December 2009
An extract from a very well made documentary on the first commercial flight of the Airbus A380
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A380.avi A380.srt A380.doc A380.mp3 |
This is a Level-1, evidently, but the voices of the pilots make for interesting listening |
I very carefully do not comment on the content of this clip. I chose it because of its linguistic interest, and because it is an example of the style of reporting of TF1 evening news. It's a nicely authored piece, though
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20HUltragauche.avi 20HUltragauche.srt 20HUltragauche.doc 20HUltragauche.mp3 |
I think we'd better make this a Level-3 because of the commentary both in the street and the studio which is really quite challenging |
Every so often I take a comedy sketch off the sonsenfrancais site, and add subtitles here. So here is Anne Roumanoff. Imagine having a French teacher like Anne ! That would cheer up your French lessons
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AnneRoumanoff6.avi AnneRoumanoff6.srt AnneRoumanoff6.doc AnneRoumanoff6.mp3 |
Obviously this is a good Level-3. Like the great Coluche, Roumanoff's voice slurs, and she often adopts the voice of the France d'en-bas. Super listening practice. |
Toute l'histoire let its hair down a bit with this document on different ways to get by in life without doing a regular job. Sounded like hard work to me.
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Demain.avi Demain.srt Demain.doc Demain.mp3 |
A level-1 voice-over, but - as always - we have the gaming expert who gives the ear something to work on |
Sunday evening's, France 3, and Inspecteur Barnaby is a must for me. Apart from any other consideration, it's a rattling good series. Plenty of local English village culture, and lots of corpses. No wonder the French like it.
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InspectorBarnaby.avi InspectorBarnaby.srt InspectorBarnaby.doc InspectorBarnaby.mp3 |
All the things I always say about English language material dubbed into French apply to this. It's a Level-1 |
Every so often Arte screens Chapeau melon et bottes de cuir - The Avengers. And the original series. Stands up pretty well to the test of time
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ChapeauMelon.avi ChapeauMelon.srt ChapeauMelon.doc ChapeauMelon.mp3 |
I think we'll say Level-2 for this one. The sound has been made little fuzzy to suit the black and white époque. But the language is amusingly mannered |
I wanted to include a clip from LCP's document on Le France (masculine, because it's a boat), but hesitated to choose this extract. I try to avoid criticising. However one can say of Le France that it was one of the most incredibly beautiful liners ever built. And then, sadly, that this clip shows what happens when you try to preserve the present rather envisage the future. But that was La France of the '70s. Well done the Norwegians though, giving this wonderful boat another 20 years of life.
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LeFrance.avi LeFrance.srt LeFrance.doc LeFrance.mp3 |
A nice Level-1 voice-over, and no problems with the interviews. |
Level-1 sketches don't arrive very often, so, as usual, I'm putting this on both sites, with the subtitle file here. The Gala Ni Putes Ni Soumises finished with this contribution from the feminist journalist Isabelle Alonso. Good, isn't it ?
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IsabelleAlonso.avi IsabelleAlonso.srt IsabelleAlonso.doc IsabelleAlonso.mp3 |
It's because Isabelle Alonso is a journalist rather than a stand-up comic that the voice is so clear. And you get a new word to use in your next French class - sautopaf |
TéléMatin is the breakfast show on France 2 that offers a nice section - Bloc Notes - which always offers something of interest. Here is a piece on an exhibition around the artist Toulouse Lautrec. However, it's also a good example of a Level-3 extract - fast delivery from a journalist who has a limited time in which to speak, and then a little film with lots of background music
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ToulouseLautrec.avi ToulouseLautrec.srt ToulouseLautrec.doc ToulouseLautrec.mp3 |
The voice of the journalist is not only fast, but at times quite indistinct, and of course, the lady talking to camera in the film has the music to contend with. But this is exactly what the ear has to learn to decipher. |
Another excellent piece from the evening news of TF1. On the eve of the debate on national identity mandated by the President, they ask 'what is it to be French ?'
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TF120H-Identite.avi TF120H-Identite.srt TF120H-Identite.doc TF120H-Identite.mp3 |
As well as posing a problem for the French, the question of identity/immigration is interesting for us. The voices in this piece - rather hard to follow - are also very much French voices |
Des racines et des ailes is the flagship of French TV documentaries. This one was on the great builders of Paris - L'Ecole des Beaux-arts, Notre-Dame etc. Always well-detailed and beautifully photographed
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RDABatiments.avi RDABatiments.srt RDABatiments.doc RDABatiments.mp3 |
Apart from the voice of the student, most of this is straightforward Level-1 voiceover. But one can always be caught out. Right at the beginning we are told that the silhouette of the bridge is like ...? |
France 5 did a nice documentary on the origins of the universe. In this extract a scientist explains that in our expanding Universe the galaxies are like the raisins in a pudding. The pudding swells, but the raisins don't actually move apart - trust the French to bring cooking into it...
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BigBang.avi BigBang.srt BigBang.doc BigBang.mp3 |
I chose this clip because - apart from the galaxies who drift away from us without actually moving - the scientists voices are a good Level-2 exercise. Not indistinct, but perhaps a little difficult to follow |
Here is TF1 evening news' piece on Liliane Bettencourt - whose father founded l'Oréal. This generous lady decided to give her photogrqpher a little present - a billion euros.
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TF120HBettencourt.avi TF120HBettencourt.srt TF120HBettencourt.doc TF120HBettencourt.mp3 |
As so often, this is a Level-1, with some difficult bits - especially the few sentences spoken by Liliane Bettencourt herself |
TF1 screened Love Actually. If you like watching quirky comedies showing the English as a bunch of endearing eccentrics, then French TV is for you. Good film, though.
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LoveActually.avi LoveActually.srt LoveActually.doc LoveActually.mp3 |
I'm not sure that the translator caught all the English idioms. Would you really say Le lot précédent for the last lot ? But Level-1 films are good to find. |
Having quoted an English film, I thought I should include a French film to make the comparison. Le Zèbre is a film with Thierry Lhermitte whom I have loved ever since seeing him in Diner des cons. He has invented a particularly eccentric, anarchic form of humour - not particularly French, actually. This is a super example.
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LeZèbre.avi LeZèbre.srt LeZèbre.doc LeZèbre.mp3 |
Lhermitte's voice is fast, but very clear. Getting used to this rapid delivery is an important step in listening to French. Level-3, obviously |
Maja Neskovi is a charming lady journalist who presents a sort of political travel guide to Europe on LCP. It's humorous and informative - not always the case with political programmes.
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DétoursMalte.avi DétoursMalte.srt DétoursMalte.doc DétoursMalte.mp3 |
The voice is clear, but quite idiomatic, so we'll make this a Level-2. |
We had France 5's piece on the Big Bang above. They followed it with how the major religions square such scientific revelations with the version given in the Bible or the Koran. I refrain carefully from comment.
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BigBang1.avi BigBang1.srt BigBang1.doc BigBang1.mp3 |
I tend to pick up interesting documentaries where the voice over is interspersed with comments from 'real' people whose voices test the ear. This is Level-2 I think |
Un soir au musée a must for culture-vultures. The documentaries are beautifully filmed and the voice-overs are a lesson in French diction. This, on the painters of 16th century Venice, is a prime example.
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MuseeVenise.avi MuseeVenise.srt MuseeVenise.doc MuseeVenise.mp3 |
I include this for the pleasure of the beautifully spoken voice-over. It's a Level-1, although the background music intrudes a little on the voice. |
The bonuses earned by the traders of the City of London or The Bourse of Paris are always a hot subject - especially in France. Laurence Ferrari introduced this piece in a "they're at it again" tone of voice. But the traders, and would-be traders justified themselves pretty well I thought
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TF120HTraders.avi TF120HTraders.srt TF120HTraders.doc TF120HTraders.mp3 |
When I started including clips from evening news I thought they would always be pretty straightforward as listening exercises. Not so. There's some gabble in this extract that defeats my ear. On average, Level-2 |
This next is an odd clip. It is from Toute l'histoire and describes the rise of sports at the beginning of the 20th century. It is evidently a dubbed British documentary, with an ironic, humorous commentary. The translator has tried to render this into French and the result is, to my ear, very odd.
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SiecleSport.avi SiecleSport.srt SiecleSport.doc SiecleSport.mp3 |
The heavy-handed English humour results in an even heavier French. It is excellent listening practice, though. A voice-over which should be Level-1, becomes at least Level-2 |
Every so often I like to include a clip to remind us where we're going, what we're trying to get our ears and brains to do - understand the French that the French find easy. Isn't it amazing that although about a third of the French are functionally illiterate (us too, not just the French), they can all sit in front of a telly and watch Thierry Ardisson, one of the big sharks of French television, make jokes in the worst taste possible ?
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ObjetScandale.avi ObjetScandale.srt ObjetScandale.doc ObjetScandale.mp3 |
Compare the French of the voice-over with the interview with Gainsbourg or the police sketch. The voice-over is pretty much like written French. The other is contextual, coded, the French of everyday life. Listen to it carefully, and see if you can correct the parts where my ear went wrong. |
A nice little Christmas documentary about the traditional santons of Provence. A bit different from the world of Thierry Ardisson !
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Santons.avi Santons.srt Santons.doc Santons.mp3 |
It's a Level-1. Nothing to say about this linguistically other than - switch the subtitles off ! |