{"id":30886,"date":"2018-10-31T14:00:14","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=30886"},"modified":"2018-10-30T20:40:05","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T19:40:05","slug":"welcoming-halloween-in-french-mister-jacks-strange-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/welcoming-halloween-in-french-mister-jacks-strange-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcoming Halloween In French – Mister Jack’s Strange Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s the spookiest night of the year tonight and children all across l’Am\u00e9rique du nord<\/strong><\/a> (North America) will be dressed up in their scariest costumes as they get ready to go door to door looking for tricks and treats. La tradition<\/strong> (the tradition) may not be a long-standing one en France<\/strong>, but with the influence of American films and culture, it is a holiday more and more French kids look forward to every year.<\/p>\n

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Image<\/a> from Pixabay. Licensed under CC0.<\/p><\/div>\n

La clture am\u00e9ricaine<\/strong><\/a> (American culture) has spread all over the world for a multitude of reasons, but the most obvious one is Hollywood<\/em> and all things show business. Les filmes am\u00e9ricains<\/strong> (American movies) manage to capture the world’s attention and have a very talented team behind them helping to adapt the story and characters to other cultures.<\/p>\n

One of les filmes<\/strong> that probably helped spread Halloween<\/strong> <\/em>to the minds of les jeunes fran\u00e7ais<\/a><\/strong> (young French people) is a famous one from Tim Burton, L’\u00c9trange No\u00ebl de monsieur Jack<\/strong><\/em> (Miser Jack’s The Strange Christmas<\/em>, The Nightmare Before Christams<\/em> in its English title). Le filme<\/strong> more than celebrates the spooky night<\/a> of le 31 octobre<\/strong> (October 31st), but also fits in the idea of a quick transition to the winter holiday season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Le filme<\/strong> was a huge success all over the world and Jack Skellington<\/em>, the protagonist of the story, can now be found everywhere from Disneyland Paris to Disneyland Tokyo. The power of Disney<\/a> behind le filme<\/strong> helped ensure the localization and translation of all the jokes and songs was completed with an incredible attention to detail and, as a result, likely helped spread Halloween<\/em><\/strong><\/a> across the world. For les amateurs de la langue fran\u00e7aise<\/strong> (people who like the French language) it also opened up doors for learning more French!<\/p>\n

D’un cot\u00e9<\/strong> (on one hand), there is a fun and familiar song that you can start singing in the shower to keep your studies from feeling like les devoirs<\/strong> (homework). De l’autre <\/strong>(on the other hand), the differences in les paroles<\/strong> (the lyrics) provide insight into la culture fran\u00e7aise<\/strong><\/a> (French culture) and the hard to understand feeling of what simply sounds better to native French speakers.<\/p>\n

To really get an idea, here’s a few lines from the most famous song from le filme<\/strong>, Bienvenue \u00e0 Halloween<\/strong> <\/em>(Welcome to Halloween<\/em>, This Is Halloween<\/em> in the English version):<\/p>\n

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C\u2019est la ville de la nuit<\/strong>
\nLes citrouilles chantent et les chauves sourient<\/strong>
\nOn plaisante, on fait des b\u00eatises<\/strong>
\nOn ne sait pas quelle sera la prochaine surprise !<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the town of night<\/em>
\nThhe pumpkins sing and the baldies smile<\/em>
\nWe joke, we do stupid things<\/em>
\nWe don\u2019t know what will be the next surprise<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There are few subtle jeux de mots<\/strong> (puns) hidden in les paroles<\/strong> that can be easy to miss:<\/p>\n

Les citrouilles chantent<\/strong> <\/em>can mean both the pumpkins sing<\/em> and the idiots sing<\/em>.
\nLes chauves sourient<\/strong> <\/em>means the baldies smile, but it sounds exactly like chuave-souris<\/strong> (bat), which adds to the spooky atmosphere.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For comparison, here’s the same lines from the English version of la chanson<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In this town we call home
\n<\/em>Everyone hail to the pumpkin song
\n<\/em>In this town, don’t we love it now?
\n<\/em>Everybody’s waiting for the next surprise<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Heureusement<\/strong><\/a> (fortunately), the whole song doesn’t change that much, making it easy to follow along if you know la chanson anglaise <\/strong>(the English song). Take a moment to listen to Bienvenue \u00e0 Halloween<\/strong><\/em>, the French version of the catchy song from L’\u00c9trange No\u00ebl de monsieur Jack<\/strong><\/em>!<\/p>\n

Voici la chanson avec les paroles et une traducion anglaise :<\/strong><\/p>\n