Radio 4EB

Towards the end of Term 3, three of our more advanced classes were asked to participate in a linguistic experiment. Marie-Hélène Cremer, a Belgian native and former University of Queensland French lecturer who has turned her not-inconsiderable talents to the community radio station 4EB, paid a visit to Lingua Franca. Armed with a microphone, Marie-Hélène presented the Chouchous* with a word she was sure they wouldn't know (in fact the words were so obscure they'd be new to most French native-speakers as well), and then the pressure was on for them to come up with a possible definition.

Take a moment to listen to their very courageux* attempts below. We’ve included a transcript in French and English for those of you who want to know exactly what is being said. By the way, if you think the presenter's voice sounds familiar, that's because it's our very own office manager, Fiona Berrocal, whom many of you know.

Dernièrement*, if the idea of an hour of French radio appeals to you, why not check out the list of recent episodes here?

*Teacher's Pets | *courageous | *Lastly

TRANSCRIPT

Présentatrice: Cette semaine nous allons tenter de deviner la signification d’une expression du Burkina Faso. Les étudiants de Lingua France et leurs professeurs, Katrina et David, ont essayé de deviner et on vous laisse faire de même.

This week we are going to try to guess the meaning of an expression from Burkina Faso. The students of Lingua Franca and their teachers, Katrina and David, tried to guess and now we’re letting you do the same.

Marie-Hélène: Que signifie l’expression “c’est caillou”?

What does the expression “c’est caillou” mean?

Les Chouchous:

Un problème? - A problem?

C’est énervant? - It’s annoying?

C’est agaçant? - It’s irritating?

C’est mignon? - It’s cute?

C’est son envie (jealousy)? - It’s to do with being jealous?

C’est être jaloux? - It’s to be jealous?

C’est mauvais? - It’s bad?

Il n’y a pas de choses dans le placard? - There’s nothing in the cupboard?

C’est quelqu’un ennuyeux? - It’s someone boring?

Ce n’est pas possible? - It’s not possible?

C’est très facile? - It’s very easy?

C’est très cool? - It’s very cool?

Je dirais c’est petit ou alors ça ne coûte pas cher? - I’d say it’s small or maybe that it doesn’t cost a lot?

C’est certain? - It’s certain?

Peut-être c’est flexible? - Maybe it’s flexible?

C’est quand quelque chose est difficile? - It’s when something is difficult?

C’est difficile? - It’s difficult?

C’est compliqué? - It’s complicated?

Marie-Hélène: Bravo! C’est tout à fait ça. “C’est caillou” est une expression du Burkina Faso qui signifie “c’est difficile, c’est dur, c’est compliqué”. Un caillou étant, selon Le Larousse, une pierre quelconque de petites dimensions, le plus souvent assez dure. On peut facilement comprendre l’expression “avoir un caillou dans la chaussure” qui signifie être dérangé par quelque chose ou quelqu’un. Et l’expression “c’est caillou” est bien compréhensible par tout le monde, même les non-Burkinabé comme l’ont prouvé nos trois devineurs australiens. Bravo à eux! On peut donc dire que notre énigme cette semaine n’était pas vraiment “caillou”.

Well done! It’s exactly that. “C’est caillou” is an expression from Burkina Faso which signifies “It’s difficult, it’s hard, it’s complicated”. A caillou being, according the Le Larousse, any type of small stone, most often quite hard. We can easily understand the expression “to have a stone in your shoe” which means to be bothered by something or someone. And the expression “c’est caillou” is easily understandable by everyone, even people who aren’t from Burkina Faso, like our three Australian guessers. Well done to them! So we can say that our riddle today was not really “hard”.