{"id":34428,"date":"2022-01-11T05:30:49","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T04:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=34428"},"modified":"2022-01-09T22:37:16","modified_gmt":"2022-01-09T21:37:16","slug":"a-love-letter-to-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/a-love-letter-to-france\/","title":{"rendered":"A love letter to France"},"content":{"rendered":"

The French, in my experience, uniquely love language and eloquence. A new(ish) television show – and an addition to the infamous bac! – highlight this.<\/p>\n

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Photo CC0 from Paulo Marcelo Martins www.pexels.com<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Le Grand Oral<\/h3>\n

Airing for the first time in 2019,\u00a0Le Grand Oral<\/strong>1<\/a><\/sup>The big recitation<\/em><\/span> is a program on France2 \u201c[qui] met en sc\u00e8ne douze candidats [dans] un grand concours d\u2019\u00e9loquence<\/strong><\/a>\u201d2<\/a><\/sup>that features 12 candidats in a big competition of eloquence<\/em><\/span>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cLors de [l\u2019emission] trois \u00e9preuves d\u00e9partagent\u00a0les candidats\u00a0:\u00a0les solo, la demi-finale et enfin, la finale, qui d\u00e9signe le gagnant du Grand oral<\/strong><\/a>\u201d3<\/a><\/sup>During the [show] three challenges separate the candidats: the solo, the semi-final, and finally, the finale, crowning the winner of the Big Recital<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

The most recent edition (March 2021) was\u00a0remport\u00e9 par<\/strong>4<\/a><\/sup>won; carried by<\/em><\/span> the young \u201cS\u00e9bastien [qui] a pour particularit\u00e9 d’\u00eatre croque-mort dans la vie, et a tenu un discours sur “les m\u00e9tiers que vous ne voulez pas voir”<\/strong>5<\/a><\/sup>Sebastian [who] has the unique job of undertaker and who delivered a speech about \u201cthe careers that you don\u2019t want to see\u201d<\/em><\/span>. You can hear his\u00a0discours<\/strong> via Twitter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What really caught my attention though was the speech below from Season 1 winner Bill Fran\u00e7ois,\u00a0doctorant en physique<\/strong>6<\/a><\/sup>doctoral candidate in physics<\/em><\/span> entitled\u00a0Ma France\u00a0\u00e0 moi<\/strong>7<\/a><\/sup>My France<\/em><\/span>. I\u2019m not going to transcribe the full video here, since you can follow along with the subtitles, but I will highlight a couple of passages that I found particularly clever, funny, or moving such as:<\/p>\n

Right off the bat (at 00:18) when he quotes Victor Hugo \u201cJ\u2019aurais aim\u00e9 n\u2019\u00eatre pas fran\u00e7ais pour pouvoir te choisir ma France<\/strong>\u201d8<\/a><\/sup>I would have liked to not be French so that I could choose you, my France<\/em><\/span>,
\nOr (at 1:22) \u201cLe fran\u00e7ais, jamais a l\u2019heure mais toujours r\u00e2leur, te critique en permanence, c\u2019est sa fa\u00e7on de t\u2019aimer.<\/strong>\u201d9<\/a><\/sup>The French(person), never on time but always complaining, never stops criticizing you, that is their way of loving you.<\/i><\/span>,
\nAnd (at 2:12) \u201ccette fa\u00e7on dont tu maries l\u2019inutile au sublime sans jamais te prendre au s\u00e9rieux, ca te rend belle et c\u2019est pour ca qu\u2019on t\u2019aime<\/em><\/strong>\u201d,10<\/a><\/sup>the way that you marry the useless with the sublime without ever taking yourself seriously, makes you beautiful and its for that reason that one loves you<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd (at 3:00) \u201ctu essaies d\u2019apporter de mani\u00e8re \u00e9quitable, la joie au Petit Prince autant qu\u2019aux Mis\u00e9rables<\/strong>\u201d11<\/a><\/sup>you try equally to bring joy to The Little Prince and to Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just a taste and I\u2019m afraid I\u2019m not doing Bill justice. His choice of words, the way he juxtaposes ideas and plays with imagery can\u2019t fully be conveyed in translation \u2026 but I hope you\u2019ll take the time to listen and enjoy!<\/p>\n