by Mademoiselle Frenchie
Want to listen to the French accent? Learn to speak with a French accent? Make fun of the French? Be reminded of the French ex-girlfriend you miss? I (French living and working in English since 1997) will read a book excerpt in English with: - my best (=lightest) French accent possible (Don't laugh!), then - the raw (=fresh off the plane) French accent (OK... You can laugh at that one!), then - the same text in French (I have an accent in French too, and it is the Parisian variety) Enjoy!
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
9/8/2022
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February 22, 2023
<p>The Stranger almost didn't get published: only 4,400 copies could be printed due to WWII shortages! Today, it is the one of the most widely read novels and perhaps the greatest existentialist tale ever written. Camus was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history, 2 years before dying in a car crash. </p> <p>***</p> <p>Mom died today. Or, maybe yesterday, I don't know. I received a telegram from the asylum: “Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Best regards.” That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday. </p> <p>The old people's asylum is at Marengo, fifty miles from Algiers. I'll take the two o’clock bus and get there in the afternoon. That way I can keep vigil and come back tomorrow evening. I asked my employer for two days’ leave; and he couldn't refuse with such an excuse. Still, he didn't look too happy about it. I even said: “It’s not my fault.” He didn't reply anything. Afterwards it struck me I needn’t have said that. After all, I had no reason to apologize. It was him who should have offered his condolences. He probably will do so the day after tomorrow, when he sees me in mourning. For now, it’s almost as if mom weren’t dead. After the funeral, though, the case will be closed and all will have a more official feel to it. </p> <p>I took the two-o’clock bus. It was very hot. I ate lunch at Chez Céleste restaurant, as usual. Everyone felt very sorry for me, and Céleste said to me, “We have only one mother.” When I left, they walked me to the door. I was a bit distracted because I had to go up to Emmanuel’s place to borrow a black tie and an arm band. He lost his uncle a few months ago.</p> <p>***</p> <p>Aujourd’hui, maman est morte. Ou peut-être hier, je ne sais pas. J’ai reçu un télégramme de l’asile : « Mère décédée. Enterrement demain. Sentiments distingués. » Cela ne veut rien dire. C’était peut-être hier. </p> <p>L’asile de vieillards est à Marengo, à quatre-vingts kilomètres d’Alger. Je prendrai l’autobus à deux heures et j’arriverai dans l’après-midi. Ainsi, je pourrai veiller et je rentrerai demain soir. J’ai demandé deux jours de congé à mon patron et il ne pouvait pas me les refuser avec une excuse pareille. Mais il n’avait pas l’air content. Je lui ai même dit : « Ce n’est pas de ma faute. » Il n’a pas répondu. J’ai pensé alors que je n’aurais pas dû lui dire cela. En somme, je n’avais pas à m’excuser. C’était plutôt à lui de me présenter ses condoléances. Mais il le fera sans doute après-demain, quand il me verra en deuil. Pour le moment, c’est un peu comme si maman n’était pas morte. Après l’enterrement, au contraire, ce sera une affaire classée et tout aura revêtu une allure plus officielle. </p> <p>J’ai pris l’autobus à deux heures. Il faisait très chaud. J’ai mangé au restaurant, chez Céleste, comme d’habitude. Ils avaient tous beaucoup de peine pour moi et Céleste m’a dit : « On n’a qu’une mère. » Quand je suis parti, ils m’ont accompagné à la porte. J’étais un peu étourdi parce qu’il a fallu que je monte chez Emmanuel pour lui emprunter une cravate noire et un brassard. Il a perdu son oncle, il y a quelques mois.</p>
November 19, 2022
<p>Let's start with a French classic! This 'children's book' (1943) actually discusses very mature topics of loneliness, love and loss. With about 200M books sold, it is the 2nd best-selling book in history. Translated in more than 300 languages, it is the 2nd most translated work, behind the Bible. The Little Prince is De Saint Exupéry's last published work before his untimely death the following year in a plane crash.</p> <p>Here is the text if you would like to follow along:</p> <p> ***</p> <p> So I lived my life alone, without anyone that I could really talk to, until I had an accident with my plane in the Desert of Sahara, six years ago. Something was broken in my engine. And as I had with me neither a mechanic nor any passengers, I set myself to attempt the difficult repairs all alone. It was a question of life or death for me: I had scarcely enough drinking water to last a week. </p> <p> The first night, then, I went to sleep on the sand, a thousand miles from any human habitation. I was more isolated than a shipwrecked sailor on a raft in the middle of the ocean. Thus you can imagine my amazement, at sunrise, when I was awakened by an odd little voice. It said: "If you please, draw me a sheep!" "What!" "Draw me a sheep..." </p> <p> I jumped to my feet, completely thunderstruck. I blinked my eyes hard. I looked carefully all around me. And I saw a most extraordinary small person, who stood there examining me with great seriousness. </p> <p> Here you may see the best portrait that, later, I was able to make of him. But my drawing is certainly very much less charming than its model. That, however, is not my fault. The grown-ups discouraged me in my painter's career when I was six years old, and I never learned to draw anything, except boas from the outside and boas from the inside.</p> <p> ***</p> <p> J'ai ainsi vécu seul, sans personne avec qui parler véritablement, jusqu'à une panne dans le désert du Sahara, il y a six ans. Quelque chose s'était cassé dans mon moteur. Et comme je n'avais avec moi ni mécanicien, ni passagers, je me préparai à essayer de réussir, tout seul, une réparation difficile. C'était pour moi une question de vie ou de mort. J'avais à peine de l'eau à boire pour huit jours.</p> <p> Le premier soir je me suis donc endormi sur le sol à mille milles de toute terre habitée. J'étais bien plus isolé qu'un naufragé sur un radeau au milieu de l'océan. Alors vous imaginez ma surprise, au lever du jour, quand une drôle de petite voix m'a réveillé. Elle disait: "S'il vous plaît... dessine-moi un mouton!" "Hein!" "Dessine-moi un mouton..."</p> <p> J'ai sauté sur mes pieds comme si j'avais été frappé par la foudre. J'ai bien frotté mes yeux. J'ai bien regardé. Et j'ai vu un petit bonhomme tout à fait extraordinaire qui me considérait gravement. Voilà le meilleur portrait que, plus tard, j'ai réussi à faire de lui. Mais mon dessin, bien sûr, est beaucoup moins ravissant que le modèle. Ce n'est pas de ma faute. J'avais été découragé dans ma carrière de peintre par les grandes personnes, à l'age de six ans, et je n'avais rien appris à dessiner, sauf les boas fermés et les boas ouverts.</p> <p> ***</p>
November 9, 2022
<p>Poet, writer and art critic Guillaume Apollinaire coined the terms Cubism, Orphism and Surrealism and was very much involved in these movements. One of the foremost poets of the 20th century, he wrote poems without punctuation or with letters arranged on the page like drawings, attempting to be resolutely modern. He wrote several erotic novels, one of which was banned until 1970! He was famous upon his death in 1918 of the Spanish flu at 38 years old, and was declared 'Fallen for France' to recognize his service in WWI. </p> <p>***</p> <p>Under Mirabeau Bridge flows the Seine</p> <p>And our loves</p> <p>Must I remember them</p> <p>Joy always came after pain</p> <p><br></p> <p>The night comes the hour chimes</p> <p>The days fade I remain</p> <p><br></p> <p>Hand in hand let us stay face to face</p> <p>While below</p> <p>Our arms' bridge passes</p> <p>With eternal regards the wave so slow</p> <p><br></p> <p>The night comes the hour chimes</p> <p>The days fade I remain</p> <p><br></p> <p>Love goes like this water flows</p> <p>Love goes</p> <p>Like life is slow</p> <p>And how hope is violent</p> <p><br></p> <p>The night comes the hour chimes</p> <p>The days fade I remain</p> <p><br></p> <p>The days elapse and the weeks elapse</p> <p>Neither the past</p> <p>Nor former loves return again</p> <p>Under Mirabeau Bridge flows the Seine</p> <p><br></p> <p>The night comes the hour chimes</p> <p>The days fade I remain</p> <p><br></p> <p>***</p> <p>Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine</p> <p>Et nos amours</p> <p>Faut-il qu'il m'en souvienne</p> <p>La joie venait toujours après la peine</p> <p><br></p> <p>Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure</p> <p>Les jours s'en vont je demeure</p> <p><br></p> <p>Les mains dans les mains restons face à face</p> <p>Tandis que sous</p> <p>Le pont de nos bras passe</p> <p>Des éternels regards l'onde si lasse</p> <p><br></p> <p>Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure</p> <p>Les jours s'en vont je demeure</p> <p><br></p> <p>L'amour s'en va comme cette eau courante</p> <p>L'amour s'en va</p> <p>Comme la vie est lente</p> <p>Et comme l'Espérance est violente</p> <p><br></p> <p>Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure</p> <p>Les jours s'en vont je demeure</p> <p><br></p> <p>Passent les jours et passent les semaines</p> <p>Ni temps passé</p> <p>Ni les amours reviennent</p> <p>Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine</p> <p><br></p> <p>Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure</p> <p>Les jours s'en vont je demeure</p> <p><br></p>
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Want to listen to the French accent? Learn to speak with a French accent? Make fun of the French? Be reminded of the French ex-girlfriend you miss?
I (French living and working in English since 1997) will read a book excerpt in English with:
Enjoy!
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