French Podcast Ep#1: How Bacon Almost Broke the Franco-Italian Friendship (+ the Verb Faillir )

55 min podcast · 5 min read

Our first Talk in French Podcast shares how bacon almost ruined the relationship between France and Italy! Plus a lesson about the verb faillir. Listen now.

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Quick reminders:Now here is Episode 1. Enjoy!Episode companionListening sectionsUseful expressionsFaillir

Bonjour, tout le monde !

Have you checked out the Talk in French Advanced Level Podcast? If you haven’t yet, now is your chance to do so. Today, I’m sharing Episode No. 1 with you for free.

In this episode, my co-host Katie and I talk about food and discuss why the French and Italians share a similar interest in culinary delights. We also talk about how bacon—yes you read that right—almost ruined French and Italian relations.

The vocabulary discussed in this episode is also focused heavily on food, including food traditions. And also some slang terms about being upset. For the grammar lesson, we talk about the verb faillir. This verb is particularly useful when you want to say something along the lines of “I almost [verb]”. We also provide several examples and tackle commonly asked questions to specify the correct usage of this verb.

Quick reminders:

• This podcast is ideally for advanced level only or at least B2 (Upper Intermediate) to C1 (Advanced) and C2 (Proficient) in the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). Those with lower levels may still listen to this as it could help train your ears to become familiar with spoken French.
• This free episode includes edited reading notes below, rather than a word-for-word transcript.

Now here is Episode 1. Enjoy!

Food, opinions and faillir: episode companion

This podcast runs for about 55 minutes. Listen in shorter sections, then use these edited notes to revisit the discussion. The notes summarize the episode and explain useful language; they are not a word-for-word transcript.

Approximate listening sections

1. 1:57 — The carbonara controversy. An article uses dramatic language about a recipe and French–Italian friendship. The “diplomatic incident” is part of the humor!
2. 7:03 — Dramatic words and irony. Katie and Frederic unpack briser, basculer, acharné and anéanti, and explain how strong words make the story funny.
3. 12:38 — Tradition and fusion cooking. They discuss adapting recipes, finding ingredients abroad and making clear when a dish is inspired by another country’s cooking.
4. 17:40 — More expressions from the article. The discussion returns to vocabulary, including succès fulgurant, comme un seul homme, camouflet and coup de tête, with food and cultural digressions along the way.
5. 35:25 — A little, a lot, and a reputation to repair. Listen for un tantinet, words about anger and reactions, and expressions such as redorer le blason.
6. 51:05 — Faillir. The final grammar discussion explains how to say something almost happened and how that differs from failing to keep a promise.

Une recette de carbonara provoque des réactions passionnées. Katie et Frederic expliquent les mots de l’article, jouent avec son ton dramatique et discutent de la cuisine traditionnelle et de la cuisine fusion. Une bonne occasion d’écouter du français naturel… sans déclarer la guerre pour des pâtes !

A carbonara recipe provokes passionate reactions. Katie and Frederic explain the article’s words, play with its dramatic tone, and discuss traditional and fusion cooking. A good chance to listen to natural French… without declaring war over pasta!

Useful words and expressions

• des lardonssmall pieces of bacon
• briserto break / shatter; also figuratively
• tout a basculéeverything suddenly changed
• des efforts acharnésdetermined, sustained efforts
• être anéantito be devastated / completely destroyed
• un succès fulguranta rapid, spectacular success
• comme un seul hommeas one; unanimously
• un camoufleta humiliating rebuff / affront
• hormisexcept / apart from
• sur un coup de têteon impulse
• un tantineta little / a touch
• redorer le blasonto restore a reputation

Several expressions are deliberately dramatic in this discussion. Keep that playful context in mind when listening.

Grammar focus: faillir + infinitive

For the “almost did something” meaning, a useful everyday pattern in the passé composé is conjugated avoir + failli + infinitive. The action came close to happening. For a full sentence in this pattern, put an infinitive directly after failli, without à or de. The episode uses these contrasts:

• Il a failli rater son avion.He almost missed his plane.
• J’ai failli perdre un client.I almost lost a client.
• J’ai failli réussir mon examen.I almost passed my exam.
• J’ai failli rater mon examen.I almost failed my exam.

The verb after failli tells you what almost happened: rater means to miss or fail, while réussir means to succeed or pass an exam. Faillir itself does not mean that the outcome was necessarily good or bad.

Keep this pattern separate from Il a failli à sa promesse — “He failed to keep his promise.” Here, faillir à has a different meaning. The Académie dictionary explains these uses.