The Stroumboulopouli

The Stroumboulopouli

The place to get the latest news on what’s coming up on #Gtonight. Find out what Canada’s boyfriend is up to. Share stories, pictures, favourite tv and radio episodes.

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Friday, February 23, 2007

An equivalent?/ Un équivalent?

I tried something, a post in French and in English, there should not be too many differences between the 2 versions… Je tente quelque chose, écrire en français et en anglais, il ne devrait pas y avoir trop de différences entre les 2 versions, quoi que la version française est un peu plus longue… Bonne lecture

It’s reading week, I have a week off and I’ve been watching a lot more tv than I usually do (and being home means watching a lot of French speaking channels). Because my dad barely understands English, I try to avoid The Hour with him; if we watch it together, I’ll get a lot of “He’s speaking way too fast” (you get use to it!) and “What did he say?” (When I met George in Montreal he told me to tell my dad that he said some stuff about Jesus, and that I should be fine). But you know what, I haven’t found anything like The Hour on any French channels, there are not that many shows during which you can get news from all around the world, a little bit from Canada, politics, entertainment news, the environment, interviews with, for example, the Auditor General, with John Cusack, where you can hear about ex-gay and former ex-gay, the Junos, etc. Sure there are shows with interesting guests, we get the news too (don’t worry) and we get Entertainment news on too many shows, but I haven’t found a show with a mix of all of these. I haven’t found something similar to The Hour.

C’était la semaine de mise à jour, ce qui signifie que j’avais une semaine de « congé ». Passer du temps chez mes parents signifie que je regarde beaucoup plus la télé que lorsque je suis chez moi et étant donné que mon père ne comprend pas très bien l’anglais, j’évite d’écouter « The Hour » avec lui. Si, par malheur pour lui, je décide de regarder « The Hour », mon père ne peut s’empêcher de me dire « Il parle trop vite! » et « Qu’est ce qu’il a dit? ». Quand j’ai rencontré George l’an passé durant l’enregistrement de « The Hour » à Montréal, il m’a dit de dire à mon père qu’il parle de Jésus, et que mon père devrait arrêter de me poser des questions (ça marche plus ou moins bien). Ce que je trouve particulier, c’est qu’il n’existe aucune émission semblable à « The Hour » sur aucune chaine francophone. Aucune émission durant laquelle on pourrait entendre parler de politique, de nouvelles internationales, de l’industrie du show business, de ce qui se passe au Canada, de l’environnement. Aucune émission durant laquelle il y a des entrevues avec la vérificatrice générale du Canada, avec John Cusack, où on peut entendre parler d’ex-gay et d’ancien ex-gay, des Junos, etc. Oui, il y a des émissions avec des invités intéressants (je pense à Tout le monde en parle, Il va y avoir du sport), il a les nouvelles (le téléjournal), et aussi des émissions qui parlent des vedettes (Infoplus, Flash). Par contre, je ne suis pas encore parvenue à trouver une émission qui est un amalgame de tout cela, rien qui puisse ressembler à « The Hour ». Pour avoir des informations sur autant des sujets variés, il faut regarder beaucoup d’émissions ou lire différents journaux ou sites internet. « The Hour » permet de savoir ce qui ce passe en général dans le monde.

The show makes me laugh, sometimes it drives me crazy (“Why did he say that?”), sometimes I just want to turn off the tv, sometimes I don’t like the guests but overall I like it. Because I grew up in a French speaking house, I lack all that “English pop culture” references (that can be useful when you spend a lot of time with English speaking people): Hunter S. Thompson – never heard of him until last year when they did a piece on him, Christian Amanpour – who?!? I’ve already watched CNN, but not enough to know who she is, I’m glad that she was on the show, 24 – it’s playing in French and it is very popular but the translated version isn’t as good as the original one, the characters sound stupid, Rick Mercer – I know, I should have known him but there are some pretty funny shows in Quebec, so there were no need to find one in English, but the guy is funny and I’ve heard about him on The Hour (I remember the interview with him when The Hour was in Montreal, I loved it) and I could write a lot more examples, but I won’t, I guess that you understand what I mean.

« The Hour » me fait rire, parfois me fâche et je me demande pourquoi il a dit ça, parfois ça me fait réfléchir, parfois je veux juste fermer la télé, parfois les invités ne m’intéressent pas du tout mais, en général, c’est bien et ça m’intéresse. J’ai grandi dans un milieu archi francophone où la majorité des gens ne parlent pas anglais. Étant donné que mes parents sont francophones, ils m’ont élevé en français et on écoutait la télé en français (en grandissant, j’ai découvert MuchMusic et j’ai commencé à m’intéresser à cet univers anglophone, mais ça a pris du temps avant que je parvienne à comprendre George durant le « Punk Show »). Par contre, cette éducation francophone ne me permet pas de comprendre toute la culture populaire anglophone (et j’étudie dans une université anglophone). En écoutant « The Hour », j’en apprends beaucoup sur ce monde anglophone, par exemple : Hunter S. Thompson – je n’avais jamais entendu parler de lui avant qu’il y ait un reportage sur lui l’an passé, Chrisitan Amanpour – Hélas non, CNN ne fait pas partie de mon quotidien donc elle ne me disait absolument rien, 24 – Oui, « 24 heures chrono » est très populaire au Québec aussi, mais je trouve que la traduction ne rend pas justice à l’émission, je trouve que les personnages semble stupides, mais avec toute les références faites à 24 durant « The Hour » j’ai décidé d’acheter la saison un en dvd et depuis je suis accro, Rick Mercer – j’aurais dû savoir qui c’est mais, au Québec il y a beaucoup d’humoristes et d’émissions d’humour donc, pas de réel besoin de trouver quelque chose de mieux en anglais, par contre, je me souviens de l’entrevue avec Rick Mercer quand « The Hour » était de passage à Montréal, c’est à ce moment que j’ai vraiment accroché et que j’ai découvert quelqu’un de vraiment drôle. Beaucoup plus d’exemples pourraient figurer dans ce « post », mais je crois que le message est clair.

But there are things that I can easily relate to, things that are part of my life as well as your life, no matter where you live in Canada; the Top 5 Mario Songs (when I’ve heard that it brought back so many memories, you can’t be wrong with Mario, and I’d say Luigi too), politics (the Quebec elections are coming soon), Adam Beach, James Dyson, John Cusack, Sheila Fraser, Al Fayed

Par contre, il y a aussi des sujets qui touchent tout le monde, qui font partie de la vie de tout le monde, peu importe où on vit au Canada; le Top5 des chansons de Mario (que de souvenirs! On ne peut pas se tromper avec Mario et Luigi!), la politique touche tous les citoyens (et les élections québécoises approchent à grands pas!), Adam Beach, James Dyson, John Cusack, Sheila Fraser, Al Fayed, peut importe où on vit au Canada, peu importe la langue que l’on parle c’est des sujets dont on a déjà entendu parler.

It is really great to say how we don’t like the show, that we should get more of this, less of that, get that person on the show, criticize George for what he says, but there’s one thing that I wanted to remind you, we are “lucky” to have this show, it is not the kind of show that you’ll find on every network. As said in the comment section of the previous posts, there is room for improvement, but I’m pretty sure that the show can get better, different guests...

C’est bien de dire à quel point on n’aime pas l’émission, qu’il devrait y avoir plus de ceci, moins de cela, que cette personne devrait faire partie de l’émission, que cet invité n’aurait pas dû y être, de dire que George n’aurait pas dû dire ceci ou cela. Mais j’aimerais vous rappeler que vous, nous sommes « chanceux » d’avoir « The Hour », ce n’est pas le genre d’émission que l’on peut trouver sur toutes les chaînes. Comme il a été mentionné dans la section des commentaires des billets précédents, ils peuvent s’améliorer, je suis certaine qu’ils vont s’améliorer, recevoir de meilleurs invités, moins d'Américains…

When I talk about The Hour with some of my French speaking friends the reaction that I get is “Wow, why don’t we have something like that in French?” I don’t know, but I’d like to have some better tv shows, something that people watch when they are 12 or when they are 90 years old, something that makes tv interesting, but alas there’s no such thing as The Hour in Quebec. The concept of The Hour is great, I’d like to see something similar on Radio-Canada (CBC), but I cannot think of a host for it. So guys, even if we don’t like every part of the show, we are lucky to have it.

Si je parle avec des amis et que je mentionne “The Hour”, la première réaction qu’ils ont la plupart du temps c’est « Wow, mais, il n’y a rien qui ressemble à ça au Québec! ». J’aimerais bien qu’il y ait de meilleures émissions, le genre que tu peux écouter à 12 ans ou à 90 ans et trouver intéressant, le genre d’émission qui est intéressant et qui amène les gens à discuter. Hélas, il n’y a rien comme « The Hour » au Québec. Le concept est excellent et j’aimerais voir quelque chose de similaire sur les ondes de Radio-Canada, mais qui pourrait être l’animateur? Même si vous n’aimez pas totalement l’émission, il faut apprécier ce qu’ils font, apprécier la chance que l’on a d’avoir quelque chose d’aussi bien sur nos ondes.

Totally unrelated to the post but the Paris Hilton free month is a great idea, could we get a Britney and Lindsey Lohan free month too?

Aucun lien avec tout ce que je viens d’écrire, mais le mois sans Paris Hilton est vraiment chouette, pourriez-vous faire de même pour Britney Spears et Lindsay Lohan?

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the bilingual post, very rare yet very Canadian. Good job.

Barbara said...

Evelyne Mon Pere aussi. Il plaint que George parle trop vite. And my dad is an anglophone from Toronto....lol
I read your entire post in French and English. Great post!

My mother gets confused when George says
"I'm your boyfriend George" for a while there she thought I was dating him... no I didn't tell her that...my Dad might have been leading her on there...
He's such a joker.

Allison said...

Great post Evelyne, I even understood reading the French!

I agree that we're 'lucky' to have a show we can both critize and love at the same time. That, feels very Canadian to me.

Evelyne said...

Glad you liked it menotyou!

Thanks Barbara W, I haven't found someone on tv speaking slowly enough for my dad... at least he is okay with subtitles! But you get use to the way George speaks.

Glad you understood the French Allison! Love and criticize, that sounds pretty Canadian to me too!

Anonymous said...

Evelyne,
je suis d'accord que le concept de "The Hour" est unique. C'est vrai que même "Tout le monde en parle" (je connais surtout la version européenne) ne combine pas toutes les rubriques dont tu parles. Dans les années 90, Canal + en France avait "Nulle par ailleurs", c'était très populaire, vraiment drôle et varié dans les sujets, mais surtout à partir d'entrevues.
Sinon, pour faire ralentir George, c'est super simple: le faire parler français, ça marchera à coup sûr!

I agree that the concept of "the Hour" is unique. It's true that "Tout le monde en parle" (I know the European version better)does not combine all the segments you are mentioning. In the 90's, Canal + in France had "Nulle part ailleurs", it was a really popular and funny show, with a good variety of topics but essentially interview-based.
Otherwise, to slow George down, it's really simple: let's make him speak French, that'll definitely work!

Valerie

Evelyne said...

you are right Valérie, the only way to slow down George is to let him talk in French, but does he speak French (and i think that he doesn't)?

Valérie, Tout le monde en parle au Québec et en France, c'est exactement le même concept, remplace Thierry Ardisson par Guy A. Lepage. Le studio est pareil et c'est le même genre d'entrevues.
Faire parler George en français est sûrement le seul moyen de le faire ralentir, mais est-ce qu'il parle français? J'ai des doutes.

668 aka neighbour of the beast said...

i love this post. i really enjoy it when you post both in english and french. menotyou is right, it is very canadian.

and i am glad you mentioned how lucky we are to have a show like this. sometimes one forgets.

Barbara said...

No I don't think George speaks french at any speed... I am sure he knows all the hockey terms in french though...

Becky said...

Great post Evelyne! Being a "Klein kid" I could only understand a bit of the French (our French program is a little weak), but it helps me learn!
Awesome idea on your part, and I really find the comparision of tv in different parts of Canada interesting!

greenteaicedtea said...

Hi Evelyne,
Funny you should say that about The Hour! I discovered Tout Le Monde En Parle, and because my understanding of spoken French is limited to just knowing the topic of conversation, I understood enough to be intrigued with the show format, yet I understood so little that I wished there was a version in English. :P

My reading ability is a bit better, so I read and understood most of your French post.

PS I have no idea who Hunter S. Thompson is either, and I'm an anglophone.

PS Barb, my bilingual hockey fan friend once commented that there was no French term for "icing".

Barbara said...

See Green tea that would just make it easier for G to understand French Hockey terms because they are 'universal'.

Evelyne said...

I'm really happy that you liked the post 668, and I wasn't so sure of what kind of feedbacks I would get from a bilingual post on a blog written in English, so I'm really happy that some of you enjoyed the bilingual post... and it was weird because I started by writing the English part and Barbara B suggested me to write something in French, so I roughly 'translated' this one (some of you may have noticed the differences!).

Barbara W, I think that once, he mentioned that he has a couple of French channels, to watch the Habs play...

I guess that learning French is hard Becky, being French speaking, I sometimes find it hard to make sure that everything is at the right gender and that verbs are okay (damn verb avoir and être). But the best way to learn is immersion. In grade 7 i had 4 english teachers including a guy from the army, do i need to tell you that i didn't learn much that year? But what i did, before entering cégep (grade and U0 of university) i spent a summer in english immersion in Toronto, it's a programme sponsored by the federal government and it is called Explore, it's really great and it pays most of the fees. It's a great way to spend 5 weeks in a Canadian university.

Comparing tv in our country is interesting, French and English has some kind of shows in common (like Rick Mercer, we have Infoman) and we have very different things too.

Green Tea - Iced tea, I have to admit that I don't really like Tout le monde en parle, i don't like the host. But the format itself is interesting and mostly the discussion between guests, it can get really interesting!

greenteaicedtea said...

Evelyne, Guy Lepage seems a bit abrasive, gauging by his answers to viewers' questions on the website! I did the Explore program too, at Universite Laval, in 1993.

CCA said...

Wow, don't know who Hunter S Thompson is...
I feel old! :)

I read most of his stuff while I was in high school. I would highly suggest grabbing at leat one of his works. My fave was "Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas" as made popular by the J.Depp film. But he was also respected as a political commentator for the times.

Thanks for the post, Evelyne. I love the duality!

Becky said...

Avoir and etre always get me too :P
My sisters all did a program similar to that... that's actually why I first travelled to Quebec when I was 6, I was visiting them at Laval. Fell in love with the province right then and there!
But that really does sound like an awesome program, I should read up about it!

cherriTerri said...

Hi there, never left a message here before but thought I would give it a try.

What I wanted to say is that I am envious of your ability to jump between english and french as you do. My stepmother can do that, she can speak to my dad in english and then turn to her family and speak french like it is nothing and it fascinates me to no end. She told me she thinks in english when she speaks english and thinks in french when she speaks french, amazing!!

My dad finds that George speaks way to fast as well, maybe it is an age thing more than a language thing?

Barbara said...

Thank you Terri for saying that that's three fathers so far. Maybe we are on to something. My theory is George in his youth got so used to talking very fast to fathers in his rush to explain why he brought their daughter home so late...it just comes natural now.
We should do a survey...