French

We started the new year on 11th January with a short story by Guy de Maupasssant “Le Crime au Père Boniface” which we managed, in turn, to read and translate during our Thursday morning meeting. This was considerably extended beyond the usual 1½ hours because of the group’s enthusiasm to reach the outcome at the end of the story. A very neatly constructed story with a brisk action, compact and vivid descriptions and a neat ending.

We read an interesting article about the changing nature of French society and the composition of the new middle class, perhaps replacing the bourgeoisie.

The group read the opening chapter of a French translation of a lurid American thriller by James Patterson  La dernière prophétie. We had time for the first chapter only  – perhaps we will return to it.

Items in French newspapers were briefly read. Two of the more sensational were about Train Surfing on the Paris metro (running along the roofs of moving trains) and about Nutella riots – precipitated by a promotional offer by the supermarket Intermarché. Both of these can be seen on You Tube in English as well as French.

The group continues to meet weekly, with various numbers attending. As a rule the meeting is cancelled if there are less than four, but so far this year only one week has been missed for this reason.

Brian Caulkett

The French group meets weekly, the members taking it in turns to host the group and provide the subject matter for the meeting. As a result there is a wide variety of material studied. We usually start by each of us recounting in our best French (somewhat variable) what of interest (if anything) we have done since the last meeting. Sometimes we listen to a recorded item in French and do our best to translate it.

In recent weeks we have become somewhat highbrow and read and translated extracts from “Becket”, a play by Jean Anouilh, and from “David,” a novelette by J M G le Clézio. (“Challenging” is the word that comes to mind).

We have also read and translated more mundane prose:  recently various newspaper reports about wolves, believed to have come from Italy, attacking sheep in Lozère, a forested area south of the Auvergne, and more recently some useful information about when in France one can use the familiar mode of address “tu” and when one should stick to “vous”, the formal mode.

In the past we have had songs in French, and games, such as a version of “What’s My Line”. No doubt we shall return to these when the host for the week so decides.

Brian Caulkett

Pam Eastham’s French conversation group meets once a week in the homes of its members. Some weeks we are all too busy and our meeting is abandoned, but today (21st November) eight of our nine members gathered chez Mary. The ninth member is currently somewhere in the Australian outback.

Mary had generously provided pints of fresh coffee, piles of chocolate (brain food!) biscuits and lots of interesting material to discuss and translate. She began by asking us to remember (in French, of course!) where we were when President Kennedy was assassinated. The memories came pouring out, not just of the Kennedy assassination, but of the Cuba crisis, the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia, the death of King George VI and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. We have to admit that in our eagerness, we occasionally lapse into English, but when lost for the right French word, help is always at hand from other members or from our dictionaries.
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