French Oral

ray2012

Quick question! How would you say "I didn't go" ? Is it Je ne suis pas allé? And then would "I never went" be Je ne suis jamais allé? :P

borrch

ray2012 wrote: »

Quick question! How would you say "I didn't go" ? Is it Je ne suis pas allé? And then would "I never went" be Je ne suis jamais allé? :P

yep thats right

ray2012

borrch wrote: »

yep thats right

Thanks

Maidhfinden

Did my oral today, we had a lovely examiner!
She asked me (and a few others Ive heard from in my class) right away about my family, then what there was in the area for young people to do, jobs in the area, then my document. Then she asked me about what I did with the money I earn and I told her I was a driver so I spend a lot on petrol and she asked me about accidents on the road, then we talked about what I wanted to do next year and that's about it! Bonne chance tout le monde!

Acciaccatura

I did mine today too, the examiner seemed nice enough, but he kept cutting across me and asking a different question after 2 sentences, even the stuff I was making up on the spot. He kept his poker face throughout most of the exam except laughing a bit once or twice. I can't say I'm delighted with it, but I did my best, and I couldn't have done much better to be honest, I just hope it's enough.

ray2012

My examiner was quite the opposite. She was really nice and allowed us to speak without interrupting. I was fairly pleased with mine, I knew I could have done better but it was the best I could do with my nerves so what more can I ask for. If anyone is yet to do their French oral, I'd just say to know your basic topics (Family/School/Past-Times/Summer Holidays) well. You know you will get asked at least, I'd say, 3 out of 4. Shockingly, I wasn't asked anything about my past times, or even if I was interested in sport or music. But yeah, Bonne chance, the time flies

TheStook

My orals next Tuesday and I'm only really working on my document now after doing pretty poor in the mocks without one, I just need a bit of advice as my teacher has barely mentioned the document, I'm in honours btw.

My document is on the Red Hot Chili Peppers, it'll include a picture of the band on stage, their logo and I'm going to put in my ticket to their gig in Croke park l'ete dernier. Do yee dudes reckon that's okay? I think it's pretty good because I can talk about why their my favourite band, the actual concert itself and I'm praying that when I bring up the fact that I read Anthony Kiedis (Lead singer) autobiography and I found him to be very interesting because of his many battles with drug addiction, that the examiner leads on to the topic of drugs, its possibe I hope!
And I'm wondering how the document part of the oral works, does the examiner just ask if you have one and then you take it out and start talking about it or do you let the examiner ask the questions?

Any help is much appreciated!

Galwaymother

TheStook, it sounds like a great document! Make sure you can say what each musician does in the band, what kind of lyrics their songs have, a little bit of when/where about the band.
About the concert, some examiners like to ask how much the tickets were and how you paid for them, how you went to the concert, practical matters like that.
Personally I would jump at the chance of asking you about Drugs, it's the obvious finishing question for the document.
The procedure differs: when you come in, leave your document on the table, they won't forget then. If you are talking about music at some stage, bring in the docuemt: "D'ailleurs, mon document présente mon groupe préféré..."/ "Comme vous pouvez le voir sur mon document, les RHCP sont mon groupe préféré".
If it doesn't come up, they will ask you generally at the end: " Alors, je vois que vous avez un document?...."
In terms of letting you talk or interrupting with questions, examiners differ, though they are supposed to let you present the document at least with an introductory sentence or two. Keep going naturally until they interrupt you, it's the key for every question really!
Bonne chance! (or as we shockingly say in France, merde!)

bigt132

Had my oral yesterday and the examiner didn't have a marking sheet or anything out in front of her, is that the way it always is? Do they listen to the tape afterward and mark it then or do they just try to remember what mistakes were made etc.? Sorry if this is a stupid question but I'm just wondering cos for all our mock orals they were marking throughout :P

TheStook

TheStook wrote: »

My orals next Tuesday and I'm only really working on my document now after doing pretty poor in the mocks without one, I just need a bit of advice as my teacher has barely mentioned the document, I'm in honours btw.

My document is on the Red Hot Chili Peppers, it'll include a picture of the band on stage, their logo and I'm going to put in my ticket to their gig in Croke park l'ete dernier. Do yee dudes reckon that's okay? I think it's pretty good because I can talk about why their my favourite band, the actual concert itself and I'm praying that when I bring up the fact that I read Anthony Kiedis (Lead singer) autobiography and I found him to be very interesting because of his many battles with drug addiction, that the examiner leads on to the topic of drugs, its possibe I hope!
And I'm wondering how the document part of the oral works, does the examiner just ask if you have one and then you take it out and start talking about it or do you let the examiner ask the questions?

Any help is much appreciated!

I would run the ticket idea past your teacher first. There is NO English allowed on your document anywhere and some examiners are quite strict about it.

felixfelicis

Hey guys! A lot of you have probably already done your orals by now. For those of you who haven't yet - good luck! And don't worry too much about it. The way teachers, even some students, talk about it, it kind of makes it seem like you're gonna sit down, say bonjour, then get quizzed on the economic climate for no apparent reason. Of course, this depends on your examiner, but for the most part, it's just a normal conversation about general information.

I did my LC last year, got an A1 in French, and I have been living in Paris for the past 7 months. I thought I'd give you some tips.

I'm bored, okay?

If you are actually presented with a horrific question that nobody could answer in English, let alone French, don't panic! The main point of the examiner asking you the question is to see if you can understand it - not necessarily respond to it.
Like, say you're asked about the economy. Politics. Anything you do not have the vocabulary to discuss.

"J'en sait rien!" - I don't know anything about it.
"En fait, c'est dificile a dire." - In fact, it's hard to say.
"Ca ne m'interesse pas beaucoup/du tout." - It doesn't interest me a lot/at all.
"Je sais que c'est un vrai probleme." - I know it's a real problem.
"Et il faut qu'on fasse quelquechose" - And we must do something
"Mais, je dois admettre que j'ai aucune idee!" - But, I must admit, I have no idea!

I saw a bit earlier on in this thread something about the "si" response thing... Well, this is how it goes, as far as I know. We all know "si" generally means "if". Like, "S'il fait beau, on va aller a la plage!!!" kinda thing. Well, it's also the "yes" response to a negative question. Confusing.

Like, say you were asked, "Tu n'aime pas cet ecole?" - and you actually did like it, you would respond, "Si, j'aime bien!" - not "Oui, j'aime bien." I have no idea why. That's just how it is.

Do try to drop in some nice subjunctives...

"Il me faut 500 points, donc, Il faut que je fasse mes etudes!" - I need 500 points, so I must study!

Don't forget about the Futur Proche! I still find the future really difficult - all the "je ferai, j'irai, j'aurai, je prendrai"s really do my head in. Futur proche is so much easier. Aller + infinitive.

"Je vais aller a l'universite" - I'm going to go to university.
"Je vais passer quelques semaines en France" - I'm gonna spend a few weeks in France.

It's just easier. Plus, it's a much more "oral" tense than the futur simple.

Making it feel like a real conversation is important. If you're asked something, don't just respond with a stonefaced "oui" ou "non" - shake things up a bit, maybe say "euhh, pas vraiment!" or "oui, bien sur!"

And if they help you out a bit - giving you a word you can't remember, just be polite about it and smile, say something like "ah oui, c'est ca! merci - eh, qu'est-ce que j'ai voulu dire? ah oui,..." and then continue. (Ah yes, that's it! Thanks, oh - what did I want to say? Ah yes...)

Just be yourself! If they ask you something like "Ca va?" at the start, just say "Oui, ca va! je suis un peu nerveux/nerveuse, mais j'espere que ca va aller!" - meaning, Yes, it's going well! I'm a little nervous, but I hope it will go okay. It will make them both feel a bit sorry for you - everyone knows how awful it is to feel nervous - and also be impressed, because you expressed that feeling adequately in French.

As for the general stuff...

Say "Bonjour madame/monsieur" upon entering. Your teacher should have told you this.
Remember to say "vous" if you talk to them. Like, "Je suis desolee, mais j'ai pas bien compris. Pouvez-vous m'expliquer le question, s'il vous plait?" - I'm sorry, but I didn't really understand, could you explain the question to me, please?
When presenting your document: "Voila, mon document!"
When leaving: "Au revoir madame/monsier, merci beaucoup. Bonne journee!" - Goodbye, thanks so much, have a good day!

Well, that's all I can think of off the top of my head, but if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. I'll do my best to help out.

Jade.

Does anyone have any fillers you can use in French? A link to a site or anything.

They helped me a lot in my Irish would love some for French I have my oral next week

HPMS

Jade. wrote: »

Does anyone have any fillers you can use in French? A link to a site or anything.

They helped me a lot in my Irish would love some for French I have my oral next week

"Eh bien..."
"Alors..."
"Donc..."
"C'est-á-dire..."
"Ben..." pronouned like bain
"euh..." (french uhhh sound, sounds better than saying emmmmmm....)
"Enfin..." (well...)
"Vous savez..."

They're all I used and that's all I can think of really! Could you give me some of your irish ones? I've my irish oral next week!

Parawhore.xD

Hey guys just wondering does this sentence make sense;
'on est gâté par le choix'- as in one is spoilt by the choice?

Just prepping for Monday and I think that could be a good one to throw in about the facilities in my area. Thanks guys!

Canard

Parawhore.xD wrote: »

Hey guys just wondering does this sentence make sense;
'on est gâté par le choix'- as in one is spoilt by the choice?

Just prepping for Monday and I think that could be a good one to throw in about the facilities in my area. Thanks guys!

On a l'embarras du choix would be what you're looking for (It's kinda like 'we have an embarrassing amount of choice')

You guys who are doing orals (in any language, really) should use wordreference.com - it's basically a huge online dictionary with idioms and everything you could ever need. I only found out about it this year and I did my LC last year, but since I still do languages it's an absolute lifesaver.

Parawhore.xD

Canard wrote: »

On a l'embarras du choix would be what you're looking for

Perfection thank you!

Trying000

Just had my french oral and .. I was the one mostly talking.. Like the examiner asked me a q and I went off to ans it and just kept talking until he interrupts me..I took maybe 4 mins on my document... But there was a point when he asked me a q and it took me a while to answer him.. I forgot to say a subjontif too... I'm in higher... Will I get at least 20% out or the 25%???

I know it's no use thinking about what's done but I am just curious..

aimzLc2

Trying000 wrote: »

Just had my french oral and .. I was the one mostly talking.. Like the examiner asked me a q and I went off to ans it and just kept talking until he interrupts me..I took maybe 4 mins on my document... But there was a point when he asked me a q and it took me a while to answer him.. I forgot to say a subjontif too... I'm in higher... Will I get at least 20% out or the 25%???

I know it's no use thinking about what's done but I am just curious..

You are supposed to keep talking instead of waiting for another question! so that sounds good , I'm pretty sure that happens to everyone due to nerves.We don't know what you said so with that information we can't possibly tell you if you got at least 20%! Its done now so i mean its good to analyze it fully once and then don't dwell on it ,forget about it!

Kingkumar

right, so french orals on tuesday(so nervous right now) and i have tried to prepare the following topics

Je me presente,famille,mes amis,mon quartier, ma maison/chamber, les taches menageres, l'argent poche
l'ecole: la journee typique, la vie scolaire, les matieres et les profs, les installation, les regle, l'uniforme, et le soir apres l'ecole
passe temps...all the common ones
and then random things like your weekend(past and future), holidays, your future plans and some what if questions (lotto, principal). and finnaly some abstract ones like alchol,drugs and smoking. have a minimum of 2 sentence on any of the above topics.

anything i missed? also if u keep using the conditional tense when your speaking about other things will the examiners still ask u a what if questions?
finally as im a foreigner i prob will be asked a question about my country ..is there any nice way to say i don't want to talk about it(will they mind that?) don't want to come across too rude

ray2012

Kingkumar wrote: »

right, so french orals on tuesday(so nervous right now) and i have tried to prepare the following topics

Je me presente,famille,mes amis,mon quartier, ma maison/chamber, les taches menageres, l'argent poche
l'ecole: la journee typique, la vie scolaire, les matieres et les profs, les installation, les regle, l'uniforme, et le soir apres l'ecole
passe temps...all the common ones
and then random things like your weekend(past and future), holidays, your future plans and some what if questions (lotto, principal). and finnaly some abstract ones like alchol,drugs and smoking. have a minimum of 2 sentence on any of the above topics.

anything i missed? also if u keep using the conditional tense when your speaking about other things will the examiners still ask u a what if questions?
finally as im a foreigner i prob will be asked a question about my country ..is there any nice way to say i don't want to talk about it(will they mind that?) don't want to come across too rude

Sounds like you should be sorted! I doubt they would ask you again if they see you're able to use it, but they still may, so still have it prepared.
Since as you were not born in Ireland, you may get asked if you study Irish at school/What you think of it, etc. Be expecting a question on if you like Ireland as a country too.
A way you could get out of that question could be :
For example if the examiner asks you which country you prefer you could say : "Je préfère habiter ici en Irlande car, par example, il y a beaucoup d'installations ici en Irlande et aussi dans ma ville pour les jeunes ......." (and then go off describing the facilities for young people in your town)
That could work, but then again it may not!

aimzLc2

Kingkumar wrote: »

right, so french orals on tuesday(so nervous right now) and i have tried to prepare the following topics

Je me presente,famille,mes amis,mon quartier, ma maison/chamber, les taches menageres, l'argent poche
l'ecole: la journee typique, la vie scolaire, les matieres et les profs, les installation, les regle, l'uniforme, et le soir apres l'ecole
passe temps...all the common ones
and then random things like your weekend(past and future), holidays, your future plans and some what if questions (lotto, principal). and finnaly some abstract ones like alchol,drugs and smoking. have a minimum of 2 sentence on any of the above topics.

anything i missed? also if u keep using the conditional tense when your speaking about other things will the examiners still ask u a what if questions?
finally as im a foreigner i prob will be asked a question about my country ..is there any nice way to say i don't want to talk about it(will they mind that?) don't want to come across too rude

Sorry if you included it but they often ask the difference between france and ireland or the school system in ireland/france , in your case they may ask the difference between your country and ireland but you can just say Je n'y connais pas grand-chose , i don't know much about it they don't mind if you say that! Just i would only use it once in the exam.They sometimes don't even ask a conditonal question so if you do one yourself they probably won't ask another.

Kingkumar

perfect thanks....but i was wondering if they ask me something like can you describe the life there or what are the differences could i say
je ne voudrais pas parler sur ce topic? or would that be too rude

aimzLc2

Kingkumar wrote: »

perfect thanks....but i was wondering if they ask me something like can you describe the life there or what are the differences could i say
je ne voudrais pas parler sur ce topic? or would that be too rude

yea you can definitely do that also differences could simply be en ireland il pleut beaucoup , au contraire en france vous avez le temps varie , you can also talk about differences between school , the class and day last longer in france than in ireland.
I think you could.. but maybe say your sentence and add je prefererais parler de.. as in i'd rather talk about .. and move onto a different topic , its slightly less harsh

Canard

"Je préférerais (pref-ayr-ayr-ay, the pronunciation on that is hard) de ne pas en parler s'il vous plait, c'est un peu ennuyeux / personnel" is how you'd say "I'd prefer not to talk about it, please, it's a bit boring / personal" - as long as you say it politely there should be no problem. Is it really obvious that you're foreign? You could always pretend you just look it, or say you're Irish but parents are foreign or something like that.

yournerd

If I said I played music what would you ask me?
If I said I was russian? what would you ask me?
If im russian and in a irish school what would you ask me? barr im retarded.

aimzLc2

yournerd wrote: »

If I said I played music what would you ask me?
If I said I was russian? what would you ask me?
If im russian and in a irish school what would you ask me? barr im retarded.

What instrument do you play, how often do you practice, are there other instruments you would like to learn?
How long have you lived there, What is the difference between ireland and russia, would you like to go back?
Do you do irish/do you find it hard?If you study russian do you like it..

I had my French Oral today and it went so horribly wrong. She didn't ask "famille, je me présente, passe temps, chez vous, votre quartier" What dis she do instead harped on about school and asked me what the topics of my debates are, then when I said the third world she asked what aspect... I didn't prepare for anything she asked and if it weren't for my document I think I would have cried in the room with her.

aimzLc2

Deleted User wrote: »

I had my French Oral today and it went so horribly wrong. She didn't ask "famille, je me présente, passe temps, chez vous, votre quartier" What dis she do instead harped on about school and asked me what the topics of my debates are, then when I said the third world she asked what aspect... I didn't prepare for anything she asked and if it weren't for my document I think I would have cried in the room with her.

I wasn't there but sounds like she thought you were good enough to skip onto harder topics! and your document probably went well then..

RUSTEDCORE

ray2012 wrote: »

Just a thread for people doing their French orals !
What are ye all studying? What day do ye have your oral?
Mine is on Monday, and I feel prepared for it, I think..
Ye nervous?

I have it whenever I can
Im very prepared as I have studied hard
I hav,nt been nervous since the first time she said whip it out

aimzLc2

aimzLc2 wrote: »

I wasn't there but sounds like she thought you were good enough to skip onto harder topics! and your document probably went well then..

Document went really well, not as well as I had hoped but compared to everything else.
That's what everyone's saying to me but within three minutes of starting she's asking me about the third world? I think some of the questions she asked people were dodgy and I'm worried now.