Learn French in One Word

Posted on May 30, 2011 | 71 Comments

Learning French was never so easy

Other newness :

I opened a Facebook page !

Keep up with videos over here and have a great week 🙂

And remember — use it spaaaaringly. You wouldn’t want people to think you’re uneducated or don’t have any words other than this one…unless you really don’t have any words other than this one.

And

Don’t forget -> you can still help me make Extreme Jump Roping a reality at Tribeca by signing into your YouTube account and hitting the green “thumbs up” over here

Kickass. Thank you.

update

This was just sent to me by Faskil 😀

 

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71 responses to “Learn French in One Word”

  1. Hey! | May 30, 2011 at 12:35 pm | Reply

    You’ve just made my day! C’est tellement ça! Bravo!

  2. M1 | May 30, 2011 at 12:49 pm | Reply

    Putain c’est trop ça !
    C’est un peu comme les utilisations de F*ck word aux USA ^^
    Sinon beaucoup plus pointu : le putain marseillais ; )

    • Michelle | May 30, 2011 at 12:52 pm |

      pas tout à fait — il y a toujours une connotation négative tant qu’avec “putain” ça peut être gentil ou positif 😉

  3. Michael | May 30, 2011 at 3:47 pm | Reply

    Putain, mais je me rends compte que j’utilise souvent le mot “putain” dans mes phrases.

  4. Middle | May 30, 2011 at 7:25 pm | Reply

    Tu peux préciser aussi que l’utilisation du mot putain peut poser problème lorsqu’on te demande ton métier.

  5. Thibault | May 31, 2011 at 12:10 am | Reply

    One of the greatest analysis of French culture. Seriously, why people make such a fuss about France and Paris, whereas the only thing to understand (i say understand) Parisian people, is to know they always, always say “Putain !”.
    And besides all of this, you’re incredibly funny.
    Bravo, vraiment, pour ta vidéo

    Un Parisien

  6. Did | May 31, 2011 at 12:54 am | Reply

    Ha putain c’est pas vrai, je pourrai plus jamais dire putain tranquillement ! PUTAIN !

    Je suis pas parisienne, peut être qu’on peut dire qu’en province, putain est à part ? Non ? Putain !!!

  7. Clément | May 31, 2011 at 1:53 am | Reply

    Quite impressive indeed….
    Can I ask you a quick question? I saw your video via youtube and I honestly thought that you were a french girl speaking in english. I realised afterward that your situation was the other way around. Did you take on purpose a french accent to make this video?…. or did I just totally fail in pretending to recognise any accent whatsoever in your way of speaking (which sounds to be the case). This is not going to stop me from speading out your words though, so true words I should add.
    Nice video and very nice blog in general.
    Congrat’s!!!
    Cheers
    Clément

    • Michelle | May 31, 2011 at 9:07 am |

      Hi Clement, In fact youre not the first to think Im French speaking English, but I sulpose I didnt even realize I had taken on an accent to speak 😉

      -—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

      http://www.theobservingparticipant.com twitter.com/michmski

      Sent from my iPhone

  8. Clément | May 31, 2011 at 1:53 pm | Reply

    Hey Michelle, thanks for your reply.
    I’m glad I didn’t (entirely) imagine it (and that my ears aren’t that messed up :-). You may have been staying in France for too long and you’ve taken on the accent without even realising it. You should run away while you’ve still got some time left ;).

  9. Paris Karin (an alien parisienne) | May 31, 2011 at 6:23 pm | Reply

    Thank you so much for this video. I have not laughed so hard in a while! 😀

    A couple of bloggy friends of mine (Sion of Paris (Im)Perfect and Elizabeth Bard, author of Lunch in Paris) shared the video on Facebook. I promptly went to your Facebook page and “Liked,” to Twitter and “Followed” and then came here to comment. Next, I’m clicking on “Subscribe” and cannot wait to see whatchya got coming up next. 🙂 (Oh and I voted for your Extreme Jump Roping video, too. Hope you, uh, win or whatever. ;-))

    Your new fan,
    an alien parisienne

    • Michelle | May 31, 2011 at 6:25 pm |

      Thanks Alien!! If I “win”, Extreme Jump Roping gets made into a short movie for Tribeca 😉 Looking forward to your comments

  10. Vra | May 31, 2011 at 6:50 pm | Reply

    Ooow such a cute girl using this baaad word 😦 … Bad maybe, but it’s still my favorite word <3. Thank you for this video, i won't be afraid anymore to use my favorite word everywhere *-* . I think i love you *-*.

    Sorry, i guess i should make a french translation of this.

    Putain ⤠!

  11. Alexandra | May 31, 2011 at 8:30 pm | Reply

    Jjajaja, this is hilarious, but I believe it’s totally true!
    Thanks for making the video

  12. leblogdalexou | May 31, 2011 at 10:54 pm | Reply

    that’s so true! I’m French and I say “putain” all the time, it’s like a comma in French ^^

  13. Julien | June 1, 2011 at 8:52 am | Reply

    I discover your blog… you’re totally crazy… I like it…
    I will follow you with pleasure.

  14. Bulles de Flo | June 1, 2011 at 3:32 pm | Reply

    Hello!
    Cette vidéo est simplement géniale! J’étais morte de rire de bout en bout! Bravo! En plus, je me rends compte que je le mets à toutes les sauces ce brave “Putain”!
    Merci pour cette belle tranche de rire!

  15. Laura | June 1, 2011 at 6:57 pm | Reply

    Hello there! I saw your video on a blog I follow and just posted it on mine too! It’s a hilarious video and so true. The French say putain in pretty much every situation and so nonchalantly. I’ve never been able to achieve that with any American curse word. If only…

  16. arkham | June 1, 2011 at 7:47 pm | Reply

    J’adore, ca fait longtemps qu’une vidéo ne m’avait pas fait autant rire 🙂

  17. Matt | June 1, 2011 at 8:12 pm | Reply

    Your French accent it’s kinda cute!!
    hey don’t fire up yourself, I said kinda. 😉

  18. Yannis | June 2, 2011 at 11:32 am | Reply

    Michelle, t’assures !
    Ta vidéo m’a fait mourir de rire, on l’a regardé plusieurs fois en boucle avec ma copine et ça commence à faire le tour de Facebook j’ai l’impression. 🙂

    Tu devrais peut-être faire une version avec sous-titres en français, ça deviendrait encore plus populaire.

    Continue, on t’aime déjà !!!! :-))
    —
    Yannis

    • Michelle | June 2, 2011 at 11:40 am |

      Merci–et il y a des sous-titres! Click sur le bouton “CC” dans YouTube! 😉

      -—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

      http://www.theobservingparticipant.com twitter.com/michmski

      Sent from my iPhone

    • Yannis | June 2, 2011 at 11:59 am |

      Hého ! T’es prof de youtube ou quoi !? 😉
      (je ne vois que les sous-titres anglais, je pensais à des sous-titres français)

      Bref, peu importe, encore bravo. Et puis le zapping … waaa 🙂

    • Michelle | June 2, 2011 at 12:47 pm |

      Et la tu choisis “Traduire les sous-titres” et tu choisis français 😀

      -—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

      http://www.theobservingparticipant.com twitter.com/michmski

      Sent from my iPhone

    • Yannis | June 2, 2011 at 1:11 pm |

      C’est de la google translation, c’est pas top.
      Je vais demander à une copine dont c’est le métier de traduire si elle veut bien, pour faire une trad parfaite 🙂

  19. Ana | June 3, 2011 at 9:10 am | Reply

    Un peu prévisible 😉 (mais bon, je suis française après tout)

  20. Sami | June 3, 2011 at 2:56 pm | Reply

    That was a really really amazing video. That blog is definitly in my follow list now, keep the good work 🙂

  21. 64secondes | June 4, 2011 at 3:48 pm | Reply

    Putain, you made my day! 😉
    excellente video Michelle, et parole de parisienne, tu sais maintenant parler comme une vraie! bravo!
    http://64secondes.com/post/6137035902/learn-french-in-one-word-vous-avez-envie

  22. Jong | June 5, 2011 at 12:08 am | Reply

    Hi Michelle!
    Some friends shared the video on Facebook. I thought people from south of France said too much putain that their children use it all the time. Putain! I guess now that it’s a nationwide thing here. 😀

  23. Paul | June 5, 2011 at 10:58 am | Reply

    Hi Michelle,

    I completely fell in love with you (not the DSK way, don’t be afraid). A post on my blog + permanent link. I also added a contribution to the NouvelObservateur. Hopefully it is going to be selected for the cover-page roll (usually they are, I’ll know by Monday because they don’t work on week-ends).

    Ciao.

  24. Damien | June 7, 2011 at 12:56 am | Reply

    This reminds me of my daughter’s birth. Hold on, let me explain: my wife and I had our first baby in France (she’s American, I’m French). For whatever reason the staff thought she did not speak French. So they were trying hard to help her in her work, saying “Now you push, push, puuuuush” with a disarming accent. However, at the crucial moment, when my daughter first saw the outside, she was welcome by The Word. One nurse stood up, surprised: “Hey, she does speak French: she just said “putain””.
    5 years later, now living in Kansas, she confirmed the proper translation in English, by welcoming our son with a liberating “F******k!”

  25. Magalie | June 8, 2011 at 9:31 am | Reply

    Hi Michelle, I just discovered your video, I am a French living in Norway. Here my Norwegian colleagues learned “m***e” as the perfect French word and they are perfect saying it “maiiiir-deuh”, but next time I will teach them “p*****” you are right!
    I am in love with your penguin t-shirt, do I have any chance to find it online?

    • Michelle | June 8, 2011 at 11:43 am |

      It’s soo much easier to say 😉 and thanks! I’m not sure where I got it though, I think it was just some small store around St.Paul lol sorry

  26. michael | June 8, 2011 at 5:17 pm | Reply

    Putain ! trop bon !
    Loved the video, I just sent it to my coworkers, now they will understand me when I’m yelling out loud Putain ! (I’ve done the opposite, I’m a french guy living in LA 😉

    Michael

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  29. Mathilde | June 16, 2011 at 12:21 am | Reply

    Je n’ai qu’un mot à dire, PUTAIN ! 🙂

  30. Angelus YODASON | June 16, 2011 at 5:22 pm | Reply

    Je rajouterai aussi à cette géniale et “éducative” vidéo, le célébre “c’est pas faux” qui peut aussi être utile au quotidien 😉 http://bit.ly/jDCDXk

    • Michelle | June 16, 2011 at 5:23 pm |

      GRAVE. j’aime bien la tendance à parler dans le négatif pour dire quelque chose de positif 😉 genre “il fait pas chaud!” au lieu de dire qu’il fait froid

  31. Rom1 | June 23, 2011 at 4:35 pm | Reply

    Hello !
    Je réagis tardivement mais je tenais tout de même à te laisser un commentaire.
    Comme beaucoup de monde j’ai découvert ton univers grâce à cette vidéo et je suis devenu fan !
    Un grand bravo et j’espère que tu continueras à nous régaler avec tes vidéos 😉

    • Michelle | June 23, 2011 at 4:43 pm |

      Hello! Merci beaucoup, Romain, en tout cas je suis contente que tu sois arrivé et j’espère que le reste te plaise! 🙂

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  33. chriss | November 21, 2011 at 11:31 pm | Reply

    Et avec Péripatéticienne , it goes ?

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  36. David TENA-CARBI | February 10, 2012 at 1:51 pm | Reply

    Bonjour !
    Je ne suis pas trop “geek”, mais
    j’ai lu le Figaro Magazine récemment et je n’ai pas résisté à l’idée de regarder ce fameux clip : BRAVO !!!!!!!!!
    Vous maîtrisez totalement la langue française et ses subtilités, ses nuances et sa profondeur

    Cordialement,
    David TENA-CARBI

  37. ju | April 22, 2012 at 11:00 am | Reply

    You are a genius .. I want to marry you, you understand french so well …

  38. WalterMeraMelo | December 28, 2012 at 4:40 am | Reply

    I’m an Ecuadorian living in France as well and its true that magic word works for everything… nice post..

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  40. PRtN CHaD | February 4, 2013 at 3:19 am | Reply

    I came here hoping to learn some french… and I only learned a word that later got me in trouble during class. troll level=maximum.

  41. Matzo | March 30, 2013 at 2:19 am | Reply

    Ouallah! J’sais pas si c’est le soleil ou le rhum qui tape trop fort, mais je n’ai encore jamais vu d’Américaine tellement française pour ne pas dire hot.
    De tte façon un grand MERCI pour le cours linguistique que j’ai passé à tous mes élèves pour qu’ils puissent enfin voir que même aux E-U y a des gens qui parlent la langue de Voltaire. Y a pas de mieux pour combattre les préjugés.

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