Buying yourself a bit of time when speaking French

[mint]

You know how, when speaking English and you are a bit flummoxed as to how to answer, you um and you ah and you say well, or as a matter of fact, to be honest, to be perfectly frank, etc?

So, do you have any strategies for when you need a bit of time to answer in French or you need to have something repeated or listen to more of the conversation before you can work out what the conversation is about, nevermind contributing with your own observations?

Alors and a long pause is always good for buying a bit of time.  You could, of course, say comment, when you need something repeated.

As for agreeing or disagreeing and you can't think how to do it graciously, you could say emphatically, ah OUI alors or ah NON alors and you'd sound perfectly credible.

What I find that locals use here for everything and, believe me, this expression is très courrant, is ah bon?  They'd say ah bon even when what you tell them is not actually something good or in the least positive.  For example, my cat has been poisoned: ah bon?  My husband has gone off with his mistress: ah bon?  Les genarmes found I had drunk excessive alcohol and I might be banned from driving: ah bon?

Has anyone found expressions that mean nothing that the French repeatedly use?  I can only assume that, together with eh bien, beh oui, aller, ah bon is what they say when they don't know what else to say! 

[YCCMB]

Just draw out a syllable here and there, like wot the French do..

Beeeeeeeeeeeeen

Boooooof

Euhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Tout à fait is another "I agree with you" phrase,along with absolumment.

[mint]

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]Just draw out a syllable here and there, like wot the French do..

Beeeeeeeeeeeeen

Boooooof

Euhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Tout à fait is another "I agree with you" phrase,along with absolumment.[/quote]

Or pas du tout when you disagree?

Used judicially, you'd be surprised how fluent and knowledgeable you could sound!  And, naturellement, don't forget to hausser les epaules[:D]

[woolybanana]

Just pull down on your bottom lip and go 'duhhhhh'. Listened to a Brit couple doin it today, very effective!

[Loiseau]

Betty's "Euhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" is perfect, and can be drawn out as long as necessary in order to keep the conversational ball in your own court.

Another favourite among my Vendée acquaintances is to finish every remark with "hein?"

Angela

[idun]

And there is the 'tu sais' 'vous savez' too.

Just watch people talking on live french tv and you'll hear enough waffling and euhhhhhhh's to last a lifetime!

[EmilyA]

I understand that "ah bon" is expressing a negative emotion, Mint. A friend of mine told me that when she decided not to specialise as a surgeon, the Professor of Surgery looked at her and said "ah bon" in a disapproving fashion.

The explanation stuck with me and I have heard it used a lot like that since.

I say, alors or bah oui, mais.....

[YCCMB]

I think with "ah bon" you've just sort of explained your own interpretation, EmilyA. "In a disapproving fashion"

You can say "ah bon" in almost any fashion you wish:

Bored

Surprised

Incredulous

Disapproving

Disinterested.....

The words convey a meaning which is almost completely based on the intonation used when saying them.

[NormanH]

I hear "a bon" as "oh really?" in quite a few situations...

I find 

"je ne peux pas m'empêcher de remarquer"

(I couldn't help noticing that....)

a useful filler...

Another 'polite' waste of time:

"je me demandais si..... je pourrais/vous auriez/étiez/feriez etc

Je me demandais si t'aimerais passer ce soir

Je me demandais si vous pourriez m'obtenir une copie de  XYZ

Je me demandais si nous pouvions ajourner notre rendez-vous?

[Patf]

As per Norman - "ah bon" seems to usually mean "oh really?"

When stuck as to what to say I usually say "j'ai oublié le mot pour ...."

[YCCMB]

Or just completely change the subject with

A propos de rien...

[NormanH]

Revenons à nos moutons...

[Chancer]

Enfin bref............

 

Machin truc bidule..............

 

Quoi....................

 

As for buying myself time to think, its never a problem, when you are surrounded by majoritairement ignorant domineering people if you actually get to speak in the first place you will be interrupted within a few seconds or ignored completely while they speak to someone else as if you are not even there.

 

And for understanding others I have all the time in the world, within a maximum of 3 seconds their speech will be punctuated with an euuhh...... or a de becomes a deuuhh........... anything ending in re as well, these last for between one second and infinity so you have between 30% and 80% of the speakers time taken up sounding like a moron (think of the Cadburys finger advert "deuuhh I wish I was as clever as you Brian") saying nothing, more than enough to try and guess what they are saying because even if you understand every wrod guessing is exactly what you have to do. The trailing euuhh used when someone doesnt actually want to sy something bad but to convey it or usually because they just cannot find their words "la...... euuhh, la........... euuhh..........." as if you are a mind reader.

 

Even the most intelligent active and outgoing people I know like the cadrés in the running club speak like that, I now realise that for some at least its to fit in, to not stick out and be victimised, I was in a meteing with one with cadrés from other Airbus subsiduaries in Europe and was gobsmacked to hear him speaking clearly, eloquently and without any hesitation. I distinctly recall Sarkozy during the run up to the elaction against Hollande altering his speaking style with the same mannerisms although he didnt sound like a moron doing it.

[alittlebitfrench]

"Oh.......bah dis donc"..............(nod with facial expression of interest or surprise)....Pause and say..."quand même" (nodding)

[YCCMB]

And enfin. Or just 'fin. You can drag that out for a bit too.

We used to take the Mackey out of one of my profs at uni because he'd say "Oui Oui, mais......non, non, mais.......d'accord"

[idun]

Frankie Howerd in french quoi, nez pah, vous savez!

[YCCMB]

See, on Facebook you have a "like" button. I could have just used that!

[ericd]

[quote user="mint"] Has anyone found expressions that mean nothing that the French repeatedly use?  I can only assume that, together with eh bien, beh oui, aller, ah bon is what they say when they don't know what else to say! 

[/quote]

Of course with time, one's language changes and I find very funny to hear younger members of the French family continuously repeating the word "en fait" ...... it comes out every 4 syllables .. Listen carefully and you will notice it.

[Chancer]

I was watching a report last night and the person being interviewed bugged me so much by saying "en fait" every few seconds that I changed channel, then within 20 seconds there was another en fat, this went on through many channels before I turned the darned thing off, nobody could speak lucidly for more than 30 seconds without an "en fait" but it was the meaningless "en fait, - eeuuhh..............."'s followed by nothing that really did for me, both my bête noires rolled into one.

 

When I listen to old people speak or to common people speaking on the TV 30 years ago there was none of this moronic speech but then people cpoke to each other then rather than staring into smart phone screens.

[vivienz]

I recently started a French language course to improve my somewhat

exuberant but inaccurate French and my first assignment was a spoken

one.  Inevitably, I ummed and ahhed a few times, so my tutor suggested

the following to increase my 'umming and ahhing' vocabulary:

alors, bon, ben, voilà, donc

I haven't used them in that way a great deal yet, as I'm still trying to work out how I can include a very expressive 'oh la vache' in the next one.  Favourite phrase of the moment.

[Loiseau]

If there was a "Like" button, I would be pressing it, too, vivienz!

Angela