they) reserve in advance. Because we have the luck of being a
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rgion trs, trs visite. Donc cest vrai, selon les priodes, much-visited region. So, its true, depending on the season, si vous venez Pques ou en t, il est indispensable de if you come at Easter time or in summer, it is imperative
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vraiment de ses envies. really upon his wishes. SECTION 31 Alors, toutes ces faons dtre hberg Well, all these ways to find lodgings en France, on peut les retrouver dans des guides qui in France, we can find them also in guides, which
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rserver lavance, et sinon, si vraiment vous souhaitez to reserve in advance, and failing that, if really you wish

il vaut mieux = it is better. See other examples on pages 9, 21, 54, and 99. aiguiller quelquun = to direct someone; to steer someone (in a certain direction). une aiguille = 1) a needle, 2) the hand of a clock, 3) a pointer, 4) a peak, a spire 5) a railroad switch. The verb comes from this last meaning.

sont, bien sr, disponibles ici, en France, dans are, of course, available here in France, in

dbarquer : literally, to land, to disembark; often used colloquially to mean to come, to show up without warning.

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la plupart des dpartements. Pour ce qui concerne most of the departments. With respect to notre dpartement des Bouches-du-Rhne, il y a our department of Bouches-du-Rhne, there are
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des guides plus gnriques tourisme , directement more generic tourism guides, directly partir du site visiteprovence.com. from the visiteprovence.com site. 

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tous ces guides disponibles dans all those guides available in les offices du tourisme, mais aussi sur un site Internet. the tourism offices, but also on an Internet site. Tout fait. Alors, il y a le site visiteprovence.com, Absolutely. Well, there is the site visiteprovence.com, qui, lui, va vous offrir la fois une liste dtaille which is going to offer at the same time a detailed list de tous les types dhbergement, donc lintgralit de of all the types of lodgings, so then, the whole of loffre1 des hbergements des Bouches-du-Rhne, et sur of the lodging offerings in the Bouches-du-Rhne and on le site, avec toutes les coordonnes compltes. the site, with all the contact information.

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Vous avez galement une rubrique rservations , You also have a reservations section, qui vous permet de rserver certains hbergements, htels which enables you to reserve some lodgings, hotels ou gtes de France en direct,2 en ligne, et vous pouvez aussi, or Homes of France in real time, on line, and you are also able,
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pour les adeptes du papier, tlcharger tous nos guides, for fans of paper, to download all our guides, guides htels et guides dhbergement, ainsi que hotel guides and lodgings guides, as well as

loffre = the supply, the whole of what is on the market. loffre et la demande = supply and demand. en direct = live; in real time.

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SECTION 32 Clmence Saint-Georges recueille auprs de son Clmence Saint-Georges gathers from her pre, Jean-Nol Mathieu, ses souvenirs de la priode de father, Jean-Nol Mathieu, his memories of the period of la Deuxime Guerre mondiale et nous les fait partager. the Second World War and shares them with us.

Jean-Nol Mathieu.

SECTION 33
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Bon, dabord, je te dirais que, comme je suis n Okay, first I will tell you that, as I was born en 1928, javais bon, disons, dix ans au moment de in 1928, I was, okay, lets say 10 years old at the time of la dclaration de guerre en septembre 1939. Javais the declaration of war in September, 1939. I had ce moment-l trois surs, trois petites surs, et avec mes at that time three sisters, three little sisters, and with my

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parents, nous habitions Reims, en Champagne. parents, we lived in Reims, in the Champagne region. Il faut dire aussi que mes grands-parents paternels It should be noted also that my paternal grandparents habitaient aussi Reims et que mon grand-pre maternel, lived also in Reims and that my maternal grandfather,

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avec ma tante, lautre son autre fille, vivaient Nancy, with my aunt, the other his other daughter, lived in Nancy, en Lorraine. in the Lorraine region. Il faut prciser aussi que nous sommes tous It should be specified also that we are all des Lorrains, donc voisins de lAllemagne, et ceci explique from Lorraine, thus, neighbors to Germany, and this explains beaucoup les ractions familiales, des ractions la fois1 a lot the reactions of the family, reactions (that were) both de dfiance vis--vis de nos voisins allemands, mais of distrust toward our German neighbors, but en mme temps une certaine attraction. Autrement dit,2 nous at the same time a certain attraction. In other words, we

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donc en 1937 et 1938, mes parents avaient fait venir1 des, so in 1937 and 1938, my parents had sent for, ce quon appelle des jeunes filles au pair, qui taient what we call au pair girls, who were des jeunes filles qui venaient pour s'occuper2 des enfants, girls who came to take care of the children, qui taient, donc, alors l, des Autrichiennes ; nous avons eu who were, then, in this case, Austrians; we had

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deux annes de suite des jeunes filles autrichiennes two years in a row Austrian girls qui sont venues sinstaller pour plusieurs mois en France who came to stay for several months in France pour apprendre le franais, soccuper de nous in order to learn French, to take care of us
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apprenions tous la langue allemande pendant nos tudes, all learned the German language in our studies, nous napprenions jamais, ou presque jamais, langlais we never learned, or almost never, English en premire langue, seulement en deuxime langue. Et nous as a first (foreign) language, only as a second (foreign) language. And we
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et nous apprendre galement un peu la langue allemande. and to teach us also a little the German language.

allions souvent mon pre lavait fait often went my father had done it faire des voyages dtudes en Allemagne, voil. to do study trips to Germany, there you have it. Et, galement, quelques annes avant la guerre, And, also, a few years before the war,

la fois = at the same time; at once; both. See other examples on pages 55 and 64. autrement dit = said another way; in other words. See another example on page 94.

faire venir quelquun = to have someone come; to send for someone. See another example on page 104. soccuper de quelque chose = to take care of something. Je men occupe. = Ill take care of it.; Im taking care of it.

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SECTION 34 Quel tait ltat desprit, ce moment-l, What was the state of mind at that time, dune famille Reims, vis--vis, justement, des of a family in Reims, with respect, precisely, to the
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les discours de Hitler. Alors l, jtais absolument fascin. Hitlers speeches. Well there, I was absolutely fascinated. Jentendais ses clats de voix1 normes, et jcoutais I heard his loud outbursts, and I listened to a absolument bouche be2 et bien conscient that with my mouth absolutely hanging open and well aware quil se passait quelque chose. Voil. that something was going on. Thats it.
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Allemands ? Est-ce que tas1 parl de mfiance, Germans? Is it that you have spoken of distrust, un petit peu, mais en mme temps vous aviez a little bit, but at the same time you had des contacts et vous appreniez leur langue ? contacts and you learned their language?

Et il y a eu aussi, nous avons assist 3 And there was also, we witnessed la prise de contrle de lAutriche par lAllemagne. the taking of control of Austria by Germany. La jeune fille autrichienne qui tait chez nous The Austrian girl who was with us ce moment-l, quand on lui a appris4 lentre des at that time, when we told her of the entrance of the troupes allemandes en Autriche, elle sest mise pleurer,5 German troops into Austria, she began to cry, clater en sanglots et, et tout a to burst into sobs and, and all that nous a beaucoup impressionns. a, cest lAutriche, made quite an impression on us. That, it is Austria,

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Cest--dire que nous voyions, That is to say that we saw, nous entendions parler, nous tions Moi-mme, we heard (people) talk, we were Myself, avec mes dix ans, jentendais tout de mme beaucoup parler with my ten years (of age) I heard, all the same, a lot of talking de lactualit,2 je me souviens que il marrivait douvrir3 about current events, I remember that I sometimes turned on la radio quand jtais tout seul la maison et de tomber sur4 the radio when I was all alone at home and (I would stumble upon) des postes allemands et dentendre ce moment-l German stations and I would hear at that time
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1 1 2

tas : distortion of tu as, quite frequent in spoken French. lactualit = current events. actuel = current; up to date. lheure actuelle = nowadays; in this day and age, literally, at the current hour. actuellement = currently. les actualits = the news. il marrivait douvrir : literally, it happened to me to open. See pages 14 and 26 for other examples of arriver quelquun de faire quelque chose. tomber sur : literally, to fall upon, to run into something, to find something in ones path. dentendre : the d here and the de before tomber in the previous line are continuations of the expression il marrivait de...

des clats de voix = an outburst; shouting. un clat = a bursting. la voix = the voice. bouche be = with ones mouth hanging open in wonder; flabbergasted; . assister quelque chose = to witness something; to be present for something; to attend (an event). apprendre quelque chose quelquun = 1) to inform someone of something; 2) to teach someone something. Compare to apprendre (to learn.) Often in French, one learns about a momentous event. Et quand jai appris la nouvelle... = And when I heard the news... se mettre faire quelque chose = to start to do something. Literally, to set oneself to doing something.

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je te rappelle, si tu ne ten souviens pas, que ctait I will remind you, if you... don't remember, that it was en 1938, hein, 1938, en mars 1938. in 1938, you know, 1938, in March 1938. Et puis alors, aprs, les choses se sont acclres, And so then, afterwards, things sped up,
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SECTION 35 Et avant la guerre, avant toutes ces prmices, And before the war, before all those preliminaries, avant les discours d[e ]Hitler, avant lOccupation, before Hitlers speeches, before the occupation, pendant les annes tu [ne] te souviens peut-tre pas during the years perhaps you dont remember beaucoup, mais entre 20 et 30, quel tait ltat desprit much, but between 20 and 30, what was the state of mind de votre famille vis--vis des Allemands en gnral, du of your family with respect to the Germans in general, to the peuple allemand, des gouvernements allemands, etc. German people, to the German governments, etc. a, l, cest tout fait clair. Mon pre avait fait Well, here, it is quite clear. My father had fought toute la guerre de 14.1 Il est Pour lui, les Allemands, the entire First World War. He is To him, the Germans, ctaient les Boches. Et il avait dans son grenier une paire de they were the krauts. And he had in his attic a pair of
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il y a eu les fameux accords de Munich, au moment o there was the famous Munich Pact, at the time when tout le monde craignait la guerre ; je me souviens trs bien everybody feared war; I remember very well quen septembre 1938 jtais en train de jouer avec that in September 1938 I was in the middle of playing with un de mes copains qui habitait ct Reims, et sa mre one of my buddies who lived nearby in Reims, and his mother la mre du copain est venue nous voir et elle nous a dit : my buddys mother came to see us and she said to us, Mes enfants, nous allons nous mettre genoux, My children, we are going to get on our knees, nous allons faire une prire pour la paix, car we are going to say a prayer for peace, for
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les grands dirigeants des pays europens the great leaders of the European countries sont en train de se runir Munich et pour savoir si are currently meeting in Munich in order to know if on va pouvoir sauvegarder la paix. Voil. Donc, ctait they will be able to save the peace. There you have it. So it was
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bottes quil conservait pour lentre Berlin lors de boots that he was keeping for the entrance into Berlin during la prochaine guerre ! Tu vois, donc, ctait une atmosphre the next war! You see, then it was an atmosphere de comptition, de revanche continuelle, a, cest absolument of competition, of ongoing revenge, that, it is absolutely
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lambiance, un peu, qui commenait , tu vois, monter. the atmosphere, a little, that was beginning to, you see, to rise.

certain. Et on savait bien, donc, lui, il savait bien, ctait certain. And people knew very well, so then, he knew very well, it was visible, que, un beau jour, a allait recommencer, obvious, that one fine day, that was going to start over,

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sacclrer = to speed up. tre en train de faire quelque chose = to be doing something; to be in the process of doing something.

la guerre de 14 - 18 : the war of 1914 to 1918; the first World War. la guerre de 39 - 45 = World War II.

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quil allait falloir remettre son uniforme et chausser ses that it would be necessary to put his uniform back on and to lace up his bottes ! Voil ltat desprit, tel que je pouvais le deviner1 boots! That was the state of mind, as I was able to sense it ce moment-l. at that time. SECTION 36 Continuons sur les ces prmices, comme a. Lets continue on the those preliminaries, like that. Quels ont t les vnements qui ont un peu What were the events that have, somewhat prcipit les choses et qui ont fait que la guerre, precipitated things and which made it so that the war, un moment quelconque, elle tait l,2 quoi ? at some given moment, it had arrived, you know? Oui, une autre chose quon peut dire sur les ractions Yes, another thing that we can say about the reactions
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avant en 1870, et avant en 1815 , dtre envahi par previously in 1870, and previously in 1815 being invaded by les troupes allemandes. Alors, il avait pens quen Normandie the German troops. So he had thought that in Normandy ctait en effet un bon endroit pour tre labri de tous les it was in effect a good place to be sheltered from all the de tous les dveloppements de guerre. Et lexprience from all the war developments. And experience a montr quil stait compltement tromp,1 bien entendu.2 showed that he was completely mistaken, of course. Voil, il a donc achet cette maison en 1939, Pques, Thats it, he thus purchased that house in 1939, at Easter, je crois, et nous sommes alls, toute la famille I believe, and we went, the whole family est alle sinstaller pour les vacances de 1939, donc, went to settle in for the 1939 vacation, then, sur la cte normande, Blonville, on the Normandy coast, in Blonville, dans la maison que tu connais. in the house that you know. Et alors, l naturellement, cest ce moment-l And so, then naturally, it is at that time

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de la famille vis--vis des risques de guerre, cest que mon of the family with respect to the risks of war, it is that my grand-pre, celui de Nancy, quand il a vu les choses grandfather, the one from Nancy, when he saw things se prcipiter, est all un peu en catastrophe en Normandie, accelerate, went somewhat in a panic to Normandy
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pour acqurir une maison, hein. De faon viter de to acquire a house, you know. In order to avoid se retrouver comme a avait dj t le cas en 1914, et finding himself as that had already been the case in 1914, and

se tromper = to be mistaken. See pages 4 and 42 for other examples of se tromper. Compare to tromper quelquun = to trick someone; to mislead someone; to cheat on someone. See page 44 for an example of someone being fooled (tromp) by something. bien entendu = of course. Literally, well heard. entendre = to hear.

deviner = to guess (in this context, the speaker was so young that he probably sensed things more than he actually knew or guessed.) elle tait l : it was here; the war had arrived. Literally, l means there, but is often used to mean here or now.

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quest ne lhistoire de la Pologne,1 hein, et, bon, that the Poland situation arose, you know, and okay, un beau jour on a entendu sonner les cloches, hein. Alors les one fine day, we heard the church bells ring, you know. So the
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dcid dans la famille que nous ne reviendrions pas dans lest decided in the family that we would not return to the East de la France, ni nous Reims ni mon grand-pre Nancy, et of France, neither we to Reims, nor my grandfather to Nancy, and que nous resterions, en attendant ce qui allait se passer,1 that we would stay, until we saw what would happen, en Normandie. in Normandy. SECTION 37 Parce que vous aviez le pressentiment de quoi ? Because you had a premonition of what?
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adultes se sont prcipits pour voir ce qui se passait, adults rushed to see what was happening et sont revenus les femmes en pleurant en disant : and came back, the women crying, saying,
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a y est,2 cest la mobilisation, cest la guerre. Voil. This is it, this is the mobilization, this is war. There you have it. Donc, dans cette atmosphre de vacances, si tu veux, So, in this atmosphere of vacation, if you will, a surgi le phnomne guerre, hein. appeared the war phenomenon, you know.
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Quel tait le risque pour vous, en rentrant Reims What was the risk for you, if you returned to Reims ce moment-l ? at that time? Le risque, ctait quil se passe quelque chose The risk, it was that something would happen (that would be)
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Alors notre pre, naturellement, qui [n]tait dj pas Then our father, of course, who already was not trs jeune, mais, enfin, qui avait tout de mme very young, but, I mean, who had all the same ce moment-l quarante, quarante-quatre ans, qui tait at that time 40 or 44 years, who was capitaine de rserve, a t tout de suite mobilis, donc captain in the reserves, was immediately mobilized, so il [n]est pas venu nous rejoindre en Normandie, et il a t he did not come to join us in Normandy and it was
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danalogue ce qui stait pass en 1914, cest--dire similar to what had occurred in 1914, that is to say une invasion de la France par lEst, par le Nord, et an invasion of France from the east, from the north and tout de suite avec les cortges de rfugis que tous right away with the lines of refugees that all les Franais avaient encore en mmoire, hein, the French still had in their memory, you know,

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quest ne lhistoire de la Pologne : literally, that was born the story of Poland. See page 83 for another example of tre n (to be born) being used to mean to come into existence. lhistoire = the story; the history; the episode. a y est = here it is; its done; the time has arrived. Vous avez sorti la poubelle? (Have you taken the garbage out?) Oui, a y est. (Yes, its done.) See another example on page 88. surgir = to appear suddenly; to spring up.

en attendant ce qui allait se passer : from en attendant (while waiting for) + ce qui (that which) + allait (was going) + se passer (to happen).

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il faut te souvenir que 1918-1938, a fait vingt ans,1 you must remember that 1918-1938, thats 20 years, cest rien,2 hein, donc la plupart des Franais adultes, surtout its nothing, you know, so most of the French adults, especially les Franais de la rgion, des rgions du Nord et de lEst, the French from the region, from the regions of the north and the east
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elles se sont dgrades extrmement rapidement. they deteriorated extremely rapidly. Le front franais a tout de suite t perc, les Allemands The French front was immediately penetrated, the Germans avec leurs divisions blindes trs efficaces ont envahi le with their very efficient armored divisions invaded the trs rapidement, la moiti de la France. Et en fait, la raction very quickly, half of France. And in fact, the reaction

avaient le souvenir trs vif de ce qui stait pass, hein. had the very vivid memory of what had happened, you know.
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Cest ce qui explique dailleurs que, quand linvasion This is what explains, moreover that, when the invasion par les troupes allemandes en au mois de, de mai 1940 by the German troops in in the month of, of May 1940
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de la plupart des Franais a t de se dire : of most of the French was to say, Bon, ben, il faut fuir ! , hein. Donc, ce moment-l Okay, well, we must flee, you know. So, at that point a commenc ce quon appelait lexode , qui a t began what was called the exodus, which was
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a eu lieu,3 eh bien, les Franais dailleurs comme les occurred, well, the French moreover, like the Belges se sont prcipits4 sur les routes pour fuir linvasion. Belgians rushed onto the roads to flee the invasion. SECTION 38 de mai 1940 a eu lieu linvasion de Ds le mois As early as the month of May 1940 occurred the invasion of

une source, dailleurs, de difficults considrables pour a source, besides, of considerable difficulty for larme franaise, mais o les routes taient absolument the French army, but where the roads were absolutely encombres de files infinies de voitures, de charrettes, jammed with endless lines of cars, of carts, de bestiaux. of animals. Et malheureusement, nous avons cd cette And unfortunately, we gave in to this panique. Notre pre, naturellement, nous avions perdu tout panic. Our father, of course, we had lost all contact avec lui, mes grands-parents gs avec leurs contact with him, my aged grandparents with their

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la Belgique, et de la Hollande, et de la France, donc, Belgium and of Holland and of France, then, le 10 mai, hein. Donc ce moment-l, on a commenc voir on May 10, you know. So at that time, we began to see que les choses devenaient srieuses et, comme tu le sais, that things were becoming serious and, as you know,

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a fait = that makes. This expression is often used when doing calculations. cest rien : short for ce nest rien. avoir lieu = to take place; to happen. le lieu = the place. se prcipiter = to rush.

souvenirs de la guerre prcdente, notre mre qui attendait memories of the previous war, our mother, who waited for

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ce que disent les hommes, hein, bien entendu, comme ctait what the men were saying, you know, of course, as was le cas bien souvent, ben ils ont dcid un beau jour the case very often, well they decided one fine day
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craindre. Voil, si tu veux, ce qui sest pass au mois to fear. There is, if you will, what happened in the month de juin, donc, au moment de linvasion. of June, then, at the time of the invasion. Alors nous nous sommes arrts en Vende, So we stopped in the Vende region, parce que mon grand-pre y connaissait des amis qui avaient because my grandfather knew some friends there who had

quil fallait partir, et que mme la Normandie, that it was necessary to leave, and that even Normandy a ntait plus sr, donc il fallait fuir vers le sud de la France. it was no longer safe, so it was necessary to flee to the south of France.
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Alors, ce moment-l sest organis un petit convoi So, at that time was organized a little convoy entre mon grand-pre et sa fille clibataire, donc ma tante, between my grandfather and his unmarried daughter, so my aunt, mon grand-pre maternel, mes grands-parents paternels, my maternal grandfather, my paternal grandparents, notre mre et les quatre enfants, et un petit convoi de deux our mother and the four children, and a small convoy of two voitures, qui est parti sur les routes de Normandie cars, that left on the roads of Normandy
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une proprit assez grande et qui ont pu loger toute a fairly large house and who were able to provide lodgings for toute notre petite expdition. all of our little group. Et cest l, donc, au mois de juin, vers le 15 juin, And it is there, then, in the month of June, towards June 15, je crois, que nous avons t rattraps1 par I believe, that we were caught up to by les troupes allemandes. Alors l, cest aussi un de the German troops. Well there, it is also one of mes souvenirs denfance, si tu veux, cest, en regardant my childhood memories, if you will, it is looking par la fentre, de voir arriver deux motocyclistes allemands, out the window, to see arriving two German motorcyclists, avec des grands impermables gris descendant jusquaux with long grey raincoats going all the way to their pieds, quips de faon superbe, qui sont venus feet, superbly equipped, who came faire un tour, puis ils sont repartis, et puis ensuite, alors, to check things out, then they left, and then next, well,
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en direction de la Loire. headed for the Loire region. Et alors l, un de mes grands souvenirs aussi, c'est And, then, one of my great memories also, is que, au moment o nous avons travers la Loire, mon that, at the time when we crossed the Loire, my
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grand-pre a dit : Nous sommes sauvs ! , voil, grandfather said: We are saved!, there you have it, simaginant que la Loire tait un obstacle infranchissable believing that the Loire river was an insurmountable obstacle pour les troupes allemandes et que nous navions plus rien for the German troops and that we no longer had anything
1

rattraper = to overrun; to catch up with. Compare to attraper (to catch.)

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des dfils de, de camions, de chars de toutes sortes qui lines of, of trucks, of tanks of all sorts that sont et qui en Vende, il faut voir, hein, que cest are and which... in Vende, you have to see, you know that it is les troupes allemandes, ce moment-l, sont alles jusqu the German troops, at that time, went all the way to
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Ben, aprs tout, le marchal Ptain na fait que ce qui Why, after all, Marchal Ptain only did what la seule chose faire, nous sommes manifestement the only thing to do, we are obviously compltement submergs, nos chefs nous ont trahis completely overwhelmed, our leaders betrayed us [bien entendu, cest toujours le thme de la trahison], mais (of course, its always the theme of betrayal) but il va falloir sarranger2 avec, avec bon, ben, ma foi,1 okay, why, well, its going to be necessary to get along with, with ces Allemands. Mais daprs ce que lon a pu voir, these Germans. But from what we could see, si tu veux, la rsistance nest ne3 if you will, the resistance didnt come into existence tout de mme que quelque temps aprs, hein. actually until sometime later, you know. Il y a eu dabord une priode pendant laquelle There was first a period during which
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la frontire espagnole, hein, pratiquement. the Spanish border, you know, practically. SECTION 39 Les Franais nont pas tous ragi de la mme faon. The French did not all react in the same manner. Et il y avait, en face de cette arrive des troupes allemandes, And there was, faced with this arrival of German troops,

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la raction qui consistait dire : Ben aprs tout, tous ces the reaction that consisted in saying, Why, after all, all these Allemands sont bien corrects. Tu vois ? Korrekt avec Germans are pretty civil. You see? Civil with un K,1 presque, hein. Au dbut, a a t cela, en fait. Le, a K, almost, you know. At first, thats what it was, in fact. The, la situation sest dgrade au cours des annes, bien sr, the situation deteriorated through the years, of course, mais au dpart, quand ils ont occup la France, et en dehors but at the start, when they occupied France, and outside de la zone des combats, dans laquelle nous ntions pas, of the combat zone, in which we were not, ben, les Allemands se comportaient trs bien. Et donc, why, the Germans behaved very well. And then,
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les Franais ont t un peu assomms. Ils ont eu une ide, the French were a little overcome. They had one thought, ctait de rentrer chez eux, hein, ctait notre cas, en fait, it was to return home, you know, that was our case, in fact, puisquon tait dans une position on tait un peu comme since we were in a position we were a little like des oiseaux sur une branche et donc la, le principal souci, birds on a branch and so the, the main concern

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par consquent, beaucoup de Franais ont dit : consequently, many French people said,

1 2

The German spelling is korrekt.

ma foi = I guess; My lands!; Well! Literally, my faith. sarranger = to come to an agreement; to sort things out. See another example of sarranger on page 94. Compare to arranger (to arrange; to settle; to suit; to fix, to put right.) tre n = to be born, to come into existence.

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ctait de rentrer chez soi. Et puis a a t aussi de trouver it was to return home. And also that was also to find de quoi manger, de quoi shabiller, etc., dans une, something to eat, something to wear, etc., in a, une conomie qui tait compltement dsorganise. Mais an economy that was completely disorganized. But ce moment-l il [n]y a pas eu de, il [n]y a pas eu de at that time there was no, there was no rsistance. On tait de cur1 avec les efforts que resistance. We were supporting morally the efforts that faisait de Gaulle, hein, mais a nallait pas au-del. De Gaulle was making, you know, but it did not go beyond (that).
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dans un collge de jsuites, Reims, qui tait men in a Jesuit school, in Reims, which was run de faon tout fait rigoureuse, et il [n]y a pas eu de in a very strict manner, and there were no problmes. problems. Alors, on peut dire cette occasion-l, dailleurs, Well, we can say in these circumstances, moreover, que ctait assez caractristique de voir lvolution des that it was fairly typical to see the evolution of the Franais travers lvolution des bons jsuites. French through the evolution of the good Jesuits. Les bon jsuites, au dpart, taient tout fait ptainistes et The good Jesuits, at the start, were completely for Ptain and avaient Naturellement, la nouvelle mode, ctait had Naturally, the new fashion, it was tout de mme le retour aux valeurs traditionnelles, nevertheless the return to traditional values,
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SECTION 40 Lcole, elle avait repris2 de faon tout fait School, it had resumed in manner (that was) absolutely normale, comme avant la guerre. T[u n]as pas eu de normal, as before the war. You didnt have any mal avec ces alles et venues en Normandie,3 trouble with those trips to and from Normandy,
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le travail, la famille, la patrie, voil des mots qui sonnaient work, family, fatherland, those were words that sounded de faon trs trs sympathique, si tu veux, aux oreilles des in a very, very nice way, if you will, to the ears of the religieux.1 Et donc, par consquent, les jsuites, Church. And so, consequently, the Jesuits, comme beaucoup de prtres, ont t au dpart ptainistes. like many priests, were at first Ptain supporters. Je me souviens quil y a eu, loccasion de la visite de I remember that there was, on the occasion of the visit of

des petits bouts danne par-ci par-l, with little bits of a year here and there, tout le monde a repris son rythme normal ? everybody got back to his normal rhythm ? Oui, oui, les coles ont bien fonctionn. Moi, je Yes, yes, the schools functioned very well. Me, I
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jtais dj, avant la guerre et javais repris les tudes I was already, before the war and I had resumed my studies

2 3

tre de cur : the usual expression is tre de tout cur avec = to support something with all ones heart. reprendre = 1) to take back, 2) to resume, to start back up again. ces alles et venues : literally, these goings and comings.

un religieu = a monk; a friar. une religieuse = a nun.

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je ne sais plus quel ministre de la Jeunesse,1 toutes les I dont remember which Minister of Youth, all the coles de Reims qui ont t rassembles sur le stade, et que schools of Reims that had been gathered in the stadium, and that
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eux, rsistaient, enfin, avaient des activits beaucoup plus they, resisted, I mean, had activities (that were) much more directes, et il le savait et il ne cessait de leur dire : direct and he knew it and he never ceased to tell them, Faites attention, faites attention, votre famille, etc. Be careful, be careful, your family, etc. Et il est arriv dans certains cas ce qui devait arriver, And there happened in some cases what had to happen, cest--dire que ces copains en question ont t arrts et that is to say that these buddies in question were arrested and plusieurs ne sont pas revenus. Mais je crois quon peut dire several did not come back. But I believe that we can say que la proccupation essentielle de notre pre, , that the main preoccupation of our father in, cette poque-l, ctait de dire : Il faut assurer le, in those days, it was to say, It is necessary to ensure the
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tout le monde tait invit crier Vive Ptain, vive Ptain . everybody was urged to shout, Long live Ptain, long live Ptain. Tout a sest pass tout fait au dbut, au dbut de 41, All that happened in the very beginning, at the beginning of 41, et assez rapidement, les bons jsuites ont compltement and fairly quickly, the good Jesuits completely
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vir, tourn casaque2 et, au contraire, sont entrs dans changed sides and, on the contrary, entered into des activits beaucoup plus de beaucoup plus de rsistance. activities (that were) much more much more of resistance. Et Donc l, pareil, ta famille reste trs And... So there, the same thing, your family remains very proche de De Gaulle close to De Gaulle? Oui, ma famille est reste proche de De Gaulle, Yes, my family remained close to De Gaulle, mais mon pre na jamais eu, a je dois le [il] faut dire but my father has never had, that, I must we have to tell les choses comme elles sont, il na jamais eu dactivits things like they are, he never had any activities

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la vie, la vie de la famille. the life, the life of the family. SECTION 41 Si tu veux, ce moment-l, les Allemands ... If you will. at that time, the Germans se repliaient trs vite, hein. Aprs, quand ils ont perdu were retreating very quickly, you know. Afterwards, when they lost
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de rsistance active ou, tout au moins, sil en a eu, of active resistance or at least, if he had some, il ne la jamais dit. Et je sais que il avait quelques amis qui, he never said so. And I know that he had a few friends who,

la bataille de Normandie, ils ont vacu assez rapidement the Battle of Normandy, they evacuated fairly rapidly la France, hein. Alors, Paris a t, donc, libr un peu avant France, you know. Then, Paris was, then, liberated a little before nous, hein, mais on la entendu la radio, trs bien, la, us, you know, but we heard it on the radio, very well, the

1 2

This is a government minister and not a religious minister. tourner casaque : from tourner (to turn) + une casaque (a jockeys coat). tourner casaque = to change opinions, to switch sides.

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la libration de Paris et, bon, les troupes allemandes the liberation of Paris and, okay, the German troops se repliaient, mais on ne savait pas si elles [n]allaient pas were retreating, but we did not know if they were not going
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Jeep amricaine s'est tourn vers nous et a dit : American Jeep turned toward us and said, Champagne ? Et alors, naturellement, il y avait une Champagne? And then, naturally, there was a bouteille de Champagne qui ntait pas loin et, bottle of Champagne that was not far and, et tout de suite ils ont t abreuvs.1 and right away they were given something to drink. a, ils ont certainement ce moment-l, That, they have certainly At that time,
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sarrter, faire une contre-offensive, enfin ctait difficile de to stop, to launch a counter-offensive, I mean it was difficult savoir ce qui allait se passer. to know what was going to happen. Bon, puis un beau jour, Okay, then one fine day, il est arriv ce qui devait arriver, cest--dire what had to happen happened, that is to say quon a entendu dnormes grondements that we heard very loud rumbles
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il [n]y avait plus trop de guerre dangereuse, si tu veux. there was no longer too much dangerous combat, if you will. Les Allemands, ils fichaient2 le camp assez vite et bon, ben, The Germans, they were leaving fairly quickly and okay disons que la traverse du vignoble champenois a t lets say that the crossing of the Champagne vineyards was une priode qui a t probablement assez, assez a period that was probably fairly, fairly sympathique pour, pour les Amricains de, pleasant for, for the Americans of, de l'arme amricaine. Ils avaient beaucoup souffert en, of the American army. They had suffered a lot in, en Normandie, c'est sr, hein, in Normandy, thats for sure, you know,

10 ou 15 kilomtres, et les gens regardaient avec 10 or 15 kilometers away and people were looking through des jumelles, ils ont dit : Bon, a y est, il y a des chars qui binoculars, they said, Okay, thats it, there are tanks which arrivent, cest des chars amricains. Alors ce moment-l are coming, they are American tanks. Well, at that moment
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ctait la grande la grande folie de tout le monde. it was a great a great madness with everybody. Il faut se souvenir quon tait en Champagne, You must remember that we were in the Champagne region
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et par consquent, quand on a vu arriver un petit convoi de, and, consequently, when we saw coming a small convoy of de Jeeps amricaines, tout le monde les a entoures, etc., of American Jeeps, everybody surrounded them, etc., bravo, bravo, et naturellement le conducteur de la premire bravo, bravo, and naturally the driver of the first

mais en Champagne, a allait mieux. but in Champagne, that was going better.

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abreuver = to give somebody something to drink. The speaker could also have said, On leur a donn boire. (We gave them something to drink.) ficher le camp (colloquial, informal) = to run away, to flee, to split

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Rgisseur de cinma 9 1

SECTION 42 Monsieur Philippe Rebbot nous parle avec passion de Mister Philippe Rebbot speaks to us with passion about son mtier de rgisseur sur his work as a production manager on les plateaux de tournage de films. movie sets.
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Ses propos ont t recueillis par Nathalie Faucher. His remarks were collected by Nathalie Faucher.

Philippe Rebbot.

SECTION 43 Philippe, bonjour. Philippe, hello. Bonjour. Hello.

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Alors, vous avez quarante ans. Vous tes Well, you are 40 years old. You are rgisseur sur les tournages1 de films franais. a production manager in the filming of French motion pictures. Est-ce que vous aviez une famille qui allait au cinma, Did you have a family that went to the movies,

le tournage = the filming.

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est-ce que votre pre, votre oncle, votre mre taient were your father, your uncle, your mother des cinphiles ?1 movie fans? Oui, alors, en fait, ma mre ntait pas du tout Yes, well, in fact, my mother was not at all
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je suis all voir au cinma. Ceci dit,1 le premier film I went to see at the cinema. Having said that, the first film dont je me souvienne, avec mon pre justement, donc, which I remember, with my father in fact, then, je pense que cest un des premiers films que jai vus I think that it is one of the first films that I saw de toute faon. Cest Papillon , cest un film avec in any case. It is Papillon, it is a film with Steve McQueen et Dustin Hoffman lhistoire dun bagnard2 Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman the story of a convict qui schappe du bagne. Voil, et voil mon premier who escapes from the penal colony. Thats it, and theres my first
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cinphile. Mes grands-parents, mes oncles, tout a, a movie fan. My grandparents, my uncles, all that, pas du tout non plus. Mais en fait mon pre, quand not at all, either. But in fact my father, when on est arrivs en France puisquon est arrivs en France we arrived in France since we arrived in France quand javais une dizaine2 dannes mon pre tait when I was about 10 years old my father was

souvenir de film Et commencer par a, ctait norme, hein, memory of a film And to begin with that, it was big, you know, voir Steve McQueen face Dustin Hoffman, voil, to see Steve McQueen opposite Dustin Hoffman, thats it, a a mis la barre3 trs, trs haut, hein. that set my standards very, very high, you know. SECTION 44

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au chmage.3 Donc, en fait, tous les jeudis, qui taient unemployed. So, in fact, every Thursday, which was les jours de o je navais pas classe, moi puisque the day of when I did not have school, me since lpoque on navait pas classe le jeudi , tous les jeudis, at the time we did not have school on Thursday every Thursday,

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il memmenait au cinma. he took me to the cinema Votre souvenir, de votre premier film Your memory, of your first film au cinma, que vous tes all voir at the cinema, that you went to see Alors je ne sais pas si cest le premier film que Well, I dont know if it is the first film that

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Quelle est, exactement, la dfinition dun What is, exactly, the definition of a rgisseur ? Quest-ce que cest, un rgisseur ? production manager? What is it, a production manager? Nathalie, je savais que vous alliez Nathalie, I knew that you were going me poser cette question. Je vais essayer dtre clair. to ask me this question. I am going to try to be clear.

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1 2 3

un cinphile = a movie fan. une dizaine = about 10. au chmage = unemployed. le chmage = unemployment. un chmeur = an unemployed person.

1 2

ceci dit : the correct expression is cela dit. un bagnard = convict (in a penal colony); un bagne = a penal colony. mettre la barre trs haut = to set a very high standard.

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Rgisseur, cest lorganisateur du tournage, en gros. Production manager, it is the organizer of the filming, roughly. Autrement dit,1 il y a un ralisateur2 qui a un jour envie3 de In other words, there is a director who one day feels like faire un film, qui le propose un producteur qui dit quil making a movie, who submits it to a producer, who says that he
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la prfecture,1 puis ensuite, il y a un plan de travail the prefecture, and then, there is a work plan qui est fait, donc, chaque jour, on Enfin, on dtermine that is done, so every day, we I mean, we determine ce quon va faire chaque jour, donc, il faut organiser un peu what we will do each day, so, we have to organize somewhat le planning avec lassistant ralisateur, voil. On prpare the schedule with the assistant director, thats it. We prepare le planning, on prpare les, le tournage en lui-mme, the schedule, we prepare the, the filming itself, a prend un mois ou deux avec les tournages eux-mmes. that takes one month or two with the filming sessions themselves.
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va mettre de largent dans ce film, voil. is going to put money into this film, thats it. Et ce quil faut trouver partir de l, cest, And what needs to be found from then on, it is, en prenant le scnario,4 cest des dcors, lendroit in accordance with the script, it is the scenery, the place
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o vont se jouer les scnes. Il faut donc pour a avoir where the scenes will be played. It is thus necessary, for that, to get des autorisations, sarranger5 avec les propritaires authorizations, to make arrangements with the owners des endroits o on va tourner. Ensuite, si on veut tourner of the places where we will film. Next, if we want to film des squences de voitures dans la rue, il faut contacter car scenes in the street, it is necessary to contact

SECTION 45 Et tout a, a sapprend lcole ? And all that, that is learned at school? Est-ce que on vous forme,2 il y a, Do they train you, there are, il existe des formations pour tre rgisseur, there exist training programs to become a production manager,
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ou a sapprend plutt sur le tas3 ? or that is learned more on the job? a commence venir.4 Cest--dire, que depuis, It is starting to happen. That is to say that for, je pense, une dizaine dannes maintenant, on essaie de I think, about ten years now, they are trying

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autrement dit = in other words; said in another way. See another example on page 68. un ralisateur = a (film) director. qui a un jour envie de faire un film : this is actually two expressions combined: avoir envie de faire quelque chose (to want to something; to feel like doing something) and un jour (one day; at some point in time). en prenant le scnario : literally, in taking the script. This means working from the script, going by the script. sarranger avec quelquun = to make arrangements with someone; to make a deal with someone; to come to agreement with someone. See another example of sarranger on page 83.

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la prfecture = the prefecture. le prfet = the prefect (the highest ranking official in an administrative district or territorial possession of France) former quelquun = to train someone. la formation = training. sur le tas = on the job. le tas = the pile; the heap. a commence venir = that is starting to happen; that is starting to be seen. Literally, that is starting to come.

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former des jeunes un peu tous les mtiers de cinma. to train young people a little for all the film-related jobs.
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grer1 l-dedans, mais On commence expliquer that has to be managed there, but We are beginning to explain to des jeunes ce que c'est que le mtier de rgisseur, en gros, young people what the job of production manager is about, roughly, c'est organisateur, mais, ensuite, il faut les amener trs vite it is organizer, but next, you must bring them very quickly sur le terrain, pour voir, puisque cest aussi into the field, to see, since it is also
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Nanmoins, a sapprend mieux sur le tas, cest--dire que, Nevertheless, that is best learned on the job, that is to say that comme c[e n]est que du pratique, en ralit, hein, because it is only practice, in reality, you know, il [n]y a pas de thorie puisque on ne fait que rpondre there is no theory since all we do is meet
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une demande quasi permanente voil. Ce quon pourrait a demand which is nearly permanent thats it. What one could apprendre le mieux, cest 1 se dbrouiller,2 en gros, best learn, is to get by, roughly, en gros dcider quil [n]y a pas de problmes, roughly to decide that there are no problems,
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dans le rapport humain que a se passe, le, le le travail. on the human level that that takes place, the, the the work. SECTION 46 Un souvenir de votre premire journe sur A memory of your first day on votre premier tournage your first filming

il [n]y a que des solutions. Cest l, le3 grand principe there are only solutions. There lies the great principle de la rgie. Cest on ne peut pas ne pas rpondre of production. It is we cannot not meet une demande. Et, mais jirai mme plus loin, on a demand. And, but I will go even further, we ne peut pas ne pas y rpondre4 dans une certaine urgence. cannot not answer it (the need) rather rapidly. Et a, c'est la partie drle du cinma, hein, tout est toujours And that is the funny part of the cinema, you know, everything is always urgent, mais rien nest important, donc il y a quelque chose urgent, but nothing is important, so there is something
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Ctait, comment je dirais ? Comme un tourbillon, It was, how would I say? Like a whirlwind, cest--dire que je suis arriv l, jtais stagiaire rgie,2 that is to say that I arrived there, I was a production trainee cest--dire Disons quil y a trois niveaux dans la rgie : that is to say Lets say that there are three levels in production: il y a le stagiaire, adjoint la rgie et rgisseur gnral. there is trainee, assistant in production and general production manager. Les quipes videmment grossissent selon la grosseur Crews, of course, grow according to the size des films, mais disons que a, cest une quipe de base. of the films, but lets say that that, it is a basic crew.

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2 3 4

: this is part of apprendre faire quelque chose (to learn to do something.) se dbrouiller = to get by; to make do; to manage. Cest l = there it is; it is there. See a similar example on page 30. rpondre quelque chose = to respond to something. y rpondre = to respond to it.

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grer : literally, to manage. un stagiaire = a trainee. un stage = a training course; an internship.

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Donc, je suis arriv comme petit stagiaire rgie et So, I arrived as a little trainee in production and
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je [ne] comprenais rien ce mtier o il fallait aller vite, I understood nothing about this work where you had to go fast,
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je ne connaissais rien au1 cinma, part mon admiration I knew nothing about the cinema, excepting my admiration pour les acteurs. for the actors. Donc le premier jour, je nai rien compris, So the first day, I did not understand anything,

o je [ne] savais pas qui il fallait donner les choses, where I did not know to whom I was supposed to give things, o on me disait : Va donner a au machiniste. where they were telling me, Go give that to the stage hand. Je [ne] savais pas ce que faisait le machiniste, donc j'allais I did not know what the stage hand did, so I was going vers des gens en disant : C'est qui le machiniste ? Aprs towards people saying, Who is the stage hand? Next on me demandait du th pour Jean-Louis, je [ne] savais pas they asked me for tea for Jean-Louis, I did not know qui tait Jean-Louis, or1 tout le monde sappelle par son who Jean-Louis was, yet everybody is called by their prnom, et il y a des prnoms quil vaut mieux2 connatre, first name and there are first names that it is better to know,

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je ne savais pas qui faisait quoi, parce que a va dans I did not know who did what, because that goes in tous les sens, on se dplace en permanence. Jessayais de all directions, they move constantly. I was trying to comprendre quel tait mon mtier, alors que personne ne understand what was my job, while nobody me demandait rien, en gros, ou peu prs, enfin, was asking me for anything, roughly, or approximately, I mean,

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on me demandait des choses, mais jattendais les ordres de they asked me for some things, but I was waiting for orders from mon rgisseur gnral. Et surtout je nai pas quitt des yeux2 my production manager. And above all, I did not take my eyes off lactrice principale, qui tait Juliette Binoche, et voil. of the main actress. who was Juliette Binoche, and thats it.
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comme le prnom du ralisateur, le prnom such as the first name of the director, the first name du chef oprateur, enfin, de quelques postes, comme a, of the head operator, in short, of some positions, like that, quand on vous dit : Il faut un th pour Jean-Louis, when they tell you, We need tea for Jean-Louis,
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Donc jai surtout vcu3 cette journe en regardant So, I mostly lived through that day watching Juliette Binoche et, et en me disant que Juliette Binoche and, and telling myself that

trs vite ! , en gnral, cest ou le ralisateur ou3 very quickly! in general, it is either the director or le chef oprateur, parfois lingnieur du son, mais ils sont the head operator, sometimes the sound engineer, but they are moins capricieux. Et donc, voil. less temperamental. And so, thats it.

ne rien connatre quelque chose = to know nothing about something; to have no familiarity with something. ne pas quitter quelquun des yeux = not to take your eyes off of someone. vivre = to live. vivre quelque chose = to experience something.

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or = yet; whereas; but; now. il vaut mieux = it is better. See other examples on pages 9, 21, 54, and 62. ou... ou = either... or.

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Donc, une grande trouille,1 je pense que jai perdu So, a big fright, I think that I lost 15 kilos la premire journe. Et et puis voil, et puis 15 kilos the first day. And... and then that's it, and then
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en gros, voil. Je me disais : Aprs tout, je suis roughly, thats it. I was telling myself, After all, I am un homme. Et je suis rentr en me disant : a man. And I came home telling myself, Quand mme, je suis un homme avant dtre un All the same, I am a man before being a une personne de cinma, enfin, un professionnel a person of the cinema, I mean, a professional du cinma. of the cinema.
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jai pleur en rentrant, parce que aprs, cest assez martial, I cried when I got home, because afterwards, its fairly soldier-like, hein, cest assez militaire, le rgisseur gnral, selon leur you know, its fairly military, the production manager, depending on his
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temprament. Il y a des rgisseurs gnraux moi, temperament. There are general production managers me, je suis un rgisseur gnral plutt sympa2 , mais il y a I am a rather friendly general production manager but there are des rgisseurs gnraux qui sont vraiment des gnraux, general production managers who are truly generals,
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SECTION 47 Aujourdhui, a fait vingt ans, Today, its been 20 years, vous navez plus subir1 toutes ces humiliations. you no longer have to suffer all those humiliations. Quel est votre quotidien2 ? Le matin, vous vous levez, What is your daily routine? In the morning, you get up,
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autrement dit, qui vous donnent des ordres, il faut aller trs in other words, who give you orders, you have to go very vite, on vous traite un peu comme3 voil. Donc il faut fast, they treat you a little like thats it. So, you have to supporter4 a. a, a ressemble une humiliation put up with that. That, thats like a humiliation un moment, a, cest Donc la premire journe, at one point, that, it is So the first day, pour moi, elle ressemblait une humiliation de desclave, for me, it was like the humiliation of... of a slave,
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quest-ce que vous faites ? what do you do? Ben, tout dpend, [il] y a vraiment deux phases trs Well, that depends, there are really two phases that are very diffrentes dans la dans la vie dun rgisseur, en tout cas, different in the in the life of a production manager, in any case, ce qui nest pas le cas pour tous les techniciens. Certains which is not the case for all technicians. Some narrivent que pour le tournage. Moi, en tant que3 rgisseur, arrive only for the filming. Me, as a production manager,

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la trouille (colloquial) = fear. avoir la trouille (colloquial) = to be very scared. Do not use this in formal situations. Literally, avoir la trouille = to have diarrhea. The standard expression is avoir peur. sympa : short for sympathique. un peu comme... : publishers note: we cut a word from the sound here. supporter = to bear; to hold up. supporter quelque chose = to put up with something; to accept something. Compare to insupportable (unbearable). See another example on page 46.

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avoir faire quelque chose = to have to do something. le quotidien = everyday life. en tant que = as; in the capacity of. See another example on page 24.

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mon travail commence deux mois avant le film. my work begins two months before the film. Et ce n'est pas le mme rythme en prparation And it is not the same rhythm in preparation
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puisquelle est On est cens arriver1 avant tout le monde, since it is We are supposed to arrive before everybody, donc on est l au minimum une heure avant. Donc, certains so we are there at least one hour before. So, some tournages qui commencent sept heures du matin, filmings that begin at 7:00 a.m. pour nous, a veut dire quon est l six heures du matin, for us, that means that we are there at 6:00 a.m., voire2 parfois cinq heures quand cest loin et quand il y a even sometimes 5:00 when it is far and when there are beaucoup de choses organiser. many things to organize. Et ensuite cette journe se termine trs tard, And then that day ends very late, puisquelle se termine aprs tout le monde, une fois quon a since it ends after everybody, once we have
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qu'en tournage, videmment. as in filming, of course. Mais disons que la journe type d'un rgisseur But lets say that the typical day of a production manager en prparation, c'est une journe type de travail de bureau, in preparation, it is a typical day of office work ,
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hein. J'arrive le matin, j'appelle les personnes que j'ai you know. I arrive in the morning, I call the people that I have appeler, comme le prfet de dune rgion, parce que to call, like the prfet of... of a region, because jai besoin daller tourner un dcor chez lui, donc il faut son I need to go film a scene in his region, so I need his autorisation, lautorisation de, de certains de ses services, authorization, the authorization of, of some of his departments, de mairies, de choses comme a, of city halls, things like that, donc il y a un gros travail de bureau. so there is a large amount of office work. La deuxime partie, en revanche, le tournage, The second part, on the other hand, the filming,
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ramen les rushes, qui est la journe de tournage effectue brought back the dailies, which is the day's worth of shooting done en pellicule, il faut la ramener au laboratoire, donc a on film, we have to take it back to the lab, so that se termine La, la journe se termine comme a. ends The, the day ends like that. Entre les deux, le rgisseur gnral, lui, a une part In between, the general production manager, he has a task, qui est continuer prparer les dcors venir. Et which is to continue to prepare the sets to come. And la deuxime partie de mon travail dans cette journe-l, cest the second part of my work in that day, it is

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la journe type dun rgisseur, quil soit gnral, adjoint ou the typical day of a production manager, whether general, assistant or stagiaire, cest De toute faon, elle commence trs tt, trainee, it is In any case, it begins very early,

tre cens faire quelque chose = to be expected/supposed to do something. See another example on page 111. voire = perhaps even. Not to be confused with voir (to see.) See other examples on pages 54 and 57.

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de rpondre ou de faire en sorte 1quon rponde toutes les to meet, or to see to it that we answer all the demandes de tout le monde, sil y a des problmes, sil y a needs of everyone, if there are problems, if there is
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demandes. Il [n]y a pas daction, part la prparation needs. There is no action, aside from the preparation du lendemain ou des jours venir, sinon, cest de la raction, of the next day or of days to come, otherwise, it is reaction, cest tre toujours prt ragir et tre Donc a cre it is being always ready to react and to be So that creates une espce de stress permanent o on nest jamais assis a sort of permanent stress where we are never seated tout fait sur une chaise, ou alors moiti en tant prt, completely on a chair or then (only) halfway, being ready,
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un projecteur qui tombe, denvoyer un de mes stagiaires a projector that breaks, to send one of my trainees aller chercher2 un projecteur chez le fournisseur. to go get a projector from the supplier.
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a peut tre galement un acteur qui a besoin de voir un That can be also an actor who needs to see a mdecin, donc il faut vite appeler un mdecin et doctor, so we must quickly call a doctor and le faire venir,3 ou un technicien, dailleurs, have him come or a technician, moreover,
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tout le temps, bouger. Comme on dit chez nous : all the time, to move. As they say in our circles, Un rgisseur assis est un rgisseur fini. A sitting production manager is a finished production manager. Donc, voil, en gros, la, le truc,1 cest dtre toujours prt. So, thats it, roughly, the, the trick it is to be always ready. SECTION 48

puisque personne na le droit de4 sortir du tournage, since nobody is allowed to leave the set, le temps le temps, cest encore plus quailleurs time time, it is even more than elsewhere de largent, puisquon ne remet5 pas money, since one doesnt postpone une journe de tournage, ou alors cest trs, trs rare a day of filming, or then it is very, very rare Donc voil, cest surtout une rponse des So, there you have it, it is mostly meeting the
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Donc vous passez en gros votre journe So you spend roughly your day assouvir2 les manies3 et les petits caprices catering to the idiosyncrasies and the little whims des acteurs, notamment. Est-ce que vous auriez of the actors, in particular. Would you have quelques exemples dacteurs qui a few examples of actors who vous ont un petit peu ennuy, certaines journes ? have bothered you a little bit some days?

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faire en sorte que = to make sure that; to see to it that. chercher : literally, to look for. When used in combination with aller, venir, revenir, it usually means to get. Va chercher tes chaussures. = Go get your shoes. faire venir quelquun = to have someone come, to send for someone. See another example on page 69. avoir le droit de faire quelque chose = to have the right to do something; to be allowed to do something. remettre : literally, to re-put. In this context it means to postpone; to put on hold

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le truc = the thing, the trick. assouvir = to satisfy, to cater to. une manie = a habit; an idiosyncrasy.

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Alors, il y a quand mme quelque chose que je pense Well, there is all the same something that I think que je voudrais vous dire, cest que on croit toujours que that I would like to tell you it is that people always believe that
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des acteurs qui sont devenus, finalement, des amis ? actors who have become, in the end, friends? Oui, il y en a, il y a il y a un ou deux acteurs que Yes, there are some, there are one or two actors whom je frquente,1 dans les plus ou moins jeunes acteurs franais, I see among the more or less young French actors, enfin, il y a quelquun comme Charles Berling, qui est un ami. I mean, there is someone like Charles Berling, who is a friend. Mais de c[e n]est pas un ami intime, cest--dire que But he is not a close friend, that is to say that
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cest les acteurs, que ce sont les acteurs qui ont it is the actors, that it is the actors who have lego le plus dmesur et qui sont les plus capricieux. the most inflated ego and who are the most temperamental. En ralit, ce que je peux constater en vingt ans de cinma, Actually, what I can conclude after 20 years of film-making,
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cest que les techniciens sont bien plus capricieux et bien it is that the technicians are much more temperamental and much plus gocentriques que ne le sont les acteurs. Justement more egocentric than are the actors. Precisely parce quil y a cette ide que tout le monde est tourn vers1 because there is this notion that everybody focuses on les acteurs, et les techniciens voient a comme une espce the actors, and the technicians see that as a sort dinjustice denfance, et on [ne] sintresse pas eux, of childish injustice and people are not interested in them, du coup.2 as a result. SECTION 49

c[e n]est pas comme mes amis que je vois rgulirement he is not like my friends whom I see regularly et tout a. Mais on sappelle, on se tient au courant.2 and all that. But we call each other, we keep each other in touch. Ceci dit, moi,je suis souvent au courant de ce quil fait That said, me, I am often aware of what he is doing puisque je le vois la tl, hein, mais since I see him on television, you know, but Maintenant, il faut savoir que le cinma, cest comme Now, you should know that the cinema, it is like une grande colonie de vacances,3 cest--dire, on a les amis a big summer camp, that is to say, we have friends et on a des amis trs, trs intenses et and we have very, very close friends and

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Est-ce que dans les rencontres que Are there, in the meetings that vous avez faites sur les tournages, il y a par exemple you have had on the sets, are there for example

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des coups de cur4 trs forts, mais a dure deux mois, very strong attractions, but that lasts two months,

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tre tourn vers : literally, to be turned towards. du coup = as a result. Literally, from the strike, the hit, the blow. le coup = the strike, the hit, the blow. See pages 6 and 111 for other examples.

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frquenter quelquun = to associate with someone; to see someone frequently. tenir quelquun au courant = to keep someone informed, to keep someone posted. une colonie de vacances = a summer camp. un coup de cur = a sudden enthusiasm for someone or something. le cur = the heart

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peut-tre deux mois et quinze jours1 aprs le tournage. perhaps two months and two weeks after the filming. Mais a va rarement au-del, si ce nest que2 a laisse But that rarely goes beyond, were it not for the fact that that leaves
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est termin, avec le temps passant,1 on se rend bien compte2 is over, as time passes, we do realize que c[e n]est pas des gens qui sont obligatoirement that they are not people who are necessarily nos amis. On sest juste bien entendus, et ctait our friends. We just got along well and it was une bonne quipe. a good team. SECTION 50 Pour finir, Philippe, quel est votre souvenir In conclusion, Philippe, what is your memory du meilleur tournage. Alors pas forcment celui qui of the best filming. Well, not necessarily the one that a fait le plus dentres,3 mais, pour vous, le meilleur sold the most tickets, but, for you, the best moment, le meilleur tournage ? moment, the best filming? C[e n]est pas toujours les meilleurs films It is not always the best films en tout cas, c[e n]est pas toujours le meilleur produit fini qui in any case it is not always the best finished product that

des bons souvenirs, cest des gens quon revoit chaque fois good memories, they are people whom we see again each time avec plaisir et quon retrouve avec plaisir, mais, mais with pleasure and whom we meet again with pleasure, but, but il y a quelque chose de mais de lordre de la manipulation, there is something but in the realm of manipulation, cest--dire que, voil, dtre avec des gens pendant that is to say that, thats it, to be with people for deux mois daffile,3 et quinze heures par jour, cre des liens two months in a row and fifteen hours per day creates ties dont je ne suis pas sr quils soient de vrais liens amicaux, which I am not sure that they are true friendly ties, cest juste une, une habitude. Et, comme on assiste it is just a, a habit. And, because we witness
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pas mal de moments un peu privs de la vie de ces gens-l, a fair number of slightly private moments in the lives of those people, voil, on se retrouve comme si on tait amis intimes there you have it, we end up as if we were close friends au bout de deux mois, or, en ralit, une fois que le tournage at the end of two months, whereas in reality, once the filming

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fait le meilleur tournage. Alors on voit des bons films, et makes the best filming. Well we see good films, and notamment des comdies, o on se dit que lquipe entire in particular comedies, where we tell ourselves that the entire crew

quinze jours = two weeks. Literally, fifteen days. Compare to huit jours (a week, literally, 8 days.) See another example of quinze jours on page 26. si ce nest = apart from, except for, with the exception of, literally, if it isnt. See another example on page 56. daffile = in a row. un fil = a thread, a line. en fil indien = in a single-file line.

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avec le temps passant = as time goes by. se rendre compte que... = to realize that...; to come to understand that... See another example on page 26. une entre : literally, an entry (meaning that someone entered the theater to see the film.)

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a d participer cette grande rigolade,1 et donc a fait must have participated in this big party, and so that makes
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quelque chose de mais o, l, je dois dire que lquipe something. but where, there, I must say that the crew Il [n]y a jamais eu autant damour dans une quipe, There has never been so much love within a crew, on aurait cru plus qu'une colonie,1 une communaut hippie, youd have thought it was more than a camp, a hippie community, dans une espce d'change de tendresse permanent, avec in a sort of permanent exchange of tenderness, with des gens qui n'allaient pas trs bien, mais qui du coup people who were not doing very well, but who as a result
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des comdies trs drles puisque on imagine que very funny comedies since we imagine that tout le monde est ml.2 Maintenant, il y a parfois des films everybody is involved. Now, there are sometimes films qui se font dans la douleur, o l'quipe that are made under painful conditions, where the crew n'arrte pas de s'engueuler,3 o des types sont virs4 doesnt stop arguing, where guys are fired tous les deux jours, o pour des caprices, hein, tout a every other day, where just on whim, you know, all that dans une ambiance assez hystrique. Ces tournages-l, in a fairly hysterical atmosphere. These filmings, qui se font dans la douleur, font souvent which take place in painful conditions, often make

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venaient se rassurer, l, auprs de l'quipe, enfin, il y avait came to be reassured, there, with the crew, I mean there was. il y a eu quelque chose de trs fort pendant deux mois de there was something very strong for two months of tournage de ce tlfilm, voil, o toute lquipe tait filming of this TV film, thats it, when the entire crew was
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des trs grands films, ou font aussi des bons films. very great films, or also make good films. Mais il y a le cas particulier, l, d'un tournage dont, But there is the particular case, there, of a filming from which, dont je reviens, enfin, il y a quelques mois, from which I returned, I mean, several months ago,
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en osmose. Je dirais que le seul qui a un peu souffert de, in osmosis. I would say that the only one who suffered a little from, de sa distance, cest le ralisateur, qui, lui, tait cens finir from his distance, it is the director, who was supposed to finish un produit auquel il [ne] prenait pas beaucoup de plaisir, a product in which he did not take much pleasure, mais donc qui sest retrouv un peu distance de lquipe. but thus who found himself a little at a distance from the crew. En revanche, lquipe, ce que jai pu vivre avec On the other hand, the crew, what I was able to experience with que ce soit les acteurs, les autres techniciens, lectriciens, whether with actors, other technicians, electricians,

dun mauvais tlfilm franais. Vraiment, ce qui va tre le, of a bad French TV film. Truly what will be the, le ce quon fait de plus mauvais en tl franaise, hein, the (an example of) the worst of what we do in French TV, you know,

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une rigolade = a big joke; a big laugh. ml = involved. mler = to mingle, to mix together. engueuler (slang) = to chew someone out; sengueuler (slang) = to argue. se disputer is proper French for to argue. la gueule = the snout, or (slang usage) the mouth. virer quelquun (colloquial) = to fire someone. licencier quelquun is the proper term.

A reference to the speakers previous comparison of a filming to a summer camp.

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machinistes, dcorateurs, tout a, a a form vraiment, stage hands, decorators, all that, that formed really,
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De rien, Nathalie. Youre welcome, Nathalie. Est-ce que vous savez comment on appelle Do you know what they call un rgisseur aux tats-Unis ? a production manager in the United States? Non, comme a, je dirais un rgisseur .1 No, right off, I would say a rgisseur. Je nen ai pas la moindre ide ! Je suis dsol. I havent the slightest idea! I am sorry. Merci. Thank you.

comme a arrive parfois, une grande famille, as it happens sometimes, a big family, cest--dire que, l, les sparations taient dchirantes,1 that is to say that, there, the separations were heartbreaking, il [n]y a pas eu vraiment dhistoires damour, dailleurs there were not really any love stories, moreover
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a prouve bien que ctait comme une famille et that does prove that it was like a family and Mais en revanche la sparation a t dchirante. But on the other hand the separation was heartbreaking. Beaucoup de ces gens-l me on continue de sappeler, Many of those people we continue to call each other, on continue de se voir, voil. Il y a des moments we continue to see each other, thats it. There are moments (that are) assez magiques, cest assez rassurant au fond.2 Il faut aussi quite magical, it is rather reassuring, deep down. You should also savoir quon fait ces mtiers-l parce quon nest pas trs know that we do those jobs because we are not very rassur, et cest une faon de continuer faire de la fiction, reassured, and it is a way of continuing to do fiction,

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on est dans une vie de fiction, et donc un tournage, cest we are in a life of fiction, and so a filming, is voil, cest rassurant. thats it, it is reassuring. Merci, Philippe Rebbot. Thank you, Philippe Rebbot.

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dchirant = heartbreaking. dchirer = to rip up; to tear to pieces. au fond = deep down, at heart. le fond = the base; the bottom.

Mr. Rebbot is speaking as if he had chewing gum in his mouth. The French give the English high marks for clear speech, but claim that they cant understand Americans, because Americans speak as if they have chewing gum in their mouths.