Quel est ton parfum de glace préféré ? 🍦
What's your favorite ice cream flavour?
Coucou ☕️🇫🇷🥐 I'm Amélie Laurent and this is my French newsletter. I supercharge your progress from A2 to B2 through colloquial dialogues.
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Salut tout le monde! 👋🏼 Thanks for joining me for another edition of French with Amélie. And today’s a big one, a big day in the short history of the newsletter!
Pretty much from the start one feature request has been asked for over and over by the community.. quite a few times:
I want to keep you guys happy and I want this to be the best French newsletter it can be so… well, it’s finally here! 🍾
Introducing Audio 🎉
Before every dialogue you’ll now see a Dialogue Audio 🎧 section, if you click LISTEN NOW ▶️ it will open the webpage where you can listen along to an original recording of the dialogue! (Emails have no way to play audio unfortunately).
Now, if you want the very best learning experience with the audio, you can:
Read my lessons on the web (just click the title of each email)
Download the ✨Substack App✨… fancy I know. But I know that most of my readers read on mobile, and the app has night mode, adjustable font/text, all that good stuff. Plus the audio will play seamlessly as you read. It’s super nice.
I’m pretty excited about this one, as I think the audio recording might take the newsletter to the next level as a learning tool.
It not only expands the different ways different students can use the dialogues, but it will instantly help improve readers oral comprehension, pronunciation, intonation, and accent—among other things.
So try it out! 💪
Grab those earbuds and get listening—for beginners, the more times the better! Sticking it on repeat while you walk would be a great idea!
… or reading aloud with the audio to master intonation
… or listen to it first (like a mini-podcast) and see how much you understand before studying with the ‘transcript’!
It really expands the study possibilities and I, for one, am excited!
You can let me know thoughts, feedback, maybe even your new creative study methods in the comments!
If there’s any hiccups, or you can’t get it to work, just drop me a line. 🎣
In the meantime, we have French to learn!
C’est parti ✨
We all secretly know the only way to truly learn a language are real-life conversations and experiences. Lessons and grammar can only take us so far.
While real-life experiences are difficult to recreate, my colloquial conversational dialogues help you learn authentic French in context. They’re how real French people actually speak.
If you have any questions or concerns - comment below or simply reply to this email.
Gros Bisous! A x
✨New Feature: Dialogue Audio 🎧
Dialogue du Jour
Ethan : Quel est ton parfum de glace préféré ?
Clara : Eh bien, Ethan, c'est un peu mitigé ✪ pour moi. Ben.. ✪ j’adore le chocolat, mais j'ai aussi un faible pour la vanille. Et toi ?
Ethan : Pour moi, c'est la glace à la fraise, sans hésitation. J'en ai l'eau à la bouche ✪ rien qu'à y penser ✪!
Clara : Ben vraiment ? Je trouve que la glace à la fraise est un délice ✪, mais seulement quand elle est faite avec de vraies fraises.
Ethan : C'est vrai, il n'y a rien de mieux que la vraie saveur des fruits. Tu sais, il y a un proverbe qui dit "On ne fait pas d'omelette sans casser des œufs" ✪. C'est la même chose pour la glace, on ne peut pas avoir une bonne glace à la fraise sans de vraies fraises !
Clara : Je pense pas que ce soit la façon dont on utilise ce proverbe, Ethan ! Mais quand tu as une bonne glace, c'est comme si tous tes soucis fondent comme neige au soleil.
Ethan : Exactement, une bonne glace peut vraiment faire fondre tous les problèmes. Pour quelques instants en tout cas. C'est ça la magie de la glace, non ?
Clara : Ben ouais.
♡ 𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕓𝕖𝕝𝕠𝕨 👇
✪ Notes
un peu mitigé✨ = conflicted / have mixed feelings.
Ben.. ✨= ‘Bah’ = well, uh, er, so.. = it’s a ‘filler word’. *But one that can really help you sound more French and even out the sharp edges of your sentences.
Ben’s biggest problem is that it doesn’t show up in subtitles and grammar books and app lessons etc. It can slip through the net. That’s why in this dialogue I’ve tried to realistically include it as it would be spoken.
I don’t think even French people realise just how much they say this one. Just like hein (see previous here🗼) and quoi—which we seem to stuff pretty much anywhere in a sentence—ben can confuse a lot of learner. I’ll never forget a student who was so confused during immersion as to why all these French people were ‘bah-ing’ like sheep ! 🐑😂
Here’s your article🔗 for going deeper.
j’en ai l'eau à la bouche = my mouth is watering
rien qu'à y penser ✨/ rien que d'y penser = just thinking about it
un délice = a delight/delicious treat
on ne fait pas d'omelette sans casser des œufs = Ethan really messes up the use of this saying… it’s not about needing real or quality eggs in an omelette (!) but about needing to ‘break’ things (relationships, systems, rules) to make something new. Hopefully more advanced readers were able to catch that in the dialogue. But it’s also a bit of a warning: only use sayings when you know what they mean ! 🙈
*✨ = especially ‘Frenchie’ words/phrases you should try and use more.
Writing Prompt ✍️
I’m a classic gal, vanilla for me! Timeless. In Galway I had gin and sea salt ice-cream though… and it might have taken the crown 🤤. I don’t know if this is cultural (or maybe familial), but my friends have noted how I like vanilla ice-cream with every dessert! The cold and creamy just cuts through and improves them, for me at least.
Alors, quel est ton parfum de glace préféré ?
All answers are welcome. One word.. or one sentence.
Write me your answer in the comments. I can’t wait to read them! 👇🏼
Translation
E: What's your favorite ice cream flavor?
C: Well, E, it's a bit of a mixed bag for me. Ben. I love chocolate, but I'm also partial to vanilla. What's your favorite?
E: For me, it's strawberry ice cream, without hesitation. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
C : Really? I think strawberry ice cream is delicious, but only when it's made with real strawberries.
E: It's true, there's nothing better than the real taste of fruit. You know, there's a saying: "You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs". It's the same with ice cream: you can't have good strawberry ice cream without real strawberries!
C: I don't think that's how we use the proverb, E! But when you have a good ice cream, it's like all your worries melt away like snow in the sun.
E: Exactly, a good ice cream can really melt all your troubles away. For a few moments anyway. That's the magic of ice cream, isn't it?
C: Yeah that's it.
Exercise - Fill in the blank 💪
Quickly test your comprehension, accelerate your learning. 🚀
Ma soeur est toujours ___ sur le choix de ses vêtements.
My sister is always a little undecided about her choice of clothes.Quand j'ai vu le gâteau au chocolat, ___ .
When I saw the chocolate cake, my mouth started watering.Le repas que j'ai pris dans ce restaurant était vraiment ___ .
The meal I had at this restaurant was truly delicious.J'ai choisi mon plat ___ , car j'adore les pâtes.
I chose my dish without hesitation, because I love pasta.___, je suis content de cette décision.
In any case, I'm happy with this decision.
If you’re struggling the ✪ Notes section is always a good place to look. 😉 The answers are all in the dialogue or notes section.
[NO PEAKING] Answer Key: 1. un peu mitigée 2. j’en ai l’eau à la bouche 3. un délice 4. sans hésitation 5. en tout cas
Une Façon d'utiliser ce Dialogue
These dialogues are a very simple tool. Yet this allows them to be versatile and endlessly flexible to you and your learning style.
Here’s one way you could use the dialogue this week:
👄 Beginner ‘Shadowing’ - Listen to the recording and read the dialogue aloud at the same time.
Repeat this at least x3. You will be surprised at how you can self-detect mistakes. It’s the best way not only to master colloquial speech, but accent and intonation as well!
Check out my quick guide🔗 for different ways you can learn with these dialogues. Perfect if you’re finding them too easy or too hard. 🙌🏻
Private French Lessons
If you’re a serious intermediate student, and would like a private lesson, you can book one here →. Please note there are limited spots available, it is '“first-come first-served” as you say in English.
𝔻𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕘𝕖𝕥 𝕥𝕠 ♡ 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕠𝕟 𝕊𝕦𝕓𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕜👇
If you want a link to message someone or share on socials (this is the biggest thing you can do to help me grow! 🌱) here it is:
If you have any type of feedback please let me know in the comments. Or you can just reply to this email.
Au revoir, mes étudiants! 👋🇫🇷
Amélie x
J’adore n’importe qu’elle parfum de caramel.
Pour moi, c’est presque toujours le chocolat mais, de temps en temps, je préfère le parfum de café. En plus, j’adore les noix mélangées dans la glace. Finalement, je préfère avoir la glace dans un cornet plus que dans un bol. Je suis très gâtée, non?