Learn about the polite way to talk about disabled people in France
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Gabriella: Bonjour chers auditeurs! Je m'appelle Gabriella. Be Careful Not To Offend Anyone in France! |
| Jeremy: Moi, c'est Jeremy. |
| Gabriella: Let's get started. Quel est le sujet de la leçon d'aujourd'hui ? |
| Jeremy: In this lesson, you’ll learn about socially acceptable words in French with a TV presenter. |
| Gabriella: Ok, donc c'est une conversation formelle ? |
| Jeremy: Oui, et le présentateur explique qu’une nouvelle loi a été votée… |
| Gabriella: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Présentateur télé: Aujourd'hui, l'Assemblée Nationale a voté à l'unanimité la nouvelle loi concernant les aménagements publics à destination des malentendants, malvoyants et des personnes à mobilité réduite. |
| Ceci leur permettra d'accéder plus facilement aux établissements publics et privés. |
| Les établissements qui ne suivront pas cette loi seront condamnés à une forte amende de 20000 euros et à l'obligation de faire les travaux nécessaires. |
| C'est une grande avancée pour la société française -sourds, aveugles, fauteuils roulants ne seront plus exclus de par leur handicap. |
| Gabriella: Now let's hear it with the English translation. |
| Présentateur télé: Aujourd'hui, l'Assemblée Nationale a voté à l'unanimité la nouvelle loi concernant les aménagements publics à destination des malentendants, malvoyants et des personnes à mobilité réduite. |
| TV presenter: The National Assembly unanimously voted in favor of the new law regarding public adjustments in favor of the hearing impaired, visually impaired, and mobility impaired. |
| Ceci leur permettra d'accéder plus facilement aux établissements publics et privés. |
| This will enable them to have easier access to public and private facilities. |
| Les établissements qui ne suivront pas cette loi seront condamnés à une forte amende de 20000 euros et à l'obligation de faire les travaux nécessaires. |
| Establishments that don’t follow this law will be prosecuted, heavily fined twenty thousand euros, and obligated to do the necessary work. |
| C'est une grande avancée pour la société française -sourds, aveugles, fauteuils roulants ne seront plus exclus de par leur handicap. |
| It's a great step forward for the French society. Deaf people, blind people, and people in wheelchairs won’t be excluded anymore because of their impairments. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Gabriella: Wow! Is it difficult for people with disabilities in France? |
| Jeremy: Beaucoup de lois sont passées pour les handicapés en France. That’s why you'll often find adjustments aimed at them in many tourist places, for example. |
| Gabriella: I see, like subtitles, audio-guides, or even people hired especially for them? |
| Jeremy: C’est exact. Et pour la vie quotidienne, il y a des aides financières. |
| Gabriella: That’s good. Wheelchairs are pretty expensive. |
| Jeremy: Yes, that’s why they need some help. And it’s challenging getting a job when you’re disabled too. So there is an organisation funded by the French State that is dedicated to disabled people. |
| Gabriella: I’ve seen that in some universities. |
| Jeremy: Oui, il y en a dans les universités aussi, ce sont des associations. |
| Gabriella: Okay, so what do these organizations do? |
| Jeremy: Ils aident les étudiants handicapés à recevoir de l’aide quand ils en ont besoin, et organisent des sorties. |
| Gabriella: Wow, that’s really interesting. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gabriella: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Gabriella: The first word we shall see is... |
| Jeremy: malentendant [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: hearing-impaired |
| Jeremy: malentendant [slowly - broken down by syllable] malentendant [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: malvoyant [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: visually-impaired |
| Jeremy: malvoyant [slowly - broken down by syllable] malvoyant [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: personne à mobilité réduite [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: mobility-impaired |
| Jeremy: personne à mobilité réduite [slowly - broken down by syllable] personne à mobilité réduite [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: sourd [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: deaf |
| Jeremy: sourd [slowly - broken down by syllable] sourd [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: aveugle [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: blind |
| Jeremy: aveugle [slowly - broken down by syllable] aveugle [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: fauteuil roulant [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: wheelchair |
| Jeremy: fauteuil roulant [slowly - broken down by syllable] fauteuil roulant [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: exclu [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: excluded |
| Jeremy: exclu [slowly - broken down by syllable] exclu [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: aménagement [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: adjustment, work |
| Jeremy: aménagement [slowly - broken down by syllable] aménagement [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: accéder [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: to access |
| Jeremy: accéder [slowly - broken down by syllable] accéder [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: And last... |
| Jeremy: condamner [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: to condemn |
| Jeremy: condamner [slowly - broken down by syllable] condamner [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Gabriella: Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. What’s first? |
| Jeremy: Malentendant. |
| Gabriella: "Hearing-impaired." It stands for sourd, or "deaf." |
| Jeremy: It comes from the combination of mal, "bad," and entendant, "hearing." That’s why it’s also used for people who just can’t hear properly. |
| Gabriella: Est-ce que c’est la même chose pour “malvoyant”. |
| Jeremy: Oui, c’est exactement la même chose. Mais ce sont des mots qui ne sont pas très utilisés dans la vie courante. |
| Gabriella: So in daily life the French will prefer aveugle or sourd? |
| Jeremy: Yes, it’s mainly only considered offensive in an administrative context, or in TV and newspapers. |
| Gabriella: Ok, got it. Let’s see our second word… |
| Jeremy: Fauteuil roulant. |
| Gabriella: "Wheelchair." |
| Jeremy: It’s used both to talk about the vehicle, but also to talk about people in wheelchairs. |
| Gabriella: I see. |
| Jeremy: For example, Cette pente est destinée aux fauteuils roulants. |
| Gabriella: "This ramp is intended for wheelchairs." Got it! What about Aménagement, now? |
| Jeremy: It's translated here as “adjustment”, since it’s about modifications. It can also stand for “planning”, “construction,” and “layout”. |
| Gabriella: In what context can it be used? |
| Jeremy: In an administrative context, mainly, like aménagement du territoire. |
| Gabriella: "Land settlement." |
| Jeremy: and Aménagement urbain |
| Gabriella: "City planning." So it’s used in official documents, right? |
| Jeremy: Oui, et là encore, dans les émissions de télé et les journaux. |
| Gabriella: Très bien! Ok, let’s move on to the grammar! |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Jeremy: In this lesson, you’ll learn about socially acceptable words and expressions. |
| Gabriella: Sounds really serious…. |
| Jeremy: C’est très sérieux et important. It’s used, as we already said, in many official documents, in TV reports, newspapers, brochures… So it’s very important to know. |
| Gabriella: Ok, allons-y! What is a Sans Domicile Fixe? |
| Jeremy: "Homeless people". The French usually say “SDF”, even in daily life. Remember they prefer short terms. |
| Gabriella: I see… Any sample sentences? |
| Jeremy: Le SDF a passé la nuit dans la rue. |
| Gabriella: "The homeless guy slept in the street." That’s sad… |
| Jeremy: All these words are quite sad, in a way. Recently, intervention militaire replaced guerre. |
| Gabriella: A "military intervention" instead of "war"? Why? |
| Jeremy: The French tend to remember the two world wars, so the word guerre may open ancient wounds. |
| Gabriella: Ok, c’est normal. Je comprends. |
| Jeremy: On entend parfois à la télévision - Une intervention militaire est envisagée pour résoudre le conflit. |
| Gabriella: "A military intervention is envisaged to solve the conflict." |
| Jeremy: In past lessons, we talked about the melting pot in France, do you remember? |
| Gabriella: Oui, je m’en souviens ! C’était très intéressant. |
| Jeremy: Haha, thanks a lot! So, to talk about Arab or Black people, we would rather say personne de couleur. |
| Gabriella: “A person of color. " Je me souviens que c’est mal vu de dire “Noir” ou “Arabe”, c’est vrai. |
| Jeremy: Oui. Les Français disent Black ou Maghrébin. C’est moins péjoratif. |
| Gabriella: Je ferais attention! |
| Jeremy: Another one - demandeur d’emploi. The unemployment rate in France is quite high, so we hear it almost everyday on the news. |
| Gabriella: “Job-seeker”. What’s the normal word? |
| Jeremy: Chômeur. It’s pejorative since working people think that the unemployed enjoy doing nothing! |
| Gabriella: So to say that someone is a “job-seeker” will show they are active. |
| Jeremy: I think you understand the French perfectly! |
| Gabriella: [laughter] Je pense que oui! So, listeners, please remember this vocabulary! |
| Jeremy: Oui, et comme on les rencontre souvent, ce sera facile! |
| Gabriella: Bien sûr! Chers auditeurs, n’hésitez pas à pratiquer dans les commentaires! |
Outro |
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| Jeremy: Bonne chance, et à la prochaine! |
| Gabriella: Thanks for listening! Bye! |
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