October 2010

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I'm not going to deny it - I admire Carla Bruni Sarkozy. At the start the French press did their best to portray her as a rich fluff-head or as a mangeuse d'hommes. But she has quietly got on with the job and has succeeded magnificently. And just sometimes - as in this clip - the sense of humour takes over and she laughs in a very un-First Lady-like manner.

Here's a documentary from France 5 about chocolate, and a man whom - you might think - takes it all far too seriously. But linguistically it is interesting

Des racines et des ailes, the flagship documentary of France Télévision, often provides useful listening exercises - as well as interesting subjects. As here, with the idea of helping the owners of these beautiful old houses to maintain them by going into the hotelry business. There are some English owners of stately homes who have done exactly the same thing...

A particularly nice Comment c'est fait, this, on the manufacture of wooden salad bowls. I expected some new vocabulary, and wasn't disappointed. I know I say this every time (!) but the series ranks as one of the most useful for listening practice that I have ever come across

In the same week, France 2's evening news did a piece on the terrible standard of spelling in French Universities (a problem not peuliar to the French), while TF1 News produced a eulogy on the stanbdard of mathematics in French universities. I put them together to make an interesting subject for reflection.

I have said it before - I never know quite how hard or easy an extract will be before I start on it. This one is typical. A number of Des Racines et des Ailes, on Toulouse and its river la Garonne. Because the voice over is so very easy I chose five minutes which included an interview with a man - with an accent - speaking with the noise of the water in the background. Maybe Level-2 ?  Not at all !

Making transcriptions is an incredibly useful exercise precisely because it stops the brain from fooling you into thinking that you are following very well when in fact you're only picking up perhaps 70% of the words.

Here's TF1 evening news on the over consumption of antibiotics. Of course, it's a public education piece - but the danger of resistant bacteria is very real

A studio full of ladies of a certain age posing terribly personal questions to an old pop star - definitely not my style. But it was Michel Sardou, and he responded with such candour, and with what I can only describe as natural male chauvinism - which the ladies seemed to adore - that I kept on watching. And when he was young ! What a singer !

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