My IGCSE French Oral Preparation - Home & Abroad

Here is the first of five sets of responses that I wrote and learnt in preparation for my IGCSE Oral examination. I haven't included all of the answers I prepared, but from this you should get a pretty good idea of what you can be doing in the run-up to your own oral exam! Of course, it is crucial that you don't copy large chunks of what I prepared.

If you want a full list of oral questions, like the ones below, to help you prepare ahead of your exam, there is a section in my book Exam Grade Booster: GCSE French that will provide you with all of the questions you are likely to be asked for both GCSE and IGCSE!

NOTE: I have not corrected this from what I wrote when I was 16, so it is entirely possible there are a few mistakes... See if you can spot them!

Décris la ville / la région où tu habites.

J’habite à Tunbridge Wells au sud-est de l’Angleterre. Ca fait dix  ans que j’y habite. C’est une assez grande ville, et c’est à environ une heure de Londres. J’aime y habiter parce qu’il y a des tas de choses à faire pour les jeunes. Par exemple, normalement, je rencontre mes amis en ville, et y étant allé,  nous allons au parc pour jouer au foot, juste pour rigoler, à moins qu’il ne pleuve.

Qu’est-ce que tu as fait le week-end dernier?

Je suis allé en ville avec mes amis, et après avoir joué au squash au centre sportif, nous avons décidé d’aller au cinéma, qui est situé dans la zone industrielle, et bien que j’aie voulu regarder ‘le discours d’un roi’, mes amis ont décidé de voir ‘Les petits Fockers’, et en fait c’était très amusant!

Quels moyens de transport y a-t-il dans ta région?

Il y a beaucoup de moyens de transports, et j’adore utiliser les transports en commun parce qu’ils sont peu chers et très bien pour l’environnement, par rapport aux voitures, qui sont très nocives pour l’environnement, et qui me rendent malade. Chaque journée, je vais à l’école en train, et je l’aime parce que je peux bavarder avec ses amis.

Où aimes-tu passer tes vacances normalement?

Normalement, pendant les vacances je vais en France avec ma famille pendant une dizaine de jours. Nous restons dans une petite maison, à la campagne, et c’est assez près de la plage. J’aime y aller avec eux parce qu’il fait beau, mais si je pouvais changer une chose, je changerais la maison parce qu’il n’y a que 2 chambre, et alors je dois la partager avec mon frère!

Que vas-tu faire pour tes prochaines vacances?

Je suis tombé sur l’idée d’aller en France avec ma famille pendant l’année prochaine, et si ce n’est pas trop cher, nous irons à Paris parce que je voudrais aller jeter un coup d’œil à l’arc de Triomphe et à la Tour Eiffel. Egalement, nous mangerons au restaurant gastronomique, et je veux y manger parce que mes parents m’ont dit que la cuisine française est délicieuse.

My IGCSE French Oral Preparation - Photo Presentation

I thought it would be useful to give an example of exactly what I did in preparation for my IGCSE French oral. This post gives you all of the material I prepared ahead of the photo presentation section of the oral. Of course, it is crucial that you don't copy large chunks of what I prepared, but from this you should get a pretty good idea of what you can be doing in the run-up to your own oral exam!

NOTE: I have not corrected this from what I wrote when I was 16, so it is entirely possible there are a few mistakes... See if you can spot them!

Photo Presentation

Cette photo a été prise par ma mère au début des grandes vacances quand ma famille et moi avons décidé d’aller aux Etats-Unis, parce que nous voulions passer deux semaines là-bas, et nous allions être très actifs.

Ici à gauche, c’est moi et je suis en train de jouer au tennis. Je devais porter des baskets, un short et un t-shirt blanc, parce qu’il faisait chaud, et alors, si j’avais porté les vêtements noirs, j’aurais eu trop chaud.  

Cependant, on avait tendance quelquefois à se détendre au soleil à moins qu’il ne fasse mauvais, et de temps en temps nous n’avons rien fait, ou nous avons passé la journée à lire et à lézarder au soleil, comme ma mère ici.

J’y suis allé avec mes parents, ma sœur aînée et mon frère cadet, qui s’appelle Alex. Ici en-haut il nage dans la  belle mer, juste pour rigoler, et également parce qu’il pense que c’est très important de rester en forme.

Généralement, on s’est bien amusé et nous sommes arrivés chez nous fatigués mais heureux !

Malheureusement, autant que je sache, l’année prochaine, je ne pense pas que ma sœur puisse venir avec nous en vacances, parce qu’elle ira en Ecosse avec ses amies.

Questions in response to presentation

Est-ce que tu préfères relâcher ou être actif pendant les vacances?

A mon avis, d’un coté c’est important de relâcher parce que nous travaillons très dur à l’école de nos jours, et si on est fatigué, on ne travaille pas aussi bien que ce qu’on le pourrait. D’un autre coté, rester en forme est vital parce qu’on peut grossir très vite sans  faire les choses actives, et aussi s’on mange trop.  

Est-ce que tu aimes les pays chaud ou froid?

J’adore faire du ski, mais malgré ca en général je préfère aller aux pays chaud parce qu’en Angleterre il fait froid, et j’aime relâcher sus le soleil, et  me faire le bronzage.

What is Verlan?

Verlan is a form of French slang (or argot as it is called in French). It involves transforming ordinary French words by inverting syllables to create a new slang word. This process of syllable inversion is rather bizarre and there is no real evidence to suggest why this system was chosen as opposed to any other. (Why not say words backwards for example!?) However, this is the system used and it is incredibly common in France today to hear verlan words, particularly amongst young people.

The easiest way to understand the mechanism behind producing verlan words is to look at some examples. So, let's have a look at the French l'envers meaning the inverse:

In order to 'verlanise' l'envers we need to:

1) Write the word phonetically (as it is pronounced):

lanver

2) Split the word up into its constituent syllables:

lan    ver

3) Swap (invert) the syllables around: 

ver    lan

4) Put the syllables together:

verlan

Miraculously we have discovered that the verlan form of l'invers is verlan!! What a coincidence ;)

However, verlan is not quite that simple. Because it is not a written or formal language, there are no hard and fast rules to creating verlan words and generally they are created based on sound and feeling far more than according to specific rules.

One rule that is crucial nonetheless is the rule of the e muet. An e muet is an e which ends a word and is not normally pronounced in French speech. However, in French poetry these e muets are pronounced, as is the case when 'verlanising' words which end in an e muet.

For example, the word femme:

1) fa meu   (The fa comes from the phonetical spelling of femme and the meu comes from the fact that the e muet is pronounced at the end of femme.)

2) fa meu (No silent letters)

3) meu fa

4) meuf 

Hold on a second! Where did the a go from the end of meufa? This is a perfect example of verlan not following precise rules. Sometimes verlan words which should end in a vowel drop the final letter in order to make them sound better, so the verlan of femme is meuf. 

The Future Impact of Verlan

In his article entitled Les fractures linguistiques, Jean-Louis Clavet affirms his belief that verlan continues to play a role in stigmatising immigrants within the banlieues. He also states, rather down-heartedly, that the situation of a fractured society embodied by a fractured language will only worsen as young banlieue members grow older and their children learn to speak in the same divisive manner as their parents, ensuring the continuation of their separation from wider society. This use of argot and verlan will perpetuate and instil a separation of banlieues, causing future generations to cling onto this use of language as a part of their identity rather than to reject it as an obsolete manner of communication which has a negative impact upon their integration with other sectors of the social order. Calvet notes that the endemic unemployment and social unrest of the banlieues goes hand-in-hand with the cultural separation, in which the use of argot and verlan plays a considerable role, of these districts from others.

Hence, the development of argot and in particular of verlan has served for nothing more than to pollute the magical French language of Molière; to present a language of deceit for criminals and miscreants and to engrain social divide between the banlieues sensibles and the rest of French society. Its cultural impact has only presented a manner in which to instil division and to create a multicultural society which is determined to remain separated by its multiethnic origins. This rather bizarre form of anagram has evolved into something far more damaging than one could have imagined, offering the disguise of vulgarities from those about whom they are spoken and giving young people in the toughest schools and areas an increased vocabulary to offend and abuse. But, is there not something beautiful about its diversity? Is not the brilliance of language in its evolution? Are not rappers urban poets whose work Molière would fully appreciate?

The Social Impact of Verlan Today

Title: 'Young people: "Go f**k the rich off"'

Verlan continued to be popular in the early 1990s following its surge to the forefront of French society in the 1980s (read my post on the the reasons for verlan's popularisation in the 1980s now and then come back here). By the turn of the millennium, verlan was understood and used by more or less all echelons of society, forming a part of French language, and ending up far from its initially divisive image. However, there remain certain factions of society who continue to use verlan in its purest form in their daily lives. These factions are comprised largely (but not entirely) of immigrant communities who continue to inhabit the banlieues sensibles. 

French society remains incredibly divided and the inhabitants of these banlieues, while a part of France, certainly do not share the same sense of national pride, togetherness and fellowship as members of the working and middle classes. Their relationship with the rest of French society is incredibly fragile and, it is important to add, a two-way bond. 

While France’s intolerance towards outsiders is well-known, as is captured in films such as La Haine in which three young men are trapped in the Parisian economic, ethnic and social underclass and which evidently demonstrates the stigmatization of the multiracial communities of the banlieues. However, there are two sides to this hostility and there is no doubt that the vast majority of this so-called underclass do little to try to integrate themselves with the rest of society. Their use of verlan is one example of this.

As verlan became increasingly mainstream, so the banlieues searched to distinguish themselves further from the middle-class youths who had adopted their originally purposefully divisive language. According to linguist Alain Rey ‘Le verlan c'est devenu trop « relou»!’ Following a study into the use of verlan today within the suburbs of Paris, Rey ascertained that ‘almost all of France has adopted words such as ‘meufs’, ‘oufs’ and ‘chelou’ which were born in the suburbs. But this verlanis no longer popular in the suburbs where new words are making their appearance.’  It is for this precise reason that verlan continues to evolve, with new words formed daily in an attempt from those on the cusps of French society to remain distinct from their national counterparts. 

Abdelkarim Tengour – creator and owner of the website www.dictionnairedelazone.fr– who has spent years collating and recording the newest uses of argot within the French language said that the most potent force in the development of French argot has been, without doubt, the integration of more and more words of Arab origin. He said that these Arab words have then formed a new basis for ‘verlanisation’. 

Argot then represents identification for these banlieue members who use it as a means to cling onto some of their ancestry in their now much westernised surroundings by introducing words from Arabic or other languages into their French. For many in the banlieues sensibles this argot and use of verlan is viewed possessively as a product of their desire to remain distinct from the rest of society. It is far more than just a slang language; it represents their independence and they therefore feel an almost paternal protectiveness over it. 

There is no greater proof of their utter refusal to accept the use of their argot by members of wider society than their feeling for the need to ‘reverlanise’ words. This is to say that words which have become commonplace in the language of all layers of French society (such as beur) have been ‘reverlanised’ (to reub) by the suburbs specifically in order to symbolise their division from wider society.

Here we begin to see that verlan, in fact, presents a rather profound insight into French society as a whole and begins to illustrate the engrained social divide, whose eviction is currently far behind that of countries such as the United Kingdom. With far greater racial, social and political tension and a far less certain national identity, perhaps we finally begin to see why (as was touched on right at the start of this essay) the French language, and its argot in particular, remains quite so diverse. 

Different registers of language (including ‘slang’) in Britain would certainly have been present between different social classes in times gone by. For example, in the 17^th Century of Oliver Twist, Britain’s slang marked an apparent divide between the lower, working class (of pick-pockets for example) who used it, and the middle class who did not understand it in the slightest. However, this rigid social divide has perished and with it has much of the differentiation of language between classes. Today, as British society aims for a universally accepted means of communication which allows all people to learn and access information regardless of social standing, we strive for equality of literacy and speech. By apparent contrast, French society has not progressed quite so straightforwardly in this regard and its division of society is reflected in its division of language and in particular of slang.

What made Verlan Popular in the 1980s?

Verlanhas had an enormous impact upon French argot for many years and has gradually evolved into the form it takes today. Despite its long and engrained position as a part of French language and literature, it was not until the 1980s that it saw its true rise to power. Its great surge to the national stage is owed almost wholly to the mass media. 

Be it via television, film, music or literature, technology permitted the transmission of the multiethnic and hybrid cultures of les cités (the suburbs) into wider society, and this included their use of argot – and in particular verlan – in ordinary speech. Ever since the 1977 hit single Laisse Béton by popular French singer songwriter Renaud, the francophone world has born witness to the inexorable diffusion of this now omnipresent syllabic inversion. 

For young people in the 1980s, verlan provided a fashionable way to distinguish themselves from both previous generations and more upright members of society. They used it as an unambiguous social marker between those who could and could not understand it; there is a definite appeal to the ability to communicate without being understood by others and young people certainly took great pleasure from the annoyance which they aroused in all members of society who had no idea what this new language meant. It became a game of wit and cunning between young members of the banlieues, as they tried to out-do others with their innovative verlan creations.

At this stage, two major and intertwined events occur: firstly, the use of verlan in Rap and particularly in the hip-hop revolution of the late 1980s. This revolution had a profound effect on poorer suburbs and continues to be the dominant cultural force within these areas, but its bubble of influence also swelled to include the young middle-class. They listened to the same popular radio stations as people in the suburbs and began to pick up on this ground-breaking use of language and – in an attempt to appear ‘cool’ – began to emulate their hip-hop idols. 

This is inevitably followed by the popularisation of verlan, which itself has had a considerable cultural impact on the whole of France. Groups such as Suprême NTM, IAM and Assassin kick-started this process as they used verlan as a tool to make their songs both original and, more practically, to increase their options when it came to finding words which rhymed and sounded most appropriate. For example, the word femme (meaning woman) has a somewhat soutenu (formal) resonance, whereas meuf has a kind of suitable vulgarity. 

What's The Most Common Verlan Word?

Speak to any French person, and they would hazard a guess at meuf (from femme meaning woman) or ouf (from fou meaning crazy). However, I believe that I have found another, even better-known verlan word...

In terms of historical keystones in the use of verlan, we find that what is probably the best known verlan word (even today) originates to circa 1720. This word clearly greatly precedes verlan’s heyday, but is unquestionably the work of one of France’s most versatile writers, and certainly the most renowned French Enlightenment writer: François-Marie Arouet. The well-known Verlan word is, in fact, the writer’s very own nom de plume: Voltaire. Voltaire stems from the name of his family château in the Poitou region, named ‘Airvault’. If you then inverse the syllables of this, you have ‘vault-air’, which is phonically identical to the name Voltaire.

Although this was almost certainly not the only factor in his choice of nom de plume, it is nonetheless a fact of which Voltaire was quite aware.