I have not written recently about not learning French, and since I have actually come across one or two useful methods for learning languages I must get the negatives out of the way pronto! Expect a few more posts on this subject soon.
French songs. Only yesterday a friend who heard about my fruitless attempts to pick up the lingo suggested listening to French songs. It is a common suggestion, like watching French movies and reading French children’s books, and excellent in its way.
Unfortunately it only results in success if actual work is involved! I am not into work. I have to do it all day long in the office, and then there is laundry and cleaning and taking out the rubbish and frankly that’s enough for me. I want to learn French without lifting a finger! It’s nice to have a dream.
Early on in my French learning attempts I actually bought a number of CDs with French songs. Charles Trenet, Edith Piaf, and of course Jacque Brel. Most of the songs are, of course, about love and heartache. As a result I spent most of the time crying into my hanky and bedewing the dictionary, which is not conducive to the learning experience. As for singing these songs myself, why it was impossible! Every time I tried to sing about little birds in their nests (J’attendre toujour et la nuit j’attendre toujour ton retour, etc) I dripped hot and cold. Take it from me, singing and crying don’t mix. I abandoned those CDs pronto.
Then I came across a songster whose songs did not make me cry – Thomas Fersen! Every morning before I get up I listen to Radio France Inter for a half hour in the vain hope of absorbing some language skills into my drowsy sub-conscious, and for a while they featured a song which I could not understand but which had a wonderful melody – Felix. All I could make out was the refrain, which went J’ai jouis jai jouis j’ai jouis, so that’s what googled for. It was a bad experience, because I mainly hit porn websites. J’ai jouis means I enjoy.
Anyway, after two days of patient searching I found a You Tube clip with the song and became an ardent fan of Thomas Fersen. Great melodies, and intelligent texts. Almost impossible to understand, unfortunately. And since he is hardly known outside of the French speaking world, hardly any texts are translated. I did my best, but full comprehension continues to elude me.
Consider, for example, Le Chat Botte, one of my favourites. First I thought it was about someone working in a pub, but slowly I cottoned on to the fact that it was in fact a song about someone working in a shoe shop. It is about women coming into the shop with smelly feet and thinking their feet are smaller than they really are. And they all want crocodile pumps – I think so, anyway.
As usual in my French learning attempts I went with the certainty of a sleep walker for the toughest lyrics possible. I googled Thomas Fersen, and apparently he is known for his intelligent elegant verses. I should have gone for lullabies!
I think he sounds great, even to non-French speakers. I did try to copy and paste the lyrics from Le Chat Botte, but did not succeed, ditto for links to his songs. You'll have to google them if you are interested.
Eh, did I mention that I did not learn much French by listening to him? I did find out that Felix is about a French President who died in office and in-elegant circumstances. It is kind of difficult to stay innocent when learning French!
