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October 19, 2004
Kerry parle-t-il français? / Does Kerry speak French?

Le fougueux Andrew Breitbart m'a alertée ce matin sur ce petit article ironique de Slate qui s'interroge sur le bon français de John Kerry. En France, tout le monde sait qu'enfant, Kerry a passé ses vacances d'été en Bretagne avec son cousin Brice Lalonde, ancien ministre (socialiste) de l'environnement. Mais Slate renvoit à un fichier audio (format Windows Media Player, oeuf corse... Slate étant propriété de Microsoft) de Kerry s'adressant à des Haitiens en français: il est incompréhensible. En l'écoutant ce matin de l'école, je n'y ai rien compris. Puis ce soir au calme chez moi, j'ai pigé. Il dit: "Vous êtes de Haiti? D'accord! Je vais aider les Haitiens!" Mais on dirait qu'il a une patate dans la bouche, et on comprend: "Je vais aider les Tchéchènes!"Quelqu'un ici a déjà entendu Kerry parler français? Son français est-il aussi excellent que tout le monde l'affirme? Un chose est quasiment sure: il ne peut pas être pire que l'espagnol de Bush!

+ pour ceux qui ne l'auraient pas vu: le clip Kerry et les Français de CrushKerry.com. Ils ont recruté les pires acteurs au monde pour imiter l'accent Frenchie. Comme dirait David Brent, "Si nous sommes coupables de vous faire rire à l'occasion, allez-y, faites nous un procès." (Merci Mickey Kaus.)

+ je pique leur image de Kerry coiffé d'un bérêt: cela vaut bien un lien en échange.

Fiery Andrew Breitbart alerted me this morning to this little ironic article in Slate, in which the author wonders about how good John Kerry's French is. In France, everybody knows that as a child, Kerry would spend his summer vacations in Brittany with his cousin Brice Lalonde, former (Socialist) Minister of the Environment in France. But Slate links to an audio file (in the Windows Media Player format, of course... Slate being a poperty of Microsoft) in which Kerry speaks to a group of Haitians in French. You don't understand a thing! Listening to it this morning from school, I had no clue, but once at home tonight in a more quiet setting, I finally got it. He says: "Vous êtes de Haiti? D'accord! Je vais aider les Haitiens!" which means: "You are from Haiti? All right! I'm going to help the Haitians!" But it sounds like he has a potato in his mouth; it's more like "I'm going to help the Chechens!"

Has someone here already heard Kerry speak French? Is his French as impeccable as everybody says? I'm pretty sure of one thing: it can't be worse than Bush's Spanish!

+ for those who haven't seen it yet: a video of fake French Kerry fans, from CrushKerry.com. They have the worst actors, with the most awful fake French accents, but as David Brent would say, "if we make them laugh along the way, sue us" (Merci Mickey Kaus.)

+ I lifted their image of John Kerry coiffed and with a beret: it's well worth a link in exchange.


Posted by Emmanuelle at October 19, 2004 8:19 PM
Comments


Il a répondu en français et très brièvement à quelques questions de la télé française, pendant les primaires. Ce n'était pas un français de francophone, mais pour du français deuxième langue c'était tout à fait honorable.

Posted by: Somebaudy at October 19, 2004 11:11 PM

D'autres belles images de Jean Chéri:

Posted by: Pascal at October 20, 2004 6:39 AM

Merci Pascal, excellent., les montages de Jean F. Cheri! J'ai beaucoup la petite moustache dont il hérite, à la John Waters.

Merci Baudoin. A force de lire qu'il était parfaitement francophone et que cette langue (avec sa connaissance de l'allemand) était son "arme secrète diplomatique" j'avais compris qu'il était totalement bilingue, capable de converser avec des chefs d'état sur des sujets complexes. Bien sur, il a sans doute peu d'occasions au quotidien de pratiquer son français. Les Américains francophones sont si rares, il faut les chérir.

Posted by: Emmanuelle at October 20, 2004 6:53 AM

Précision de Pascal: "Tout ce que je l'ai entendu dire, c'est "je n'ai pas le temps, je
dois monter dans le bus" en très bon français!"

Posted by: Emmanuelle at October 20, 2004 7:13 AM

That was funny. Thanks.

Posted by: Curtis at October 20, 2004 7:51 PM

C'est vrai que Kerry parlant français, c'est pour le moins...pittoresque !

Cela dit, on se moque, on se moque mais ça ne vaudra jamais Delors s'exprimant en anglais avec un (huuum...) "délicieux" accent français sans parler de Michel Barnier, notre ministre des affaires étrangères, qui n'a sérieusement envisagé de se mettre au langage de la perfide Albion qu'une fois sa nomination au gouvernement acquise.
Quant à Sarkozy, son "engliche" est aussi approximatif que gratiné.
(nb : au fait, Raffarin s'exprimant dans la langue de Shakespeare, ça donne quoi ? Et avec l'accent texan, s'iou plaît, cela doit être encore plus "delightful", non ?)

Au passage, merci pour le clip anti-kerry (damn, these bloody frog eaters are all damn liberals, surrender country, you know...) et surtout pour ce blog formidable !

Posted by: Tristan at October 21, 2004 12:40 AM

Des ommes politiques francais qui parlent anglais on en a aussi. DSK par exemple...

Posted by: Blaise at October 22, 2004 12:45 PM

Q: How do the French make wine?
A: Urinate in a bottle.

Q: How do the French make croissants?
A: They defecate on a plate.

Q: What color is the French flag?
A: Solid White.

Q: How do you sink a French aircraft carrier?
A: Launch it at high tide.

Q: Why do the French hate history class?
A: They keep repeating it.

French Interior Minister Jean-Pierre Lafontaine announced today that, due to the recent terrorist bombings in Spain, France's Terror Alert Level has been raised from "Run" to "Hide." Mr. Lafontaine further added that if the bombings continue, the Terror Alert Level would be increased to "Surrender and collaborate."

Q: How can you identify a French Infantryman?
A: Sunburt armpits.

Q: How many times has the Arce de Triumphe in Paris been used?
A: Twice...By the Germans.

Q: What do you call it when half the population of France runs north and the other half runs south?
A: A French Civil War.

Q: What's the difference between a Frenchman and a chimpanzee?
A: One of them is hairy, stinky, and scratches his ass all the time. The other is a chimpanzee.

"During WW2, the French resistance fighters, in their finest hour, bravely threw sticks of dynamite at the advancing German troops." "The Germans then lit them and threw them back."


Q: How do you confuse a French Soldier?
A: Give him a rifle and ask him to shoot it.

Q: What do you call a French man defending his country?
A: Don't know, it's never happened!

Q: Why did the U.S. Postal Service recall its series of stamps depicting famous Frenchmen?
A: Because people were confused about which side to spit on.

Q: Why do Frenchmen carry shit in their wallets?
A: The law requires they carry at least one form of Identification.

Q: What is the only "blank" book ever written?
A: "French War Heroes".

"A Frenchwoman walks into a bar carrying a duck under her arm. The bartender says, "HEY! You can't bring that pig in here." The Frenchwoman says, "Excuse me...but that's a duck." The bartender says back, "Excuse ME, but I was talking to the duck."

Q: Why did the French celebrate their World Cup Championship in 2000 so wildly?
A: It was their first time they won anything without the help of the U.S.

Q: Why do the French call their fighter the "Mirage"?
A: Because it doesn't really exist.

Q: What do you call a French fighter coming to the rescue of American and British soldiers in the Iraqi desert?
A: A Mirage.

Q: How many Frenchman does it take to guard Paris?
A: Nobody knows, its never been tried before.

Q: How can you tell if a Frenchman has been in your backyard?
A: your garbage is gone and your dog is pregnant!

Three guys, an Englishman, a Frenchman and an American are out walking along the beach together one day. They come across a lantern and a genie pops out of it. "I will give you each one wish, " says the genie. The Englishman says, "I am a farmer, my dad was a farmer, and my son will also farm. I want the land to be forever fertile in America." With a blink of the genie's eye, 'FOOM' - the land in America was forever made fertile for farming. The Frenchman was amazed, so he said, "I want a wall around France, so that no one can come into our precious country." Again, with a blink of the Genie's eye, 'POOF' - there was a huge wall around France. The American asks, "I'm very curious. Please tell me more about this wall. The Genie explains, "Well, it's about 150 feet high, 50 feet thick and nothing can get in or out." The American says, "Fill it up with water."

Posted by: John Kerry at October 23, 2004 6:25 PM

You're a riot, John!

Posted by: Emmanuelle at October 23, 2004 6:29 PM

this whole anti-French sentiment that has been played up in the media, and used by over-zealous 'patriots' as a sort of war cry is really sickening to me. I apologize for this clown who comes to your site and posts this drivel. I have met many French citizens and found them to be extremely nice. I doubt if even half of the people who suddenly 'hate the french' have ever in fact met a French person.

People needs to turn off their TVs and think for themselves.

a bientot...

Posted by: ashamed American at October 25, 2004 11:37 AM

Merci Tristan, Blaise et "ashamed American" pour les interventions bienveillantes! Can't wait for these elections to be over with, so that people won't ask me over and over: is it true the French don't like Americans? I tell them: most of them don't like your president, but most of the people I know love America and Americans.

Posted by: Emmanuelle at October 25, 2004 10:51 PM

Merci Emanuelle ! Cela dit, il est tout de même possible que le sentiment anti-américain se renforce en France si Bush est réélu, à noter que les commentaires récents de Chirac sur la prétendue "sous-culture américaine" ne sont vraiment pas finauds...

Bon, pour revenir aux élections, je commence sérieusement à croire en la victoire de Kerry. Entre les mauvaises nouvelles venant d'Irak et l'entrée en scène du "comeback kid" hier sans compter sur le dernier sondage d'ABC News qui pour la première fois depuis août, accorde une très légère avance pour le candidat démocrate, on doit, malgré tout, commencer à baliser sévère dans le camp de l'actuel locataire de la Maison Blanche.

Sauf surprise improbable, je parie donc définitivement sur Kerry mais...

...pour maintenir le suspense jusqu'au bout, CNN et consorts, quand interviendra le moment d'annoncer les résultats en Ohio et en Floride, nous refera bien le coup du "too close to call".

Premier avantage d'un tel dénouement, cela évitera que la Cour suprême tombe définitivement aux mains de juges ultra-réactionnaires.

Kerry for president !

Posted by: Tristan at October 26, 2004 3:49 AM

Désolé, j'ai écorché votre prénom. Merci Emmanuelle avec deux m, c'est beaucoup mieux.

A bientôt !

Posted by: Tristan at October 26, 2004 3:53 AM

How many gears does a French tank have? Five, four in reverse and one forward (in case of attack from behind).

Posted by: Viva La France! at October 26, 2004 6:13 PM

JK/VLF (or should I call you "Guido"?):

I've heard most of your chucklers before but when my Dad told them they were directed at Italians.

As for your alleged "blank book" of French war heroes, I suggest you read up on your history.

While your Italian comrades surrendered en masse at Caporetto, the poilu bravely held the line at Verdun when WWI was literally hanging in the balance.

Face it Guido, if you were that worried about the French warrior spirit, you'd be posting your opinions at sites frequented by French military historians as opposed to the blog of a Los Angeles freelance journalist...

How very Italian of you :)

Posted by: Cletus Nelson at October 30, 2004 2:15 PM

En fait JFK est venu en France 2 fois entre 63 et 66 mais ces vacances se sont déroulés en Corrèze chez une de ses tantes. Madame Grey. Dans un des plus beau chateau du département !
Et oui Kerry parle bien le français ... Au moins aussi bien que Barnier notre ministre des affaires étrangères parle l'anglais !!!

V F K

Malraux

Posted by: Malraux at November 1, 2004 1:32 AM

Je suis le neuveu de Brice Lalonde at donc le cousin de JFK. Je peux confirmer qu'il parle bien Français. Et il a debarqué en France beaucoup plus que deux fois. Pendant mon enfance, il était à St Briac chaque été. Depuis qu'il est devenue Sénateur ca se passe moins.

Posted by: Tom Fox at November 13, 2004 5:15 PM


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