If youāre even a little bit like me, you love to listen to some smart person explaining something they are passionate about. Even more so when itās an interesting topic.
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Do you?
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I love getting lost in the sea of TED Talks: passion, innovation, smart thinking… In fact, I credit part of English to them.
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So I thought āhey, why not sharing my favourite French TED talks so you can do just like meā.
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Good idea?
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Let me present you 8 of the best TED talks in French.
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Comment sauver l'amour ? Yann Dall'Aglio
Subtitles – š«š· š¬š§ +
Funny, philosophical and damn interesting.Ā
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Yann DallāAglioās French is gloriously simple. Academic, straight forward, .. I’m sure he’s a brilliant mind as well.
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The title of his talk might be a bit misleading: āhow to save loveā. Heās not stating the fact that love is dying, but rather, how we love and how we can love better.Ā
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The talk reminds me of my philosophical classes in Terminale (the mast year of high-school).
The multilingual in you - SƩbastien de NuƱez
Subtitles – 
āLa grammaire nāest que de lāĆ©lĆ©ganceā = Grammar is only style.Ā
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A talk about languages? Itās an obvious choice for you.
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SĆ©bastien Roger de NuƱez is an inspiration. The man speaks 11 languages, and to a good level. He has a deep understanding of how language work, beyond the linguistic.Ā
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Bref, he’s very inspirational for language learners AND native speakers alike.Ā Ā
āIl faut devenir la personne dont on apprend la langueā – You need to become the person you are learning the language of.
Comment comment font-ils pour apprendre une langue ? Sharon Peperkamp
Subtitles – Ā +
Sharon Peperkamp is dutch.Ā French is her second language. Thatās partly why I selected this talk for you. Her accent makes it easier to understand for someone whoās learning French.Ā
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Plus, the talk has subtitles in French, English, Spanish, German,…
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But thatās not the only reason.
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The topic of her talk ‘How do babies learn languages?ā is interesting for you as a language learner.
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Sheās talking a lot about the struggles of learning a foreign language. And why it seems so easy for babies to pick up their native language.
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If you take out anything from it, itās that you first have to identify words within sentences.
Alors on danse - Stromae
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What? A French TED Talk 70% in English? Yes 
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This is a good choice for beginners, as you donāt get overwhelmed by too much French. And even his French is not academical, so no big problem.
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In fact, this talk is mainly a performance. Which might be weird for a TED talk, but hey, let’s roll with it
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Do you know Stromae? Big Belgian (yes) pop star. Heās behind the songs āFormidableā, āPapaoutaiā,…
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āAlors on danseā is his first success, and in his talk, he is going through the several music production level of the song. Fascinating!
The shadow of the donkey - Jean-Christophe Saladin
Subtitles – Ā +
Do you like stories? Because Jean-Christophe Saladin is a storyteller.
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And his French is delicious: simple yet precise. His voice is also a delight to listen to.Ā
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The topic might appear a bit weird to you, but watch it for the words, not for the meaning.
Merci Ć la femme parfait d'ĆŖtre une connasse - Marie-Aldine Girard
Subtitles –
āLa femme parfaite est une connasseā is a book. Very popular in France – you can get it here. (aff link)
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BTW, itās a great book if you want to learn some modern, slang vocabulary.
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But here, Marie-Aldine Girard is bursting through the imposter syndrome and the limits you put on yourself.
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Itās quite refreshing. And her delivery is awesome.
Sexist jokes kill! - Anne-CĆ©cile Mailfert
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What is feminism? Damn, canāt tell you how many times I met people who have a wrong idea of what it is.
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This talk is particularly good at explaining what it is, and what stopping sexism could do for the world.
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What a simple sexist joke can do, and what it means.
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Apart to the message, her speech is clear, and the French she speaks is neutral enough to be used formally or casually.Ā
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A must see as a French learner then šĀ
La France, pays de l'ƩgalitƩ ? - Abnousse Shalmani
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Equality is one of the French values. But France really a country of equality?
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Thatās what Abnousse Shalmani is going to demystify. Taking the example of gender equality.Ā
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I would advise beginners and intermediates to find another talk though. This one’s for advanced learners, as there is only French subtitles, and she’s using a bunch of fancy words.
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Abnousse Shalmani is truly an example, as a feminist and as a French speaker.Ā
You got it. 8 of my favourite TED Talks in French.Ā
They’re not necessarily innovative conferences, but all are lead by good, confident thinkers.
Did I forgot your favourite one? Tell me.ĀDo you watch TED conferences in different languages?
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Thatās it for today, as usual, apply what youāve learned this week, keep learning, keep laughing.
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Oh, and if you need to take your French to a whole new level, that you struggle to learn French – please check out the 3SSF Method – which I give you when you enter your email below.
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It’s the method 200,000 French learners used to start speaking French.
4 thoughts on “8 TED Talks in French you need to watch š¤”
where are the transcripts?
where are the transcripts?
May I suggest a couple of good talks in french by us at TEDxMontreal :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU3iSBtXKQo&list=PLsRNoUx8w3rOjT8_Ur42bTK2jVaU-NZvc&index=6
https://www.ted.com/talks/eric_montpetit_la_politique_justifie_t_elle_cynisme_et_desillusion
…if you want more you can browse them at tedxmontreal.com
Look forward to improving my French.