French Shadowing Practice: "Dix pour cent" (Call My Agent!)
Textbooks teach you correct French; series teach you real French — the rhythm, the fillers, the little slang words people actually use. To train your ear and your mouth at the same time, nothing beats shadowing: repeating each line right after the speaker.
This exercise uses a short clip from the hit French series Dix pour cent (known in English as Call My Agent!). The lines are short, natural and full of everyday spoken French — perfect to copy out loud until they feel automatic.
How this shadowing exercise works
- Listen to the model line during the blue ribbon ÉCOUTE LE MODÈLE ("listen to the model").
- Repeat the line out loud during the orange À TOI DE RÉPÉTER ("your turn to repeat"), copying the exact rhythm and intonation.
- Loop it — play the clip several times until you can say each line without reading.
Dialogue transcript & analysis
Here is the complete transcript from the clip, with English translations and the spoken-French details that make each line sound native.
| Line | French | English | Spoken-French Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bonjour. | Hello. | Simple, but listen to the falling, relaxed intonation— not the bright textbook "bonjour!". |
| 2 | Tout se passe bien ? | Is everything going okay? | se passer= "to happen / to go". A go-to check-in phrase. The question is marked by intonation alone, no inversion. |
| 3 | Ouais… Ça bug. | Yeah… it's glitching. | Ouais is casual for oui. Ça bug (from English "bug", verb buguer) means "it's playing up / not working". |
| 4 | Ah ben non, moi, je trouve que ça marche très bien là. | Oh no — I think it's working really well. | Ah ben non = spoken "well, no". moi, je trouve que = "I think that" with emphasis. ça marche = "it works". The final là is an emphatic filler. |
Key spoken-French takeaways
1. "Ouais" instead of "oui"
In relaxed speech, oui almost always becomes ouais(say "weh"). It's not rude — it's just casual. Use oui in exams and formal settings, but expect ouaiseverywhere in real life and in series like this one.
2. "Ça bug" vs "ça marche"
This clip is a perfect little pair of opposites. Ça bug= it's glitching / not working; ça marche = it works. Both use ça+ a simple verb, and both are everyday phrases you'll reach for constantly — about your phone, a website, or a plan.
3. Fronting with "moi, je…"
French loves to add moi, before je for emphasis: moi, je trouve que…= "personally, I think that…". It sets your opinion against someone else's — exactly what's happening here, where one person says it's broken and the other insists it's fine.
Accelerate your spoken French
Shadowing native series is one of the fastest ways to break out of "textbook French" and build real muscle memory. If you want direct feedback on your pronunciation, intonation and rhythm, I offer one-to-one coaching online — you can book a free 30-minute trial lesson. You can also try the other Family Business shadowing exercise or read about my work as a French tutor in Bangkok & online.