{"id":31317,"date":"2019-05-02T22:03:37","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T20:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=31317"},"modified":"2019-05-02T22:04:29","modified_gmt":"2019-05-02T20:04:29","slug":"drumming-up-new-vocabulary-talking-about-la-batterie-in-french","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/drumming-up-new-vocabulary-talking-about-la-batterie-in-french\/","title":{"rendered":"Drumming Up New Vocabulary – Talking About La Batterie In French"},"content":{"rendered":"

En \u00e9tant un Am\u00e9ricain en France<\/strong> (as an American in France), learning the language means having normal converations hide surprise French lessons almost every day. It’s hard not to stumble through a few interactions every week as I realize I don’t know how to talk about something as simple as le shampooing<\/a><\/em> or les mails<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Image<\/a> from Pixabay. Licensed under CC0.<\/p><\/div>\n

I’ve been really into drum music recently, listening to the details of jazz, rock, and hip hop<\/a> and all the skills and techniques of professional drummers. Cependant<\/strong> (however), when I wanted to talk about some of the new music I’ve been listening to with un coll\u00e8gue<\/strong><\/a> (a coworker), I quickly realized I had a pretty big hole in mon vocabulaire fran\u00e7ais<\/strong> (my French vocabulary):<\/p>\n

Salut John ! \u00c7a va ?<\/strong>
\n\u00c7a va et toi ?<\/strong>
\n\u00c7a va. J’ai remarqu\u00e9 que tu \u00e9coutes beaucoup de musique<\/a> ces jours.<\/strong>
\nOui ! J’ai d\u00e9couvert que j’aime beaucoup un nouveau style de musqiue !<\/strong>
\nAh bon, c’est quoi alors ?<\/strong>
\nC’est….<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hi John! How are you?<\/em>
\nI’m fine and you?<\/em>
\nI’m alright. I noticed that you are listening to a lot of music these days.<\/em>
\nYes! I discovered that I really like a new style of music!<\/em>
\nOh really, so what is it?<\/em>
\nIt’s…<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Before getting to specific music vocabulary<\/a> or any of the details of drumming, I couldn’t even say the word for drums!<\/em><\/p>\n

C’est comme dans un groupe de rock tu sais… <\/strong>
\nOui…<\/strong>
\nIl y a le guitariste<\/a>, le bassiste, le chanter et puis le…..<\/strong>
\nLe batteur ?<\/strong>
\nAh oui… Comment on dit cet instrument en fran\u00e7ais ?<\/strong>
\nLa batterie ?<\/strong>
\nTu veux dire les piles<\/a> ?<\/strong>
\nNon \u00e7a c’est autre chose !<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s like in a rock group you know…<\/em>
\nYes…<\/em>
\nThere’s the guitarist, the bassist, the singer<\/a>, and then the…<\/em>
\nThe drummer?<\/em>
\nAh yes… How do you say that instrument in French?<\/em>
\nThe drums?<\/em>
\nYou mean the batteries?<\/em>
\nNo that’s something else!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I was a bit confused to learn that une batterie<\/strong> could mean anything other than something related to l’\u00e9lectricit\u00e9<\/strong><\/a> (electricty), but I accepted it tried my best to remember it. Although I was confused even further when mon coll\u00e8gue<\/strong><\/a> had to explain that une baguette<\/strong> <\/em>can also mean a drumstick<\/em>!<\/p>\n

La batterie<\/strong> as the word for the musical instrument en fran\u00e7ais<\/strong> dates back to the 17th century<\/a> and it’s pretty easy to understand why once it becomes clear where the word comes from:<\/p>\n

Battre<\/strong> – To hit, to beat<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What’s interesting to note however is that the earliest records have le mot<\/strong> (the word) as la baterie de tambour<\/strong> <\/em>with one t<\/strong><\/em> and – to make things extra confusing – another way to say drum<\/em>. It turns out the word for a\u00a0drum<\/em> is completely different from the word for drums<\/em> or a drum kit<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Le tambour<\/strong> – drum
\nLa batterie<\/strong> – drums, drum kit, drum set<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After figuring all that out, I wanted to know a bit more vocabulaire de batterie<\/strong> (drum vocabulary) and was surprised to see a mix of similar and completely different words:<\/p>\n

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Image<\/a> by Pawel Wajda. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.<\/p><\/div>\n

    \n
  1. La grosse caisse – Bass drum<\/li>\n
  2. Le tom basse – Floor Tom<\/li>\n
  3. La caisse claire – Snare drum<\/li>\n
  4. Les toms – Hanging\/Rack toms<\/li>\n
  5. La charleston – Hi-hat<\/li>\n
  6. Les cymbales – Cymbals<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I may still struggle with everyday vocabulary en fran\u00e7ais<\/strong>, but after sharing my new love of la batterie<\/strong> I at least have a new way to use les baguettes<\/strong><\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

    En \u00e9tant un Am\u00e9ricain en France (as an American in France), learning the language means having normal converations hide surprise French lessons almost every day. It’s hard not to stumble through a few interactions every week as I realize I don’t know how to talk about something as simple as le shampooing or les mails…<\/p>\n

    Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":31319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[108,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31317","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","category-vocabulary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t