French 101 🇫🇷 : Peut-on survivre à une canicule ? ☀️🥵

Surviving a heatwave

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.

The terror of those in southern latitudes, the joy of those in more northern ones, today we’re talking ♨️heatwaves♨️.

France was sweltering under one just a few weeks ago. It’s a little late in the season now though, but a mini one could still strike! 🤞🏼All the vocabulary and phrases though will be super useful to Francophiles, as most of us usually try and visit in the summer months, when things can get a little hot 🥵

But before we begin... Thank you to this week's sponsor...

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.

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Gros Bisous! A x

Dialogue Audio 🎧

Dialogue du Jour

Louis : Camille, tu as remarqué cette canicule ✪? C'est une bizarrerie ✪, non ?

Camille : J'ai jamais vu un été aussi chaud. J'ai du mal à garder ma maison fraîche, même avec la climatisation allumés ✪ tout le temps.

Louis : Nous aussi, j'essaie de faire un courant d'air ✪, mais ça ne marche pas vraiment. En fait, on a pas assez de ventilateurs pour tout le monde la nuit. La meilleure solution pour la journée est de rester dehors dans le parc ou le jardin.

Camille : Oui, bronzer ✪ sous le soleil semble être la meilleure option en ce moment. J'ai même pensé à installer une petite pataugeoire dans mon jardin.

Louis : Bonne idée ! N'oublie pas d'utiliser de la crème solaire, tu ne voudrais pas attraper un coup de soleil ✪.

Camille : C'est sûr, je fais toujours attention. Le bronzage est agréable, mais la santé de la peau est plus importante.

Louis : Tout à fait. Bon, je crois qu'il est temps pour moi d'aller me rafraîchir à la piscine maintenant.

Camille : Profite bien ! On devrait tous profiter de ce temps pour se rafraîchir et se détendre. Si c'est même possible !

♡ 𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕓𝕖𝕝𝕠𝕨 👇

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✪ Notes

une canicule = période de très forte chaleur = a heatwave. “Cette canicule a particulièrement touché les enfants”

une bizarrerie ✨ = a quirk, oddity, anomaly. A really wonderful colloquial commentary. ”Il y a des bizarreries dans son comportement en ce moment, elle doit être amoureuse”

la climatisation, un ventilateur = the air-conditioning + a fan. Two very important nouns to know if you’re spending any time in France during the summer. You’ll need one of them! la climatisation is regularly shortened to la clim ✨

allumés = en état de marche = switched on! I often see students stumble over themselves searching for this translation. The fridge, the TV, the computer is ‘allumé’, it’s ‘on/turned on’. Easy way to remember this? Everything electric is a light in French! You switch it on (allumer) and then it stays on (est allumé). 💡

🌬️faire un courant d'air ✨🧩 = the English translation is ‘create a draft’ but this doesn’t do this phrase justice at all. ‘faire un courant d'air’ is like la petanque, like having l’apéro .. it’s a French domestic institution!

It’s a series of habits involving open windows, shutters, shade and sunshine that the French use to keep the rooms of their home cool during the hot summer months. Every morning the French faire un courant d'air to cool their house down for the day. Explore more here 🔗

bronzer, le bronzage = to tan, sunbathing “Ma sœur est une adepte du bronzage.” (My sister is a fan of sunbathing). The classic alternative is, of course, un bain de soleil. Add a little humour with un bain de vitamine D ✨ ! A fun little variation I overheard recently. 

coup de soleil = sunburn. Doesn’t French just have a way with simple words, un coup de soleil sounds like something I’d want to have! “Sur la plage ou en montagne, les coups de soleil menacent”

*✨ = especially ‘Frenchie’ words/phrases you should try and use more
*🧩 = ‘canned’ expressions or phrases that are best learned as a whole, like puzzle-pieces.

Writing Prompt ✍️
Alors, quand as-tu attrapé un coup de soleil pour la dernière fois ?

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

L: C, have you noticed this heatwave? It's so weird!

C: I've never seen such a hot summer. I'm finding it hard to keep my house cool, even with the air conditioning on all the time.

L: I try to create a draught too, but it doesn't really work. In fact, we don't have enough fans for everyone at night. The best solution during the day is to stay outside in the park or garden.

C: Yes, sunbathing seems to be the best option at the moment. I've even thought of installing a little paddling pool in my garden.

L: Good idea! Don't forget to use sun cream, you don't want to get a sunburn.

C: Of course, I'm always careful. A tan is nice, but skin health is more important.

L: Absolutely. Well, I think it's time for me to go and cool off in the pool now.

C: Enjoy! We should all take advantage of this time to cool off and relax. If that's even possible!

Exercise - Fill in the blank 💪

Quickly test your comprehension, accelerate your learning. 🚀

1. Les comportements étranges des animaux sont souvent considérés comme ____ . Strange behaviors in animals are often considered a quirk.

2. Avec cette chaleur, je suis tellement content d'avoir installé ___ à la maison.
   With this heat, I'm so glad I installed air conditioning at home.

3. Après ____ pendant des heures, Sophie a un joli ___ .
   After sunbathing for hours, Sophie has a nice tan.

4. Pour rafraîchir la pièce, on devrait ____ en utilisant un ____ .
   To cool down the room, we should create a draft using a fan.

5. Sans protection, il est facile d'attraper un ___ en été.
   Without protection, it's easy to get a sunburn in the summer.

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. une bizarrerie 2. la clim 3. un bain de soleil, bronzage 4. faire un courant d'air, ventilateur 5. coup de soleil

⏪ Catch Up On Recent Dialogues

• Préparer un voyage📍

• T’as déjà eu une amende pour excès de vitesse ? 🚙💨

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. 🙌🏻

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À tout à l'heure! 🌞🇫🇷

Amélie x