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www.uqtr.ca/argot
This is the first website on the internet, if not the only one, where you will actually improve you fluency in French slang, or, as it is called, L'argot. L'argot is a very casual way of speaking French. You should not use it in a formal situation where politeness and good manners are required. But with good friends, with family, in a relaxed context, you can use it to create a more friendly linguistic environment. But beware, not everybody has the same understanding of l'argot. Some people may use it quite casually every day, others will avoid it in general. Originally, l'argot was a secret language invented in the 17th century by robbers in the city of Paris, in order not to be understood by police spies. Today, it means «special language», parallel to standard French. All French people, at all socio-economic levels in France, know or use some argot, even the president of France, or famous writers at the Académie française! In the province of Québec (Canada), more precisely in the city of Trois-Rivières, where this website is located, the local argot also exists, under the name of joual - mispronunciation of the word cheval (horse). You will find a good sample of this "lumberjack talk" in the Canadian CD-ROM La chaise berçante / The Rocking chair where, among other interesting exercises for learning standard French, you will hear a legend narrated in this very familiar level of speech. The address for the CD-ROM is: http://www.editions3d.ca/chaise/ The main goal of this site is to increase your proficiency in understanding l'argot so you won't be at a loss the first time you hear it around you during a trip to France. To begin, click on leçon 1
and follow the lessons and the exercises, beginning by a dialog in
Argot - Slow speed. Improve immediately
your aural skills by listening carefully to the dialogs with MP3
while reading the texts.
The linguistic content of the site owes everything to David Burke's excellent book Street French 1, published in 1996 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., which I highly recommand. With the author's authorization, for which we are very grateful, we borrowed five chapters of David Burke's book to create this website. You will find a lot more information about David Burke's publications on slang at this address: http://www.slangman.com For more information about French slang, please have also a look at an excerpt of Georges Pilard's phrasebook ' Rude French ', with many phrases in context at this address. We are very thankful to Anne-Laure Debin, Céline Muller and Gilles Triouleyre for lending their voices for the dialogs. The author of the website, André Bougaïeff, can also be heard in several dialogs. This project was made possible by the financial
support of the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières.
You need the MP3 application in your hard drive in order to listen to the recorded dialogs. A+ les mecs! -- See you later, guys! ( 'A+' is short for ' A plus tard ' in SMS writing - SMS is ' Texto ' in French) André Bougaïeff, Ph.D.
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