Speak French and Spanish with Aurore and John

In this episode, Aurore is sharing about her trip around the US. We discussed several useful expressions in French and Spanish.

A: Les différences dans les langues m’ont toujours intrigué. Tu sais, dire la même chose avec une image différente. 

J: Si, estoy de acuerdo. Los idiomas utilizan muchas imágenes para transmitir ideas. Por ejemplo, poesía. Mis formas favoritas de figuras literarias son las metáforas. 

A: La première expression qui me vient à l’esprit est “tourner autour du pot”. Je comprends ne pas être direct, être hésitant. Comment dit-on en espagnol ?

J:Decimos “andarse por las ramas” o “andarse con rodeos” 

A: En français, on monte DANS l’avion. 

En anglais, we get ON the plane.

Un autre exemple :

Un film joue à la télé (at the TV)

A movie plays on TV

En français, if we say on the TV : Sur la télé, we mean on top of the TV. We can say « Sur l’écran ». Tu vois, French is a very descriptive language, meaning precise.

Que se passe-t-il en espagnol ? What happens in Spanish?

J: En español decimos “montarse al avión” (like in French) y “hay una película en el televisor/la televisión” o “están mostrando una película en el televisor/la televisión”.

A: monter à l’étage  - ce n’est pas vraiment une faute, mais on se répète. C’est une redondance.

J: oh! A redundancy! Danos otro ejemplo, por favor.

A: Un autre exemple : (Demander une question) - poser une question/demander quelque chose

Jeter ou donner la langue au chat - To throw or give your tongue to the cat.

J: En español también evitamos las redundancias. Decimos “subir o bajar” en vez de “subir arriba” or “bajar abajo”. 

A: Savais-tu, en français, quicksand is « le sable mouvant »

It does not speak of the speed with which the send swallows you, but it describes a situation. Le sable mouvant translates to the sand that stirs, the stirring sand. Tu te souviens, you remember, earlier I was saying that French is a descriptive language.

J: En español también se dice de la misma manera “arena movediza” (moving sand). This reminds me of another expression “estar entre la espada y la pared” (to be between the sword and the wall or as they say in English, to be between a rock and a hard place”). ¿Cómo se dice en francés?

A: En français, on dit “entre l’enclume et le marteau” - between the anvil and the hammer.

Demain, j’iRAI à la poste - tomorrow I will go to the post office

Demain, j’auRAI une nouvelle voiture - tomorrow I will have a new car

Demain, je prendRAI le train pour Paris - tomorrow I will take the train to Paris

If instead of JE I used TU (you singular), the ending would change and would be the same for all the verbs

Tu iras - tu auras - tu prendras

Le R announces the future tense, what comes after depends on the subject

J: En español utilizamos el tiempo presente para indicar acciones futuras:

Voy a la oficina postal mañana.

Please write to us and let us know what you liked best and what would you like to learn in future episodes!

A: Bonjour John

J: Buenas noches Aurora

A: ça y est ! Ma voiture est réparée. My car is fixed.

J:  ça y est ? ¿Qué es eso? (What is that?)

A: That’s what we say when we have been working on something and we finally finish it. In English it translates to “that’s it!” Qu’est-ce qu’on dit en espagnol?

J: Se puede decir de varias formas (there are several ways), “Y ya” (and now), “Y listo” (and done), “eso es todo” (that is all),

A: Tu sais, we like that little word “ça”. We even add it when it’s not really needed.

When you want to ask “who?” we could say “qui?” but we like to say “qui ça?”

La même chose avec quand, où, comment

J:-The expression “qui ça?” sounds like one of the Spanish words for maybe: Quizas. ¿Qué exactamente significa? (What is the exact translation of the word?)

A: ça translates to “it”. It is the casual cela. Mais ça veut dire la même chose - cela veut dire la même chose.

J: ¡Esta palabra es multifacética! Es como la navaja suiza del francés. (This word is so multifaceted. It is like the Swiss army knife of French.) Cuéntanos más por favor. (Tell us more).

A: To ask how much is the bill, at the restaurant, for example, we can ask : ça fait combien? - how much is it?

J:  En español podemos decir “A como?” o “Cuánto cuesta(n)?”

A:  We use ça in our greeting: Comment ça va ? How is it going? Ça va bien - it’s going well

J: ¡Que chevere es interesante! (how cool and interesting!)

A: ça te dis? That’s how we say “are you interested?”but it translates to “is it speaking to you”. ça te va à merveille - it fits you like a glove - aller means to go dans le sens-in the meaning of to go well. Ça va = ça va bien

J: En español diríamos, “como anillo al dedo”. Like a ring to the finger. No, does the expression sound the same in the past or future?

A: bien sûr -of course- the verb that follows ça can be conjugated in any tense.

Ça ira - it will be fine

Ça a bien été - It went well

Ça aurait été bien - it would have been good

J: It reminds me of an expression I used to hear in all American movies that were dubbed in Spanish “Todo saldra bien” (Everything will be OK).

A: ça prend du temps - it takes time

Ça fait mal - it hurts

J: What about “cela”?

A: cela est plus doux - cela is softer

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À la prochaine

¡Hasta la próxima!

A Coucou John

J Que mas, Aurora? (How is it going, Aurore)

A Coucou is a cute way to say hi in French. Kids use it a lot too. Do you have a cute way to say hi in Spanish?

J  Que tal, Que mas?, Como vas?. In Colombia, where I come from, we sometimes say “Quiubo” which is short for Que hubo? (literally “what had”). 

A To wish someone a good day, in French we use the verb passer -to spend (time) at the imperative form. In English, we say “have” a good day, afternoon, evening, night,... In French, we say Spend a good….. Passez une bonne journée………

J One can say “Que pase un(a) buen(a) dia/tarde/noche”, “pase un(a) buen(a) dia/tarde/noche)” or simply “buen dia”. In some countries like Colombia, people replace the word “buen(as/os)” with “feliz” (happy); for example: Feliz noche (literally “happy night”). 

A If it is soon, or before the end of the day, we say : à tout à l’heure. On peut également dire - we can also say : à bientôt, mais à bientôt can be used to express see you soon, tomorrow, next week, next month or year.

J Nos vemos pronto/la semana que viene/el viernes, etc. (We’ll see each other soon/next week/this Friday, etc.).

A Regardons quelques expressions - 

J  When someone does not want to reveal their age, they say: I was born in nineteen...none of your business. En español sería, nací en mil novecientos...no es asunto tuyo. :D

A Je crois qu’en Français - I think that in French we would say something like : Mêle-toi de tes affaires ou occupe-toi de tes affaires. Ce qui se traduit par - what translates to : Take care of your business.

J I like the word choice you used “I think that…” In Spanish that phrase sounds similar “Yo creo que...”. ¿Cuál es tu palabra o expresión favorita?

A J’aime le mot clockwise. I like the word clockwise. It is composed of 2 words : clock and wise. En français on dit : dans le sens des aiguilles d’une montre. In the direction of the hands on the clock. Par exemple quand on joue - for example when we play a game, we usually play dans le sens des aiguilles d’une montre. 

J En dirección de las manecillas del reloj. (In the direction of the “little” hands on the clock).

A Tu sais - you know - when I used my GPS I noticed differences in the way that French give directions. Je’ m’explique. 

Par exemple, to say stay on the left 2 lanes, we stay rester sur les 2 lignes de gauche. So we precise 2 lignes-2 lanes before their location (gauche-left).

J Que interesante!

A La même chose - the same thing with the sign that says :  pass at yellow flashing arrow.  En français : passez à la flêche clignotante jaune. We must first say what we talk about (la flêche-the arrow)then what is doing (clignotante-flashing in feminin form).

J Entiendo. Buen punto cultural. (Great cultural note!)

A There is so much culture hidden in languages. Only the intonation speaks of an intention. But then we have the order in which the words are spoken, and even the choice of words and structure sentence speak of the nature of the speaker. I got used to saying “you” a lot more since I moved here. In France we prefer to say on (we). On apprend à lire à l’école - you learn to read at school.

J In Spanish we speak more in terms of “one” as opposed to you. Uno tiene que tomar riesgos cuando está intentando algo nuevo como aprender un idioma. 

A En français we call the mother-in-law la belle-mère - the beautiful mother.

J En español es suegra.

A Bonjour John, comment vas-tu?

J Todo bien, gracias. Como vas? (All is good, thank you. How is it going?)

A: Je vais très bien, merci John.

A Aujourd’hui I would like us to talk about some expressions that use a different verb than in English to express the same thing.

J Que interesante! Cuéntanos que tienes en mente. (How interesting! What do you have in mind?)

A La première expression qui me vient à l’esprit - the first expression that comes to my mind is

prendre une décision - to make a decision

(to take)

Comment dit-on en espagnol ?

J En español decimos lo mismo, tomar una decisión. (In Spanish we say the same thing, to “take a decision”)

A Une autre expression - another expression

fais-moi savoir  -  let me know

faire  (to do)

J En español sería: dejame saber o digame. (In Spanish it would be allow me to know or tell me).

A faire la sieste   -   to take a nap

(to do)

J Lo mismo en espanol, hacer la siesta (Likewise in Spanish, to do)

A faire attention - to be careful

J En español sería algo diferente: prestar atencion (In Spanish it would be a bit different, to lend attention)

A Nous n’avons que 2 auxiliaires - we only have 2 auxiliaries AVOIR et ËTRE but sometimes English and French do not use the same to express the same idea.

J’ai faim - I am hungry

(avoir-to have) - (to be)

J Igualmente en espanol, tener hambre (the same in Spanish, to have hunger)

A La même chose avec avoir soif - to be thirsty

J’ai soif - I am thirsty

J Tener sed (to have thirst)

A une autre expression avec les auxiliaires

Avoir mal à - to be hurting

(to have)

It is important to remember that the “à” will change to “au” in front of a masculin singular noun: j’ai mal au ventre

It will say “à la” in front of a feminin singular noun: j’ai mal à la tête

It will say “aux” in front of a plural noun masuclin or feminin : j’ai mal aux pieds

j’ai mal aux dents

J En espanol seria, estar enfermo(a) (in Spanish, it would be similar as in French).

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¡Hasta la próxima!

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This episode has an accompanying video! You can access it here:  https://rebrand.ly/F4SCrepes

A Bonjour John, ça va ?

J Todo bien, ¿cómo vas? (All’s good. How about you?)

A Je vais bien, merci.

Aujourd’hui, we are going to review some vocabulary in the kitchen, and you can watch us make crêpes in the link below.

J Buena idea. ¿Por dónde empezamos? (Good idea. What should we start?)

A Te souviens-tu, do you remember les ingrédients we used to make les crêpes ?

J Necesitamos harina, huevos, azúcar, sal, leche, y extracto de vainilla. (We need flour, eggs, sugar, salt, milk, and vanilla extract.

A Très bien, tu te souviens. Dans le premier épisode, in the first episode, I told you to mélanger, mix les ingrédients but I did not tell you what to use. En français, a whisk is un fouet. Un fouet is also a whip.

J Bueno, mezclamos los ingredientes con un batidor. (We mix the ingredients with a whisk).

A Donc une fois que les ingrédients sont mélangés, once the ingredients are mixed together, we can start making les crêpes.

J Y luego? (and then?)

A Je mets un peu d’huile au fond de la poêle et je laisse chauffer. I put a little oil at the bottom of the pan and I let it warm up.

J A que temperatura los cocinamos? (At what temperature do we cook them?)

A: je cuis les crêpes à température moyenne/medium heat numéro 6 ou 7 sur la gazinière

J  Parece que la sartén ya está lista. (It looks like the pan is ready).

A Il est temps de faire les crêpes maintenant. It is time to make the crêpes now.

J Estamos listos (we are ready)

A Je trempe la louche dans la pâte à crêpes et je verse la pâte dans la poêle. I dip the ladle in the batter and I pour the batter in the pan.

J En que te ayudo? (How should I help?)

A: tu feras la suivante. You will do the next one.

La crêpe a bruni, donc je vais la faire sauter. The crêpe is golden, so I am going to flip it.

Maintenant, on laisse la crêpe cuire une autre minute ou deux.

À la prochaine

¡Hasta la próxima!

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A Aujourd’hui, today, we are going to explore some vocabulary related to cooking while making crêpes, one of France’s specialties. I like to think of it as a dessert dish, but it is very delicious served savory. You can put about anything inside une crêpe, it is always yummy. Have you had one before?

J Sí, varias veces y son muy ricos! Yes, several times, and they are very delicious!

A We are at my house to make crêpes.

J Vamos a poder probar los crepes? Will we get to taste the crêpes ?

A Bien sûr John, of course John!

Allons-y ! Let’s go!

J Qué hacemos primero? What do we do first?

A D’abord, first, we need to set aside les ingrédients, the ingredients.

J Cuáles son los ingredientes? what are the ingredients?

A D'abord, il nous faut de la farine. First we need flour.

J Cuanta harina? how much flour?

A ça dépend combien de crêpes nous voulons faire. It depends how many crepes we want to make.

J Hagamos unos 10 crepes. let 's make 10 crêpes.

A D’accord, alors commençons avec 2 tasses, 2 cups.

J Dos tazas de que? Two cups of what?

A Deux tasses de farine

J Qué más necesitamos? What else do we need?

A j’ajoute 2 oeufs par tasse. Ajouter means to add.

J Así que vas a añadir cuatro huevos. so you are going to add 4 eggs.

A Mais avant, but before, I have other ingrédients à ajouter.

J A si? Dime cuales. tell me…..

A Je mets 2 tasses de farine dans un grand bol.

J’ajoute 1 cuiller à café de sel - 1 teaspoon of salt

J’ajoute ½ tasse de sucre - ½ of sugar

J Primero mezclamos los ingredientes secos.  We first mix the dry ingredients together.

A oui, je mélange les ingrédients secs et ensuite j’ajoute les oeufs.

J Y ya? Eso es todo? that 's it ?

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À la prochaine

¡Hasta la próxima!

A  Salut John, tu es prêt ?

Hi John, are you ready?

J Adonde vamos?

(Where are we going?)

A nous allons au magasin de chaussures

We are going to the shoe store

J Perfecto! Necesito un par de tenis nuevos.

(Perfect! I need a new pair of tennis shoes.)

A  Il commence à faire froid, et je voudrais trouver une nouvelle paire de bottes

It is starting to get cold, and I would like to find a new pair of boots.

J  Veo botas allá en el pasillo siguiente.

(I see boots over there in the next aisle)

A J’aime commencer mes achats dans la section des soldes. J’adore trouver de bonnes       affaires!

I like to start shopping in the sale section. I love to find good deals!

A Les sandales sont en solde.

The sandals are on sale.

J Porque hace frío y la gente prefiere ponerse zapatos que abriguen

Because it is cold and people prefer to wear warm shoes.

A C’est pour ça que je veux acheter des bottes.

That’s why I want to buy boots.

J ¡Mira estos! ¿Te gustan?

Look at these! Do you like them?

A Elles sont jolies, mais c’est pas mon style. Je veux qu’elles montent jusqu’au genou, et qu’elles aient un talon.

They’re pretty, but it’s not my style. I would like them to go up to the knee, and I like a good heel.

J  Bien punto. Te gustan estas botas de cuero? ¡Las acaban de sacar al mercado!

(Good point. Do you like these leather boots?They just came out!)

A Elles viennent de sortir? J’aime la boucle à l’extérieur et la fermeture éclair à l’intérieur.

They just came out? I love the buckle on the outside and the zipper on the inside.

J ¿Cuanto cuestan?

How much are they?

A  Combien elles coûtent ? Je ne sais pas. Regarde sur la boîte.

How much they are? I don’t know. Look on the box.

J  El precio es $90.

The price is $90.

A  Elles font 90 $ ? Voyons s’ils ont ma taille.

They cost $90? Let’s see if they have my size.

J ¿Cuál es tu talla de zapato?

What is your shoe size?

A   Ma pointure est de 8 et demie aux Etats-Unis. Quelle est la tienne ?

My shoe size is 8.5 in America. What is yours?

J  La mia es 10 y media acá en los Estados Unidos.

(Well, mine is 10 and a half here in the US.)

A J’ai assez d’argent sur moi. Je vais à la caisse pour payer.

I have enough money on me. I’m going to pay at the cash register.

J: Bueno pues, voy a empezar a buscar mis tenis.

(Alright, I will start looking for my tennis shoes.)

À la prochaine

¡Hasta la próxima!

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