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Don't say it!

Don't say it!

By: Koru Traductions
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 For English learners and bilingual students, this podcast helps you avoid classic 'faux amis' errors with a story and sometimes a guest.Koru Traductions Language Learning
Episodes
  • FAUX AMIS - caractère is NOT character.

    FAUX AMIS - caractère is NOT character.
    Oct 22 2022
    www.korutraduction.fr https://www.decitre.fr/livres/cerveau-et-emotions-a-l-adolescence-9782340072930.html TRANSCRIPT: Hello, I’m Hannah and welcome to Don’t Say It, a podcast designed to help you work on the finer details of the English language. Today we’ll discuss the words caractère and character. The most universal way I can explain the English word character is by asking you a question: Who is your favourite character in Friends? Is it Monica, Chandler, Rachel Joey, Pheobe or Ross? My least favourite character is that stupid monkey, I think his name is Marcel? I still do not understand why the show creators thought they needed a monkey on this show. It was already funny and popular. Sometimes Hollywood is so worried about making money that they don’t take time to let ONE original idea develop before they throw cute babies, dogs or...well....monkeys into the mix. If you are curious, the monkey appeared in eight episodes of the series. Apparently the character of Ross was experiencing lonliness and depression and instead of getting professional help, he adopted a wild animal. The word character came from the Greek word character spelt with a k, which described a tool used for stamping a distinctive mark on something. It was used to describe a trait or a mark or a distinct symbol that defined something in particular. Do you know the Greek word for character? It’s Ethos, or guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology, also used to refer to the power of music to influence emotions and behaviour. So we might think of the ethos of heavy metal music to be like expressing extreme anger and sadness but bringing the community together to share these extreme emotions. You know, I used to go regulalrly to the Hellfest festival and it was funny but it was one of the places in the world where I felt very safe, despite all the long haired Viking warriors stomping about. Women were given a lot of respect in this environment, and although I’m not a big metal fan, I just went to see Jello Biafra form the Dead Kennedys freak out on a side stage, (best. Day. Ever) I really enjoyed going to this festival. Even camping and tenting and living it rough. I am so uncool, that it gave me a little bit of a cool edge from time to time! WE’ll be back after this quick message from our sponsor ! Ok, so if character was a stamp or a defining trait then the English word character evolved to mean a particular person in a play, film, a performance. It was like the title or the traits given in stage directions that an actor could develop into a person...a character. This link with theatre and performance is perhaps why the Enlish expression, ‘he is a real character !’ describes someone who is larger than life, or a bit extreme in some ways, as if he is performing on a stage. In French, when we use the word caractère, you can correct me if I am wrong, but it is often used to describe negative qualities of a person’s personality. Quelle caractère, celle la. I've heard that before. I suppose it is more a way to define a personality type- passionate, emotional, cold, angry. It is what differentiates one person from another, the strong personality types. I have rarely heard it used positively in France, but that it just my experience. When someone has caractère, it is usually something that must be managed by the person’s entourage, I suppose it is what makes a person high maintenance, as we would say in English – difficile à gérer. I must say , I tend to like big personalities. My mum had a lot of caractère, and my youngest son could be referred to as someone with a lot of character. quell caractère celui la ! But I think people with strong personalities motivate shy people to express themselves and they push scared people to have more courage. My son has taught me expressing a desire or that saying when you want something you have to be determined and not accept no for an answer. He rarely doubts his intuition or his instincts
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    8 mins
  • English Interview : Neuroscience and learrning with Ellen Bales

    English Interview : Neuroscience and learrning with Ellen Bales
    Oct 19 2022
    https://www.adolescence-neuroscien www.korutraduction.fr TRANSCRIPT: I wish I could learn everything without mistakes. Nah, wouldn't be fun. Hi, I'm Hannah, and welcome back to don't say it. A podcast designed to help you work on the finer details of the English language. I am so lucky to be joined with author mum and teacher and sponsor Ellen Bales. Hi, Ellen. Hi, Hannah. Ellen, what is your favorite English word? This has to be lullaby. I love the way it sounds. I love the way it melts in your mouth. Definitely. it refers to a very nice moment when you're with your kids, they're about to go to sleep and you sing a _______ lullabye. Birdland it's one of my favorite songs. Yes, because of a song. The way it sounds is so nice. For example, contrary to stroke, for example, to stroke. The idea of caresse doesn't fit with the way it sounds in English. So it's not logical to me. Stroke doesn't evoke something very nice. Caresses, gentle like caress, caress in poems we often say the water caresses, caresses_____. Oh, that's right. The water caressing in the sand. There's some words. I remember when I learned the word. Do you remember when you learned the word lullaby? Must have been at university. Yes, I immediately loved it. I remember that. Oh, yes, that's the word one. Then there are some places when they sound nice, like Nebraska, New Hampshire, Thailand. How long did it take you to become fluent, like really comfortable in your English? Ten years. I started like, at the same age as any school kid in France. I was already interested in the English language. I remember my mom, she could speak very good English, and I would ask her some words. Mama, _____________. And I remember I already knew a few words before, and I loved every minute of it. I would participate in class a lot. Then my parents sent me to Ireland, to England, and eventually I went to the United States. So I don't know. There's something with this, with the English language, with me. The English language and me, we are very, very good friends. Can you tell us a story about a mistake you made in the past in English? 2s Well, I remember this particular time and 1s there was this inspector coming to my class and 1s he was checking on my teaching and afterwards we were talking about how things went and he told me, I almost thought you were in speaker, but then you made a mistake and you said particular. 1s And I said, oh, really? I must have been stressed out then. And he said, no, I don't think so. 1s I could feel you were quite at ease with your students and that was it. What could I say? He was right. I mean, at the time, particular was pronounced 1s particular. I guess I can't even say it now, but anyway, so you didn't learn from that mistake. I did learn from that. You say 1s memories. Did you appreciate him saying that to you? Do you think it was a bit rude or he was being straightforward, that's for sure. But he was right. He was right. The stress in the world was not placed correctly. So I'm always eager to learn it's alright to make a mistake. Plus eventually 1s I had passed, so it's good to make mistakes. When you learn a language, you learn there's no other way around. You learn from your mistakes. When I was teaching adults, I would especially say you have enough vocabulary, you need to work on the intonation so that you feel more comfortable and you sound more English. If they want to sound more English, they'll talk about their accent. Oh, my accent is terrible, terrible. 1s And they'll say, no, it's just the intonation that needs to be it's true, it's true. That's my piece of advice. When you don't know how to pronounce a word correctly, then check where the stress, the main stress is on the word comfortable. And then you know where to stress and then it's easier to pronounce it and you can keep your blue, the little French trait. People say our French accent is romantic 1s and very sexy. I don't know, 3s it was really interesting. We will take a short
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    11 mins
  • Bilingual Interview - The formidable, Amanda Grey

    Bilingual Interview - The formidable, Amanda Grey
    Oct 18 2022
    www.amandagrey.com www.korutraduction.fr https://www.decitre.fr/auteur/13875242/Ellen+Bales TRANSCRIPT: Hi, I'm Hannah, and welcome back to Don't Say It, a podcast designed to help you work on the finer detail of the English language. I am lucky to be joined with business owner and Morbihan's very own English training module, Amanda Gray. Hi, Amanda. Hi, Anna. Let's start with a question. You are originally from Ireland, if I'm not mistaken? Yes, I am indeed. I'm from Dublin. I'd love to hear your favorite Irish English word. My favorite one is probably at the moment, it's shenanigans. That's a good one of shenanigans everywhere. What would be the equivalent of shenanigans? I know something with you everywhere. I love the word collaborate. It's like smithereen. I love smithereens. 1s Do you know when these words come from Ireland? I can kind of feel it. I couldn't give you a sort of a technical reason. 1s When you visit home at Christmas, do you revert to typically Irish words with your family? Not necessarily. I mean, the Irish are masters of the English language, definitely. We kind of stretch it and modify it to suit our purpose. But that's what language is for and that's why all the best literature writers are Irish. George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde and all those people. So the Irish also have a pretty bad habit, which is swearing. 2s I know. It's a bit like the kiwis, actually. Oh, we love it. It feels so good and it's so funny. It's a natural part of our language. Don't at Scotland. Alright, let's go back to the beginning. When did you arrive in France? I arrived in France in 1989 after my degree in applied languages. Why did you come to France? I've always loved France. When I was five, in primary school, I had a French French teacher. Called Madame Mortal and she taught of French. My love of French goes back to that time, but also in fact, I realized many, many years later my love of teaching goes back to her because she didn't teach us. She showed us how to communicate with French. It goes way back to that. And I always said I could live in France. It's amazing and it is crazy. I was talking with the friends, how much one teacher, even though it's a shake, can change your mind. Did you speak French fluently before you arrived? Yeah, I think. I don't remember a time, actually, when I didn't speak French. So even though I'm not quite lingual in the sort of perfectly technical sense of the word, because I only learn French from the age of five, but I did speak French better than my French teacher in school, for example, much to her annoyance. The only difficulty I have in French is still the masculine and feminine, which I realize is installed before the age of two, almost. I used to test my children when they were small by giving them obscure French words when they were three. And they always knew 1s feminine. It happens, like sort of neonatal. There must be a gene for it. So the neurons are forming for six months with the name of structure of their mother. Even if you learn French five, you know, it's great for the accents, for example. And did you learn just from lessons or did you. No, I learned from I guess I had the part in school, but then my parents came to France every year in the summer, they would pack me, my sister and my brother, and the tent and the kitchen sink into a car and come on the ferry to France, and we would camp up and down the coast of Britain and Normandy for the whole summer. And, you know, when you're 6,7,10, you just play on the beach with French kids and I guess I learned to communicate in French from a very early age. And the grammar came, I guess, from school later on, and it just made sense. How long before you became fluent in French? So you were comfortable in business? That was probably a good ten years. I think being comfortable in business was less about language and more about experience. Yeah, I set up my business in 99. It was exactly ten years after I arrived. It's interesti
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    17 mins

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