Le pire travail que tu as jamais eu ? 🧹💼

What's the worst job you've ever had?

Coucou ☕️🇫🇷🥐 I'm Amélie Laurent and this is my French newsletter.
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Bonjour à tous! 👋 The answers are in from our first ever poll! And Autumn it is, although us Spring-lovers put up a good fight I think.

I’ll definitely do more polls in future I think (the question has to have limited answers, which restricts it a bit). And over a hundred of you voted! It’s so mind-blowing to see my readers in action. 🤯

Thanks to everyone who reads, and those who’ve sent messages of encouragement recently. 💜 Sending out two of these a week in my spare time.. isn’t easy.

On that subject.. today it’s about having a hard time at work, being tired, a little complaining etc. All good stuff. With an important digression about when to use ‘tu’ or ‘vous’.

I actually started out trying to be a hairdresser, but I just couldn't cut it! Then I had a job selling bras, but I couldn't support myself. I eventually ended up working for an elevator company, and even it had it’s ups and downs!

C’est parti !

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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

Dialogue du Jour

Geneviève : Quel a été le pire ✪ travail que tu as jamais eu, Jean-Paul?

Jean-Paul : Oh, j'ai travaillé dans un restaurant rapide quand j'étais étudiant. C'était plein de trucs ✪ à faire, des journées chargées ✪, vraiment épuisant ✪. Et toi, Geneviève?

Geneviève : Pour moi, c'était quand j'étais réceptionniste dans un grand bureau. Les gens n'arrêtaient pas de me vouvoyer ✪, c'était si formel et impersonnel. J'aurais préféré qu'on se tutoie. C'était stressant.

Jean-Paul : Ça sonne vraiment dur. Au moins, on apprend de ces expériences, non?

Geneviève : C'est vrai. C'est comme on dit : "Ce qui ne nous tue pas nous rend plus fort" ✪. Même si c'était difficile, ça m'a appris beaucoup de choses.

Jean-Paul : Absolument. On grandit à travers ces expériences. Maintenant, j'apprécie vraiment mon travail actuel ✪.

Geneviève : Moi aussi, Jean-Paul. Maintenant, je travaille dans une petite entreprise où tout le monde se tutoie. C'est beaucoup plus agréable.

Jean-Paul : C'est super. Après la pluie, le beau temps ✪, non?

♡ 𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕓𝕖𝕝𝕠𝕨 👇

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✪ Notes

le pire = le plus mauvais

plein de trucs✨ = lots of things, doubling up on the colloquial words here: ‘plein de’ (see previous appearance here🔗) and ‘trucs’. Ex. “Grouille-toi, j'ai plein de trucs à faire” (Hurry up, I’ve lots of things to get done)

une journée chargée = a busy day. surchargé = overloaded/packed “Aux heures de pointe, les métros sont surchargés.”

épuisant = exhausting

vouvoyer/tutoyer = to address someone using the formal pronoun vous rather than the informal tu (or vice versa). As nouns: vouvoiement et tutoiement. Most likely use: “On peut se tutoyer ?” (Can we use ‘tu’ with each other?)

This is a tricky topic that everyone struggles with, especially because tutoiement will still cause offence to older French people.

My rule of thumb? Vouvoyer everyone. If they’re under 25 and it’s a casual setting, you can tutoyer at will without offence (but you’ll probably do this naturally because you’ll be with friends you’re already tutoy-ing.)

Here’s a helpful article🔗, and here’s a hilarious flowchart🔗, perhaps the best part of which is:

actuel = false friend alert 🚨 Don’t trust it! It means ‘current’ (my current job) not ‘actual’. Actuellement = currently/atm

"Ce qui ne nous tue pas nous rend plus fort" = Hey you have this one in English!. And it’s 2-for-1 on French sayings today because then we meet..

“Après la pluie, le beau temps”✨ = aux évènements tristes succèdent généralement des évènements joyeux = there's always light at the end of the tunnel. Most of use have had a rough few years, hopefully some of my readers have begun to experience a little ‘beau temps’ in their lives 🤲🏻

*✨ = especially ‘Frenchie’ words/phrases you should try and use more.

I had some pretty funny jobs, and some pretty bad ones. One of them was—I kid you not—counting pigeons in the streets of Paris. Well… my job was to shoo them away, but I ended up counting them to pass the time. It was just dumb and boring, even for a teenager. And yes, I might have used the stale baguettes from the restaurant to do it! You can conjure your own images I’m sure.

Alors, quel a été le pire travail que tu as jamais eu? 💬

All answers are welcome. One word.. or one sentence.
Write me your answer in the comments. I can’t wait to read them! 👇🏼

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Translation

G: What was the worst job you ever had, JP?

JP: Oh, I worked in a fast-food restaurant when I was a student. There was so much to do, the days were so busy, it was really exhausting. What about you, G?

G: For me, it was when I was a receptionist in a big office. People were always addressing me with ‘vous', it was so formal and impersonal. I would have preferred to be on first-name terms. It was stressful.

JP: That sounds really harsh. At least we learn from these experiences, don't we?

G: That's true. It's like they say: "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger". Even if it was difficult, it taught me a lot.

JP: Absolutely. You grow through these experiences. Now, I'm really enjoying my current job.

G: Me too, JP. Now I work in a small company where everyone's on first-name terms. It's much more pleasant.

JP: That's great. After the rain, the sun shines, right?

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Exercise - Fill in the blank 💪

Quickly test your comprehension, accelerate your learning. 🚀

1. Il est toujours préférable de __ les gens que vous connaissez bien.
   It's always better to use the informal 'you' with people you know well.

2. C'est __ ! J'ai oublié d'acheter des œufs pour le gâteau.
   It's the worst! I forgot to buy eggs for the cake.

3. Après une longue semaine de travail, je me sens souvent __.
   After a long week of work, I often feel overwhelmed.

4. Après avoir couru un marathon, je me suis senti __.
   After running a marathon, I felt exhausted.

5. __ vraiment faux quand il a dit qu'il ne connaissait pas la réponse.
   It really rings false when he said he didn't know the answer.

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. tutoyer 2. le pire 3. surchargé 4. épuisé 5. ça sonne

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Links 💫

Watch 📺 7 jours sur la planète : Comment diminuer sa consommation de sucre ?
[Weekly news reports, clear speech, with subtitles!)

Listen to 🎧 1789: Les Amants de la Bastille (stage musical)

Tool 🔧 : Clozemaster : Gamified learning through "mass exposure to vocabulary in context."

Citation que je médite

“Douter de tout ou tout croire, ce sont deux solutions également commodes, qui l'une et l'autre nous dispensent de réfléchir.”
Henri Poincaré

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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:

• 🎙️ Record yourself reading the dialogue out loud, then listen to it back.

You can repeat this x2-3 times. You will be surprised at how you can self-correct your accent and intonation, and how you will become aware of where you need to study!

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. 🙌🏻

𝔻𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕘𝕖𝕥 𝕥𝕠 ♡ 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕠𝕟 𝕊𝕦𝕓𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕜👇

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 amis! 👋🏼

Amélie x