Chroniques BD ....

We all need to listen to lots of French ... slow, fast, colloquial, basic ... whatever. Trundling through all sorts of interviews is a good way to find real people talking... and remember to scroll back and listen to bits over again... there's a whole bunch of this on youtube all under the general banner of Chroniques BD ... here's one ........

and here's another ....

well it's certainly fast and authentic !! You can find more for yourself now, and don't forget the ongoing  "Street Style" series of interviews ... here's one of those ... Astrid .. you know I can't imagine this sort of thing here in soggy England!!  I've put quite a few of these on in the past .....

I think if you can follow what they are saying you are doing very well!!

Music time, and it's that Éléphant, with the excellent Noir ...it's so ..well ... French !!

Can't find the paroles right now ....

Finding the time .....

 This one is all about studying!

But first, a bit of a mini-rant!!

I was reading the foreword to a book yesterday, and he mentioned that most of it was written away from home.... in cafés, hotels,libraries. on trains or planes etc. This was because there were far to many interruptions at home.

I know exactly what he means. I find it very hard to study at home (French, for example)... I'm much better going up to the park, walking the dog, then getting a cup of coffee in the cafe and making it last 40 mins while I actually concentrate on some work.It's fantastic... my whole mind is totally absorbed for that time.... it's bliss.

Why can't I concentrate at home? Well, at home there are always routine things that need to be done... but even worse, there's a huge list of things that need doing... putting up shelves, altering things, getting the tea ready, walking the dog ( see above), there's various handrails I am meant to be fitting, gravel to be bought and humped into its correct position, shopping to be done, firewood to fetch, saw up, chop up, fires to prepare, a whole host of jobs that are still on the list from months ago as well.... it swizzles my brain with the huge mountain of guilt and anguish!

Plus, of course, when other people are in the house they are forever finding things for me to do..... picking things up, getting things down, carrying stuff upstairs, carting stuff downstairs, moving books off the floor, off the table, moving the settee an inch to the left, moving it back 20 minutes later because they don't like it,changing all the settees round because they might look better, putting them all back, hoovering, washing, cleaning the floor, cleaning the ceiling, fixing the hoover, emptying the hoover,recycling, putting stuff on the compost heap, fetching coal,sorting out the attic,investigating flashing plug sockets, mending next door's fuses, cleaning the windows, trimming the hedge, putting up fences, sawing a bit off the table legs, taking the castors off because the table is too high,fitting blocks because now it is too low, putting the castors back,putting up the winter curtains, having first taken down the summer curtains, doing it all in reverse six months later, ... it's hardly worth opening a book at all.

How I envy the poet R.S.Thomas, a vicar in real life, who always spent the morning in his study, with strict instructions not to be disturbed. Those were the days, eh!

In the afternoons he went out for long walks.Lucky him !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right ... rant over... here's some practical advice...

[a] Of course it's best if you set times when you know you will be able to study French. About half an hour is enough for any one sitting though. I have always been  a good early riser and I used to get up and read/study/write for 40 minutes or so before anyone else got up. Great.... trouble is, I'm getting old and decrepit and find this harder to do.... oh well....

[b] If, like many people, you can't fix on a routine for whatever reason ( see list above) then here's my advice ..............................

[1]  Always have some French stuff to do actually with you at all times.. ... reading a novel, a text-book, listening to a lesson or French music on your mp3.... but whatever it is, be ready! I always have a French dictionary with me, I keep French detective stories and Les Gredins in the car, my bag always has French books in it, I have an ongoing ideas list to think about .... just be ready to grab that 5  minutes!

[2]  Don't feel guilty about grabbing some time for yourself. Everyone needs it.... grab some.

[3] If you need to, lie ! If you have to go shopping, do it, then sit in the car for half an hour to get some French done. If you are meant to be at the computer to send some emails, spend half of the time doing French on the computer instead.... headphones are handy for this, or just go on the Le Monde or Paris Match  site and read!.

[4]  If you have dogs to walk, take them up to the park, then sit on a bench and read some French. The dog needs a rest anyway. If you are really cheeky, you can load the dog into the car, drive round the corner and then park and get your books out.

[5] Have a few capsule tasks that you can do quickly ... some of the learning games I've put on here can be done anywhere anytime like sentence reduction, headline expansion, twenty adjectives beginning with c, the number-plate game  and so on..... do them at those odd moments you have over the day.

[6] Make sure that the books you read and the textbooks you use are the best for you at the time... that way what little time you have will be used in the most efficient way.

[7]  But.... don't worry if you don't always do as much as you should. You ought to be learning French for pleasure, because you enjoy both the process and the outcome. Life is not an exam and you don't have to live up to any internal or external standards or pressurising. Whatever you are doing, have fun with it...

By the way, I wrote most of this a few weeks ago and I've actually DONE quite a few of those things on the list. Yes. But you know what the snag is.... lots of new things have appeared on the list now so I'm back where I started. Oh well... time, I think, to listen to Elephant  with their fine song Rien and its irresponsible and frankly poor-role-modelish story.....

Qu'y a-t-il? Rien 
C'est ta fibre, hein
Qu'y a-t-il? Rien
Je n'existe

Qu'y a-t-il? Rien
C'est ta fibre, hein
Ca t'abîme, non
Je m'exhibe 

Qu'y a-t-il? J'aime
Quand tu piges rien
Je t'abîme, hein
C'est ma vie

Ouh... 

Qui m'attire ? Toi
J'aime ton rire quand
Tu t'ébruites non
Je t'explique

Tu m'attires ah
Quand tu dis rien
C'est moi tiens
Ton émoi

Qu'y a-t-il? J'aime
Quand tu piges rien
Ca t'abîme, non

C'est facile tu t'agrippes à moi
Je t'abîme hein
C'est ma vie

Ouh...

J'aime quand tu danses 
Ton corps s'allume, se réveille
C'est comme une course aveugle
Une fuite en avant d'un immeuble
Si tu t'arrêtes contre moi ne dis rien
Et d'ores et déjà 
Ta voix ne passera pas sur la mienne ni contre toi
Oh oh oh 

Qu'y a-t-il? Rien
C'est ta fibre, hein
Qu'y a-t-il? Rien
Je n'existe

Qu'y a-t-il? Rien
J'ai ta fibre, hein
Ca t'abîme non
Je m'exhibe

Qu'y a-t-il? J'aime 
Quand tu piges rien
Je t'abîme, hein 
C'est ma vie

Ouh...

...and remember, don't try any of this substandard behaviour yourself.

Yé yé

 I watched the French band Phoenix last night on whoever-he-is Live...I was far more impressed by Laura Marling, who was magnificent. Then this morning I saw an article about Phoenix.... they don't sing in French at all by the way.... there's a surprise ... but they did mention a music movement in France and Spain called  Yé-yé ... which I had never heard of... so of course I immediately whooshed upstairs and looked it up.

Here's what Wiki had to say about it ...it was mostly about French Yé-yé so I've ditched the bits about Yé-yé  in other languages..... I think all the links will work as well .......... 

Yé-yé was a style of pop music that emerged from France, Italy and Spain in the early 1960s. The term "yé-yé" derived from "yeah! yeah!"^[1] The style expanded worldwide, due to the success of figures such as the French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg.^[2]

History

Salut les copains

The yé-yé movement had its origins in the radio programme Salut les copains, created by Jean Frydman and hosted by Daniel Filipacchi and Frank Ténot^[3], which was first aired in December 1959. In fact the phrase "Salut les copains" dates back to the title of a 1957 song by Gilbert Bécaud and Pierre Delanoë, who had little regard for the yé-yé music the radio show typically featured. The program became an immediate success and one of its sections ("le chouchou de la semaine" / "this week's sweetheart") became the starting point for most yé-yé singers. Any song that was presented as a chouchou went straight to the top places in the charts. The Salut les copains phenomenon continued with the magazine of the same name, which was first published in 1962 in France, with German, Spanish and Italian editions following shortly afterward.

Girl power

Yé-yé music was a mostly European phenomenon and usually featured young female singers. France Gall, for example, was only 16 when she released her first album, 17 when she won the Eurovision song contest (for Luxembourg). Another later hit by Gall included Laisse tomber les filles, a cover version of which appeared in Quentin Tarantino's 2007 film Death Proof.

The yé-yé songs had innocent themes such as Françoise Hardy's "Tous les garçons et les filles" ("All the guys and girls my age know how it feels to be happy, but I am lonely. When will I know how it feels to have someone?"). Hardy's song "Le temps de l'amour" was featured in Wes Anderson's 2012 film Moonrise Kingdom.

Unlike other European nations such as Germany, France had a large market for the consumption of French-language songs at the time and were more willing to support artists from their own country, singing in their native tongue ^[4]. Early French artists dabbling in Rock n’ Roll and similar genres such as Johnny Hallyday admit that they were creating an imitation of English-language Rock n’ Roll ^[5]. However it was through genres such as Yé-yé that helped assimilate that music in a very unique French way. And likewise, with the popularity of Salut les copains, the public began to see stars like France Gall emerge.

The singers were also sexy in a deliberately naïve way. Composer and singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg (a notorious sexaholic well until his death in 1991, and a womanizer throughout) called France Gall the French Lolita and, wanting to check to what extent her innocence was real,^[6] composed for her the double entendre song "Les sucettes" ("Lollipops"): "Annie loves lollipops, aniseed lollipops, when the sweet liquid runs down Annie's throat, she is in paradise." The lyrics of the song are blatantly phallic, and the music video essentially features a group of dancing penises. ^[7]

Among the yé-yé girls, Sylvie Vartan played the glamorous one. She married rock star Johnny Hallyday in 1965 and toured in America and Asia. But she remained a yé-yé at heart, and as late as in 1968 she recorded the song "Jolie poupée" about a girl who regrets having abandoned her doll after growing up.

Sheila was the most popular yé-yé girl in France with a lot of hits during the 1960s and '70s.

In 1967, teen yé-yé singer Jacqueline Taïeb won the Best Newcomer award in Cannes at the Midem awards for her contribution of the hit single "7 heures du matin."

Yé-yé grew very popular in Japan and yé-yé music is in the origins of Shibuya-kei and Japanese idol music. There is a Japanese version of the 1965 Eurovision-winning song "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" composed by Serge Gainsbourg and performed by France Gall. Japan has released a DVD copy of Cherchez l'idole featuring Johnny Hallyday, a notable yé-yé singer. One of the more popular yé-yé vocal groups were Les Surfs who appear in Cherchez l'idole performing their hit song "Ca n'a pas d'importance."

At the end of the 1970s there was a brief but successful yé-yé recurrence in France, spreading across the charts of Western Continental Europe, with acts like Plastic Bertrand, Lio, and Elli et Jacno. Lio especially had a string of hits during 1980, the most famous of which was Amoureux Solitaires. This new brand of yé-yé, although short lived, made good use of the new electronic keyboards and synthetic drums that had surfaced recently with new wave music.

Yé-yé boys

While the yé-yé movement was led by female singers, it was not an exclusively female movement. The yé-yé masterminds (such as Serge Gainsbourg, who wrote several hits for France Gall, Petula Clark, and Brigitte Bardot, but was considerably older and came from a jazz background) were distinct from the actual yé-yé singers. These were harmless, romantic boys singing mostly ballads and love songs. Michel Polnareff, for example, played the tormented, hopeless lover in songs such as "Love Me Please Love Me", while Jacques Dutronc claimed to have seduced Santa Claus's daughter in "La Fille du Père Noël". One of the more popular male yé-yé singers was Claude François, notable for songs such as "Belles, Belles, Belles," a French-language adaptation of Eddie Hodges' "(Girls, Girls, Girls) Made to Love".

 Well, there's loads to chew on there readers .... and it's a great pity that youtube doesn't want to let me put that ancient "lollipops" video on here ... but instead here she is rather later in life..

France Gall ....  Évidemment (1988) 

                                                                                      and seeing that this blog is supposed to be educational in some small way , here's the words.  Remember, even the crappiest song is full of vocabulary and grammar !

Y'a comme un goût amer en nous
Comme un goût de poussière dans tout
Et la colère qui nous suit partout
Y'a des silences qui disent beaucoup
Plus que tous les mots qu'on avoue
Et toutes ces questions qui ne tiennent pas debout
Evidemment
Evidemment
On danse encore
Sur les accords
Qu'on aimait tant
Evidemment
Evidemment
On rit encore
Pour les bêtises
Comme des enfants
Mais pas comme avant
Et ces batailles dont on se fout
C'est comme une fatigue, un dégoût
A quoi ça sert de courir partout
On garde cette blessure en nous
Comme une éclaboussure de boue
Qui n'change rien, qui change tout
Evidemment
Evidemment
On rit encore
Pour les bêtises
Comme des enfants
Mais pas comme avant
Pas comme avant

Here's one of the main songs in the Yé yé mode,Tous les
garçons et les filles by Francoise Hardy ... 1962 !!

 Now here's the words ... full of vocabulary and grammar remember!

 Tous les garçons et les filles de mon âge

se promènent dans la rue deux par deux

tous les garçons et les filles de mon âge

savent bien ce que c'est d'être heureux



et les yeux dans les yeux et la main dans la main

ils s'en vont amoureux sans peur du lendemain

oui mais moi, je vais seule par les rues, l'âme en peine

oui mais moi, je vais seule, car personne ne m'aime



mes jours comme mes nuits

sont en tous points pareils

sans joies et pleins d'ennuis

personne ne murmure "je t'aime" à mon oreille



tous les garçons et les filles de mon âge

font ensemble des projets d'avenir

tous les garçons et les filles de mon âge

savent très bien ce qu'aimer veut dire



et les yeux dans les yeux et la main dans la main

ils s'en vont amoureux sans peur du lendemain

oui mais moi, je vais seule par les rues, l'âme en peine

oui mais moi, je vais seule, car personne ne m'aime



mes jours comme mes nuits

sont en tous points pareils

sans joies et pleins d'ennuis

oh! quand donc pour moi brillera le soleil?



comme les garçons et les filles de mon âge

connaîtrais-je bientôt ce qu'est l'amour?

comme les garçons et les filles de mon âge

je me demande quand viendra le jour



où les yeux dans ses yeux et la main dans sa main

j'aurai le coeur heureux sans peur du lendemain

le jour où je n'aurai plus du tout l'âme en peine

le jour où moi aussi j'aurai quelqu'un qui m'aime

When I started to learn French ... a good while ago now... some well-wisher gave me her double-CD of "The best of Francoise Hardy" ..... it was very kind but it is absolutely awful from start to finish. It's still knocking around the house somewhere.

Cochons partout !

   

Learning might as well be fun.... so why not read books like this ... a collection of French Science-Fiction stories each of which features..... you'll never guess.... pigs. 

 Here is a review of it which I found on that internet thingy...

Avez-vous entendu parler de la première loi de Purnath ? Pourtant vous devriez, sans elle notre monde ne serait pas tout à fait le même, du moins pour ce qui est de nos habitudes alimentaires...

     Pourquoi le gouvernement roumain a-t-il invité quatre scientifiques de renommée internationale et un écrivain de SF français ? À quel secret, datant de la dictature des Ceaucescu, vont-ils être confrontés ?

     Cyril le cybercochon a été créé pour la télévision britannique mais voilà qu'il devient le symbole d'un parc d'attraction où son nez-mitraillette risque bien de faire un carnage chez les touristes en short et autres mangeurs de hamburgers...

     Rock around the pork ! Queue en tire-bouchon et banane au vent, tout a commencé le jour où Honoré découvrit le rock n'roll, avant de faire connaissance avec le terrible docteur Moreau...

     Sylvie Denis, qui avait déjà réuni dans l'anthologie Century XXI, toute la nouvelle SF spéculative britannique, s'attaque ici aux histoires de cochons et de science-fiction. À savoir, cinq nouvelles, une novella, et un (court ?) roman, rendant tous hommage à ces extraordinaires animaux que sont les porcs domestiques et autres sangliers.

     Au sommaire, des histoires cochonnes qui vous emmèneront sur la Lune, en Roumanie, dans un parc d'attractions déréglé... Des textes de Eugene Byrne, Thomas Day, Esther M. Friesner, lain Lee, Serge Lehman, Brian Stableford et the last but not the least : Roland C(ochon). Wagner.

Musically, I'm currently listening to quite a bit of Monogrenade... so here's the lovely Immobile ...

The lyrics don't seem to be findable right now.... hurrumph.

Perles du Bac ....

I've just come across this and thought all us learners of French had to see it!

Everyone likes to watch people making a mess of things, and therefore you really want to know what they are saying... that's motivation for you!

I will add something sensible to this post later!!

The vanishing sentence.....

Here's a great, and educational, word-game you can have a go at.

First you need a French sentence.... either one you've made up, or from a book or whatever...

Here's one...

La pauvre Teresa avait longtemps attendu dans le jardin du couvent le signal convenu.

You're going to try to shrink this sentence down to just one word.... bit by bit. On each "go" you can remove a block of no more than 3 words. At each stage what's left has got to make sense!

OK... I'm going to start by getting rid of " La pauvre"...

Teresa avait longtemps attendu dans le jardin du couvent le signal convenu.

Now we'll dump the "longtemps"...

Teresa avait  attendu dans le jardin du couvent le signal convenu.

Now "du couvent" is going to go ... 

 Teresa avait  attendu dans le jardin  le signal convenu.

Now we'll kick out " dans le jardin" ....

Teresa avait  attendu   le signal convenu.

Well, "convenu" can go ... 

Teresa avait  attendu   le signal.

Now we can kick out  "Teresa avait attendu" .... to leave

Le signal .

It makes some sort of sense.... for example, it could be the answer to "what are you waiting for" .

Now we can jettison either "le" or "signal."

Signal.


Ha!! We've done it. ..... each stage made some sort of sense, and we never took out more than 3 consecutive words at a time.   You can do this while waiting for the bus, or before going to sleep, or wherever you are. Notice also that I could have done this is several different ways, sometimes leading to a completely different finish. Flexible or what !
     
And it forces you to think about the work that each bit of the sentence is doing..... which is important. You've got to understand the grammar and structure of the sentence. Plus, you can do this at any level.... from almost total beginner to an advanced student tackling a long, complex sentence.   

 So..... give it a go at your level. Sometimes it might take several attempts to get it down to one word, and there are sentences where it can't be done. Whatever happens, it's an interesting challenge.

But now... music time..

Today it's Mika with a silly song called Elle Me Dit .... it's good though! Fun..... that's the word! And I bet that Yelle could do a fantastic job with this song too....

Elle me dit
Écris une chanson contente
Pas une chanson déprimante
Une chanson que tout le monde aime
Elle me dit
Tu deviendras milliardaire
Tu auras de quoi être fier
Ne finis pas comme ton père
Elle me dit
Ne t'enferme pas dans ta chambre
Vas-y, secoue-toi et danse
Dis-moi c'est quoi ton problème
Elle me dit
Qu'est-ce que t'as ? t'as l'air coincé
T'es défoncé ou t'es gay ?
Tu finiras comme ton frère
Elle me dit
Elle me dit, c'est ta vie
Fais c'que tu veux, tant pis
Un jour tu comprendras
Un jour tu t'en voudras
Elle me dit, t'es trop nul
Sors un peu de ta bulle
Tu fais n'importe quoi
On dirait que t'aimes ça
Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie (x3)
Danse, danse, danse
Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie (x3)
Danse, danse, danse
Elle me dit
Fais comme les autres garçons
Vas taper dans un ballon
Tu deviendras populaire
Elle me dit
Qu'est-ce tu fous sur Internet ?
Ca va pas bien dans ta tête
Regarde le temps que tu perds
Elle me dit
Pourquoi tu te plains tout le temps ?
On dirait que t'as huit ans
C'est pas comme ca que tu vas m'plaire
Elle me dit
Un jour je serais plus là
Mais c'est quand elle me dit ça
Qu'elle me dit un truc que j'aime
Elle me dit, c'est ta vie
Fais c'que tu veux, tant pis
Un jour tu comprendras
Un jour tu t'en voudras
Elle me dit, t'es trop nul
Sors un peu de ta bulle
Tu fais n'importe quoi
On dirait que t'aimes ça
Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie (x3)
Danse, danse, danse
Elle me dit danse
Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie (x3)
Danse, danse, danse
Elle me dit danse
Elle me dit
T'as pas encore des ch'veux blancs
Mais t'auras bientôt trente ans
Vaudrait mieux que tu te réveilles
Elle me dit
Tu es toujours un enfant
Tu ne seras jamais grand
Et moi je suis déjà vieille
Elle me dit
Regarde un peu tes amis
Qu'est-ce qu'ils vont faire de leur vie ?
Il y a de quoi se foutre en l'air
Elle me dit
Oui un jour tu me tueras
Mais c'est quand elle me dit ça
Qu'elle me dit un truc que j'aime
Elle me dit danse (x8)
Elle me dit, c'est ta vie
Fais c'que tu veux, tant pis
Un jour tu comprendras
Un jour tu t'en voudras
Elle me dit, t'es trop nul
Sors un peu de ta bulle
Tu fais n'importe quoi
On dirait que t'aimes ça
Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie (x3)
Danse, danse, danse
Elle me dit danse
Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie (x3)
Danse, danse, danse
Elle me dit danse

Pas de lieu Rhône que nous ...

I don't know if you have tried Google Translate at all. It can be very helpful if you are stuck with a phrase or sentence and can't work out what it means by conventional methods. As long as it's not too slangy or obscure, Google Translate will generally come up with something near the awful truth.

But don't try this... Pas de lieu Rhône que nous.

 

BUT ....
here's something else you can do with it, especially if you are all on your own with learning French and have nobody to bounce off or to correct your mistakes....

Here's what you do... you go on to Google Translate, set the left-hand box ( the one you type into) to French.... and then start typing away in French and see if the English translation on the right is what you thought you were writing!

So you might type...  Je m'en fous  . and on the right it comes up with  I do not care.

And you think ... blimey, I think I'm getting the hang of all this !!  Mind you, it doesn't quite carry the undertones of the original, but never mind.

By the way, as you go along it tells you what it says so far... which can be interesting....

So, if you type  Cette parapluie  it says  This umbrella...

then you might enlarge somewhat ...

Cette parapluie, c'est fou  ..... and it tells you  This umbrella is crazy. 

That's the basic idea, and then you can ...

[a] change some of the words.... a noun maybe..... Cette horloge, c'est fou..... etc
                                                       or maybe a verb ....... Cette horloge, il parle .... 
                                                 or perhaps the person ....Ces horloges, ils  vont fondre ...
                                                 or negativise it ................ ....Ces horloges, ils ne  vont pas  fondre

[b]  Or make it conditional, or make it into a question, or put it into the past .. all depending on the level you are at. And all the time Google Translate is letting you see if you have got it right.

[c]  Start writing the next sentence,or the previous sentence...

[c] Copy and paste its translation back onto your side and see how it would have written it in Welsh.

It's  like having someone by your side who shows you if you are getting it more or less right. Which is useful.

So... give it a try............. and remember, Google Translate is totally free!!

Music Time again .... let's have another one from Mickey 3D .... La France a peur ...

J´allume ma télé
Je vois un p´tit gars bien sapé
Il me dit qu´ça craint
Que dehors faut pas y´aller
Que si je veux me sentir bien
Et puis pour ma sécurité
Alors je dois rester chez moi
Aujourd´hui j´ai pas le choix
Je me dit qu´il fait froid
Qu´il a peut-être raison
Il a l´air tellement sérieux sous ses allures de pauvre con

La France a peur
Tous les soirs à vingt heure
La police vous parle
Tous les soirs à vingt heure
La France a peur
(Ouhhhhh)
Tous les soirs à vingt heure
(Ouhhhhh)
La police vous parle
(Aillez confiance)
Tous les soirs à vingt heure

Ensuite ils font parler un type
Qui a pas l´air de manquer de fric
Il me dit que si je veux respirer
Ben c´est pour lui qu´il faut voter
Prendre ma carte du parti
Lui filer quelques billets
Il me dit que si l´air est pollué
Si les francais sont stressés
C´est la faute des immigrés, des clochards et des pédés

La France a peur
Tous les soirs à vingt heure
La police vous parle
Tous les soirs à vingt heure
La France a peur
(Ouhhhhh)
Tous les soirs à vingt heure
(Ouhhhhh)
La police vous parle
(Aillez confiance)
Tous les soirs à vingt heure

Alors écoute bien mon petit gars
Toi qui trône à la télé
Si un jour tu crève de froid
Chez moi faudra pas venir sonner
Et puis si un jour par malheur
Les fachos prennent le pouvoir
Dis toi bien qu´ça sera pas d´la faute
À tous les gens qui broient du noir
De toute facon ne t´en fait pas
Ils auront surement quelque part
Une jolie petite place pour toi
T´aura bien fait ton cinéma (2X)

La France a peur
Tous les soirs à vingt heure
La police vous parle
Tous les soirs à vingt heure
La France a peur
(Ouhhhhh)
Tous les soirs à vingt heure
(Ouhhhhh)
La police vous parle
(Aillez confiance)
Tous les soirs à vingt heure

Salut alors là c´est PPD et j´vais vous
raconter une histoire drôle.
Alors là vous voyez au Soudan y´a
150 000 d´mort, mais on en a rien y´a
branler du Soudan parce qu´ya
Germaine, elle s´est coupée le doigt,
et ça fait vachement mal de se couper le
doigt, et y´a Marcel il fait des chaussures
en bois, c´est vachement joli les
chaussures en bois.
Alors tu vois les mecs qui crèvent au
Soudan on en a rien à branler, mais
alors la rien du tout, on en a rien à
foutre!

Hey.... just out of interest, here's what Google translate makes of those paroles ...

I turn on my TVI see a well-dressed little guyHe told me qu'ça fearsOutside that should not y'allerWhat if I want to feel goodAnd for my safetySo I have to stay homeToday I have no choiceI said it's coldHe may be rightHe looks so serious in looking like a assholeFrance has fearEvery evening at twenty hoursPolice speakEvery evening at twenty hoursFrance has fear(Ouhhhhh)Every evening at twenty hours(Ouhhhhh)Police speak(Hate it trust)Every evening at twenty hoursThen they talk about a typeWho has not run out of money airHe told me that if I want to breatheWell, it's that we should vote for himTake my party cardHim spin a few ticketsHe told me that if the air is pollutedIf the French are stressedIt is the fault of immigrants, tramps and queersFrance has fearEvery evening at twenty hoursPolice speakEvery evening at twenty hoursFrance has fear(Ouhhhhh)Every evening at twenty hours(Ouhhhhh)Police speak(Hate it trust)Every evening at twenty hoursSo listen well my little guyThou throne on TVIf one day you die of coldI will not come in ringAnd if one day unfortunatelyThe fascists took powerSay you will be well qu'ça not the faultTo all the people who grind blackAnyway do not worryThey will surely somewhereA nice little place for youYou have done your good cinema (2X)France has fearEvery evening at twenty hoursPolice speakEvery evening at twenty hoursFrance has fear(Ouhhhhh)Every evening at twenty hours(Ouhhhhh)Police speak(Hate it trust)Every evening at twenty hoursSalvation then it's you I'm gonna PPD andtell a funny story.So there you see there's Sudan150 000 dead, but there's nothing weWhat's w*** Sudan becauseGermaine, she cut the fingerand it hurts something awful to cutfinger, and there's Marcel he made shoeswood, it's really nice towooden shoes.So you see guys who die inSudan we had nothing to m*********, butthen nothing, we have nothing tof***!

I've edited out the ruder bits in case any young people are tuning in.
As I mentioned at the start, Google translate isn't perfect, but it can help.

Moriarty ....

I've been a bit lazy lately, but I have found this very interesting interview with French band Moriarty... they've got a mention on my French Pop Music Blog for being French but singing all (?) their songs in English.The singer is Rosemary Standley, a French-American I think.

Anyway, it's a great interview with pretty clear French .... even I can follow a lot of it...

We need a spot of music for the music spot but it can't really be by Moriarty because I can't find any French stuff of theirs... see above!

So instead, here's another song from Kat Onoma ... Que sera votre vie ?....... 

No paroles to be found unfortunately. Incidentally, if any of you know of any Moriarty songs in French I would like to know! You can tell me all about it with a comment or at...

ray2718@hotmail.co.uk

Merci tout-le-monde

Learn Greek in 25 Years ......

If you want sound advice on how to learn a language, your go-to book has to be Learn Greek in 25 years by world-famous language guru Brian Church.

Yes, I'm not kidding, it is a real book and a damned good one. Most of what he has to say can be applied to the pitiful fate of any language learner, not just those daft enough to be attempting to master Greek.

I'm going to tell you all about it and pass on some of his top tips.

His first piece of advice to prospective learners of Greek ( and I would reckon it applies to other languages too)  is..... Greek in 25 years? You haven't a chance! Indeed, critics said " This course is far too ambitious!

He knows what you need! The 3rd chapter, all  about meeting your neighbours for the 1st time is entitled " When your toilet overflows."  This ,readers, is real-life language learning. He also helps you out by assuring you that, in Greece, you rarely need to be the conversation-starter, becasue usually they will get in first with the all-purpose " How's your toilet?"


In that same chapter, he related the story of his friend Andrew who ,by the way, is a professional translator, always confuses the Greek words for "ambulance " and "daisy." There exists a tape wherein Andrew can be heard pleading with the emergency operator " Please, I need a daisy urgently."

 He devotes an entire chapter to getting on the bus.

He devotes the next chapter to getting off the bus.Especially important is the advice NOT to head for the front exit which is normally blocked by the driver's cigarettes. This is the sort of local knowledge we all need.

Dictionaries..... he has a lot to say about them in Lesson 10 .... but  mainly about the propensity of the writer of the Oxford Greek-English Learner's Dictionary to use incredibly rude sample sentences to illustrate the words! I have myself written about this in a German context...  two of my German dictionaries are amazingly rude/peculiar in ther choice of sample sentences.... for those who are interested in this sort of thing, I have appended a selection at the end of today's music section ...

The.... he has a whole chapter on the millions of ways to say "the" in Greek.

He has a memorable chapter on how to memorise Greek words.... here's one of his useful memory aids...

" Want to know how to say I'm sorry in Greek ? Easy. It's lips and lips and  lips. Many, many lips. An army of lips. A lip army ....  li-PAR-may = I'm sorry. "

Here's another... 

" Forgotten the phrase for "what time is it " in Greek?  Let's put together a series of mental pictures. Imagine a boat on the water and a rower putting a cup of tea on one of his oars - a tea oar - which quickly leads us, or some of us, or me anyway, to tea-ORA-E-neh = what time is it. Okay, you have to memorise the last word"

Chapter 19, "Once Upon a Time" is  very dear to my heart, it's about learning languages by using kid's books. Brilliant! It's how I learned Welsh. Thanks Brian. He enjoys the story of how he read  one book thinking throughout it was about a plot to kidnap a nuclear scientist and dangle him off a Bolivian mountain to save a mining village in Switzerland. In fact a horse had been stolen. He only found this out at the end when he looked up "nuclear scientist" (ie "horse") in the Greek dictionary.

We've all been there.

I really can't convey his brilliant humour and candour about language learning in this short space.... but if you come across it, you'll like it... and if you don't, well, you can't please all of the people all of the time.

But that's enough helpful advice and silliness... 

So, to finish , here's  Elli Medeiros      from Stinky Toys/Elli and Jacno ...

 Je suis fière de toi, comme une pute de son mac
Je me colle à toi même si ça me fout le trac
Je ne suis pas encore sortie de ma réserve :
Une fleur prête à éclore, petite frappe qui s'énerve

Je te couvrirai de pétales de rose
Je te garderai, je suis ton chien, ta chose
Je t'attacherai avec sept cheveux rouges :
Notre propre piège se resserre si tu bouges

Cogne-moi :
Les mots que tu me dis
Me cognent bas.
Tout le monde aux abris!
Tu dis «mon amour» et c'est un coup de poing,
Ça me coupe le souffle...
Soulève-moi.

Je suis fière de toi comme une pute de son mac
Je suis à genoux : viens, amour, attaque...
Tes larmes et ta sueur sont l'encens et le miel :
crache-moi dessus mon coeur, et je monterai au ciel

Je te couvrirai d'or et de diamants
oui je veux sentir cette pointe d'argent
Et j'embrasserai le trottoir sous tes pas :
le seul choix dans la vie, c'est d'en avoir ou pas

Cogne-moi :
Les mots que tu me dis
Me cognent bas.
Tout le monde aux abris.
Tu dis «mon amour» et c'est un coup de poing,
Ça me coupe le souffle...
Soulève-moi.

Pour toi je me ferai une bouche écarlate,
des cheveux de feu et des ongles de laque
la pointe de ta lame doucement sur la joue :
oh écrase-moi dans la boue

Je suis fière de toi comme une pute de son mac
Je veux tout de toi : les caresses et les claques
Tu déverses sur moi l'or de ta rivière
Je suis toutes tes femmes depuis la toute première

Cogne-moi :
Les mots que tu me dis
Me cognent bas.
Tout le monde aux abris.
Tu dis «mon amour» et c'est un coup de poing,
Ça me coupe le souffle...
Soulève-moi.


Stinky Toys seemed to perform mostly in English ( and Spanish) and you can look at much more about the amazing (??) Elli and Jacno on my wonderful French Pop Music blog ...see sidebar.

 NOW, AS PROMISED ...........

Here's some amazing sample sentences from one of my German dictionary/phrase-books ... 

Well, where do I start with this little gem of a book.... it's called Langenscheidts Konversationsbuch (Englisch-Deutsch) and I think the bloke who wrote it lived on the wrong planet!

It's got some brilliant stuff in it... here are some of its true gems for your enjoyment...plus the translations he gives. Remember, his aim,apparently, is "to prepare the tourist for many kinds of ordinary conversations,whether casual or serious."

As you will he, he has done a terrific job! Read on...........

Er stieß ihn leicht mit dem elbogen an..... "he nudged him gently"

Er drückte sie an seine Brust....... "He pressed her to his bosom."

Der Teig muß fortwährend (um-)gerührt werden ... " the batter must be stirred constantly."

Ich bin im zweiten Gan auf diesen Hügel gefahren...." I have taken the hill in 2nd gear."

Alle ihre Hochöfen sind wieder in Betrieb..." All their blast-furnaces are working again."

Ich denke, wir werden einen heiteren und lohnenden Abend haben...." I think we shall have a gay and rewarding evening."

Wie heißt dieses Musikinstrument?.. "What is the name of this musical instrument?"

Wollen wir einige deutsche Volkslieder singen... "Let us sing some German folk-songs"

Dieser Perlonbüstenhalter ist sehr bequem..... " This perlon bra is very comfortable."

Er ist ein bischen bucklig ... " he is slightly humpbacked."

Sie hat Ringe unter den Augen... " She has bags under her eyes."

Nachdenklich rieb er sich das Kinn... " He thoughtfully rubbed his chin."

Sie häatten im Fahrstuhl Ihren Hut abnehmen sollen, weil Damen zugegen waren..." You should have taken off your hat in the lift, since ladies were present."

Er sieht wie ein Ausländer aus.... "he looks like a foreigner."

Pudere deine Nase nicht in der Offentlichkeit!.." Don't powder your nose in public!"

Er sieht wie ein Narr aus.... " he looks like a fool."

Ich glaube, daß er die Hand im Spiele hat.... "I believe that he has a finger in the pie."

Well, what a book! It goes on and on like that, insulting and criticising humpbacks, women, foreigners etc, dispensing useless information.... the whole book is an absolute classic.

I reckon you could right a really gripping novel using only sentences from this book... I really do.... or at the very least, a series of short stories in a variety of genres.

I might have a go... maybe it would become a best-seller, then years later someone would twig what I did.

I would then rise to my full height, and demand haughtily...

" Sie haben mich beleidig, und ich verlange von Ihnen eine sofortige Entschuldigung" .. or, in the words of this magnificent phrase-book, " You have offended me, and I demand an immediate apology."

Discussions that Work ....

I got a very interesting resource book the other day ... in a junk shop as usual ....

From the picture you can't really tell what it is ! ... it's called Discussions that Work - Task-Centred Fluency Practice ... and it's by a prolific author on language-teaching matters, Penny Ur.

It was actually written for teachers of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL)  but that doesn't matter... it's full of practical ideas for using activities as a basis for practising and learning any language.... in our case, French.

Her particular focus in this book is using the usual discussion activites ... group work, role-play, discussing a topic etc BUT.... making sure that there is a specific task for the learners to do.... involving problem-solving/thinking things out and leading to an outcome of some sort. This makes the work much more focussed and driven, and goes some way to preventing aimless, meandering discussions which tend to fizzle out or wander off-task.

 For example, rather than just asking a group of students to discuss the problems that trouble young people today , she writes a selection of problems in the form of letters to a French "agony aunt" and the group has to come up with a reply.

Now for me, being a "lone learner"  , "discussions" as such aren't really practical except in the talking-to-myself sense, but many of her sample tasks can be done singly, or adapted a bit. For example, one of her early tasks is to present a group of students with a little collection of random French  words and get them to include all of them in a story. The group discusses, in Frnech of course, how they could get all these words in and the nuts and bolts of the story itself. Well, I can do that myself, in fact I've already tried it... I just flicked around in a small French dictionary , sticking my finger in without looking and wrote down whatever I found..... simple!

Then I had an "internal discussion" working out how to fit them all into a story and went ahead and did it. Admittedly, not as interesting or exciting as discussing ideas with 3 or 4 other learners but a very good experience nevertheless. Admittedly, it was difficult to keep my own "discussion" in French in my head! ... but the French story "outcome" was OK.

Another easily adaptable task was to take two random French nouns and work out/write down as many connections between them that you can think of.  In a group, this would all be discussed/brainstormed in French, and all the connections collected in a list.... but when I did it I again got a pair of nouns ( this time by blindly picking words from "Your First 1000 Words in French" , and this time I actually talked to myself out loud ( well, out quiet maybe) about lots of possible connections and wrote them down. Again, not quite as gripping as the team version, but nevertheless interesting and fun.

I have also discovered that there are loads of Activity books with tons of ideas in them out there....

Now these are all fairly expensive , unless you are lucky and find one in a junk shop like I did, but I am going to go up to my local University and find them in the TEFL or Languages section. There is also a Teacher Training place nearby which I can visit and have a look there., have a swift read/skim and come way with a lot of ideas. Watch this space.

And as for music,  here's the lo-fi (??) Monogrenade  and M'en Aller  ...

Can't find the lyrics out there anywhere.... any ideas ?