French Phrases for Communication Difficulties

Series Summary

French (Le Français) is a Romance language; that means it came from Latin, like Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian, not that it is the best language for an amorous exchange. Yet, French is often thought of as the language of love , perhaps because of the images we remember of the hopelessly romantic Pepé Le Pew trying to capture a certain unfortunate black cat in the arms of his French embrace. Surprisingly, French is the second most popular language for study, the first being English. Non-native students who learn French are predominantly taught the variant known as “français neutre,” or Parisian French, which is mostly erudite and free of regional coloring. Approximately 175 million people speak French worldwide, not only in France, but also the countries of: Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Haiti, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Niger, Rwanda, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Laos, and Vietnam.

Whatever your use of French is going to be, whether for travel, vacation, or business, learn some common phrases and expressions that can help you get around, book a hotel, take a taxi, buy some aspirin, make a friend, or go to a party. These lessons are given by a native French speaker, and in each clip she speaks the phrases slowly and with the proper pronunciation.

Video Transcript

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Common French Phrases for Communication Difficulties
Bonjour, my name is Stéphanie with Expert Village, and today we will be learning to speak French.
COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES
Do you speak English? Parlez-vous anglais?
Does anyone here speak English? Est-ce qu’il y a quelqu’un qui parle anglais?
Did you understand that? Avez-vous compris?
I understand. Je comprends.
I did not understand that. Je n’ai pas compris ça.
Could you speak a bit more slowly please? Pourriez-vous parler plus lentement, s’il vous plait?
Could you repeat that? Pourriez-vous repeter?
Could you write that down for me? Pourriez-vous l’ecrire, s’il vous plait?
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