Fodor's Travel Talk Forums

Fodor's Travel Talk Forums (https://www.fodors.com/community/)
-   Europe (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/)
-   -   Help with French Place Pronuciations (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/help-with-french-place-pronuciations-500820/)

Robespierre Apr 6th, 2005 11:59 AM

eel nee ah pah duh kwa

rex Apr 6th, 2005 12:28 PM

<<eel nee ah pah duh kwa>>

yes, Robes[pierre - - but let's transliterate it the way people tend to actually say it...

nya pah də kwah

or even..

ya pah d&#601#; kwah

(Il n'y a pas de quoi - - for those of you who didn't realize it) - - vaguely "you're welcome" - - or slightly more literal "think nothing of it" (or even more literal "there's nothing to it").

cooncat Apr 7th, 2005 10:46 AM

what ever happened to de rien?

Intrepid1 Apr 7th, 2005 11:30 AM

Re Cassis as in Paris...the final "s" is usually not enunciated strictly speaking.

laverendrye Apr 7th, 2005 11:32 AM

Or the elegant, "C'est moi qui vous remercie"?

cocofromdijon Apr 7th, 2005 12:52 PM

"je vous en prie!" and you can even add "ce fut un plaisir!"
When we have a public job, we are told never to say "il n'y a pas de quoi" to customers.
corinne :-)

LuckyLuc Apr 7th, 2005 01:05 PM

For non-French speaker here is a link where you may write as much as 30 words and Alain a French voice will repeat them. Alain is patient. Be awared that the legato is sometimes absent. Et voici le lien
http://www.naturalvoices.att.com/demos/index.html

ckenb Apr 9th, 2005 02:33 AM

Coco,

Why are you not supposed to say 'Il n'y a pas de quoi'? What are you supposed to say instead? 'Je vous en prie'?

cocofromdijon Apr 9th, 2005 05:16 AM

hi, what a difficult question! I can't really tell you why, but it sounds a bit "vulgar"(?). You can answer that to a person you know, or even to s-o who asks you his way but if you say that at work to a customer for example, you wouldn't be seen much professional. it seems too "relax" to say "il n'a pas de quoi", even worse when you say "ya pas d'quoi".
I found this for you : http://www.hku.hk/french/starters/co..._interview.htm where you can read a french conversation.
I find this website useful for ordinary conversations (like taking a train ticket for Dijon ;-) on " à la gare" section...

did I make myself clear? :-)
coco

LarryJ Apr 9th, 2005 06:12 AM

Regarding Cassis

As is often the case, the local people of Cassis choose to disregard the rules of French grammar and pronounciation.

In this case they disregard the final "S" rule and do pronounce it.

"kuh cease"

Larry J

tedgale Apr 9th, 2005 06:26 AM

Agreed. In the dialect saying "Qu'a vist Paris et noun Cassis n'a ren vist", the terminal S on both Paris and Cassis is sounded: Pariss, Cassiss.

LVSue Apr 9th, 2005 06:47 AM

Well, I'll yield to the native speaker (I've only been there once briefly) on whether the final "s" is pronounced in Cassis, though I always thought the town was "kahssee" and the berry "kahsseess."

But not "kuh-cease": no vowel but "e" turns into a schwa in French.

cocofromdijon Apr 9th, 2005 07:14 AM

I have the same feeling sue. I'm sure about the berry cassi"ss" with white wine to make a "Kir" (from dijon of course! ;-) ) and my husband has colleagues native of the "midi" (south) who say casseee.

ckenb Apr 10th, 2005 04:38 AM

Bonjour Cocofromdijon,

Merci pour ces explications au sujet de l'expression "Il n'y a pas de quoi" que certains utilisent en réponse à "Merci". Je comprends. Mais vous ne m'avez pas dit quelle expression il faut préférer : "Je vous en prie"? "De rien" ? "Normal" ? Peut-être pas, quand même.

Bon dimanche dijonnais.


cocofromdijon Apr 10th, 2005 04:49 AM

bonjour ckenb
la meilleure façon est "je vous en prie".
"de rien" est comme "il n'y a pas de quoi" et normal?! jamais entendu ça!

Beau temps à Amboise? ;-)
corinne

cocofromdijon Apr 10th, 2005 05:44 AM

à mon tour de poser une question: comment dirais-tu "plan de l'appartement?"
merci! :-)

ira Apr 10th, 2005 06:00 AM

In English it would be "apartment plan", "apartment arrangement" or (informal) "apartment layout".

((I))

marcy_ Apr 10th, 2005 06:06 AM

Corinne,
Do you mean in English?
Floor plan of the apartment.

Now could I ask another question?
How do you pronounce the drink "Lillet" ?

cocofromdijon Apr 10th, 2005 06:09 AM

thank you Ira, I'm trying to translate a french website into english, I thought it would be simple...!

cocofromdijon Apr 10th, 2005 06:18 AM

thank you Marcy as well, now who is right? ;-)
as for Lillet (is this wine?) I would say like "lee lay" (short sounds, said quickly).
sometimes I think that in that case (pronunciation)we should be able to talk through msn, but what a mess if everyone was connected!


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 02:03 AM.