July 2009

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As promised, the first comedy sketch

Not all French films are impossible to follow. But you have to choose carefully

I spent five years studying French, and the subjects for discussion were always the environment, the environment or the environment - because nice middle class French teachers don't want to risk offending nice middle-class students. And the students don't want to offend the teachers. Understandable, but on this site I would prefer to tackle all subjects relevant to French language and society. The following is from Policiers sous l'Occupation, a documentary broadcast on a History channel. Harrowing is the word for it...

We have to mark Bastille day, don't we ?

Another film, and this time American, the French-dubbed version of Message in a bottle - Une bouteille à la mer. There is a simple truth here which French teachers are always reluctant to acknowledge - that the best films to watch for French students are not the films the French make themselves, but English or German language films dubbed into French. There is an element of cultural pride here, but the quality of French films is not in question. It is simply that English - and American English in particular is slower than French. And the sound in the dubbing studio tends to be very clear. It is also true that about 85% of films broadcast of French TV are American.  How does the student get access to American films dubbed into French ? Ah, there's the problem. The channels, such as TV5 Monde which offer French culture to the world, do not broadcast American films.  You have to get French satellite TV (or cable, if available). Here's some information.

The evening news on France 2 always carries useful material at this listening level - interviews, short films etc. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first lunar landing, the news presenter interviewed Claudie Haigneré, the first French woman astronaut. This lady speaks clearly, but quite fast. The speed of spoken French is a real problem for us. I suggest you watch it once through, without subtitles, then perhaps listen to the version I have recorded, which is about half the speed. The idea is to avoid simply reading the text. Words on the page are not the same as spoken language. We have to learn that separately, unfortunately

Here is a type of extract which should be easy, but in practice can be quite difficult - the Revue de presse. First, the journalist always seeks to be witty, word-play, cultural cross-references etc, all of which make the content quite difficult to follow. Remember that when we listen, our brain has to make sense of what is being said in real time. The more difficult the content, the harder it is to keep up. Second, the journalist always seems to have prepared a review of six minutes, but has only three minutes to deliver it. So he speaks fast. As before, try the original video or audio first, then my slower version, then the subtitles and text.

I want to find as much variety as possible for this site, so Châteaux de France, an occasional series on France 5, comes in handy. What fascinates me are not the châteaux, but their aristocratic inhabitants. Whatever happened to the French Revolution ? And is it too late to bring back the guillotine ?

Pieces from France 2's evening news are always good value, and not always easy, because there is a great difference between the measured tones of the newscaster, the voice-over that accompanies a news item, and the voices of people interviewed in the street.  Such pieces also illustrate why I prefer video to audio extracts, not only are they more interesting, they give a visual context to the events being described

To finish off this first series of video clips, we have an absolute corker. France 2 broadcast a documentary on Marilyn Monroe. I had not intended to record it, because I hate documentaries where a voice starts to talk in English, only to be interrupted by a voice-over in French. But it wasn't that. The voice you hear is that of Didier Besace, a top French actor and director. And he uses - in French - the laconic style of delivery that you hear in the American Philip Marlowe films. Wonderful.

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