French Have No Backbone/No Sense Of Humour.?

[Atheist]

I've heard such comments. I'm reading Verdun 1916, and I live part-time in a French village. It seems to me that they have both. They certainly have a sense of humour, although people who don't understand French wouldn't know that. They certainly have backbone; we weren't occupied by an invading army and they were. How would the English have got on if Churchill and Dad's Army had failed? The spivs and right-wing profiteers would have had a field day.

[AuntPollyGrey]

Not in my language Jim.

[JimF]

https://hinative.com/en-US/questions/1173671

We could do this all night as there will be millions of examples on the net but, just to be 100% sure, in every flavour of French, men say "je suis né" and women say "je suis née"/

[Jackdaw33]

Jim is correct. In France, for 'I went out', a man would say, 'Je suis sorti' and a woman would say, 'Je suis sortie'.

[sanmac]

I really cannot get into this conversation since I do not read or speak French; however, I do know that the French-speaking people in Quebec do not speak Parisian-French. Doesn't that explain some of the differences between APG's and others' interpretations?

[Jackdaw33]

You are correct, sanmac. Dialects do differ. You only have to look at the difference between British and American English to see that.

[JimF]

European French and Canadian French are generally completely mutually intelligible. There are some differences, of course, but they are mostly in vocabulary, not grammar. I don't have any problem understanding a Québequois, unless they are deliberately using lots of local slang. It's described quite well here:
https://www.unitedlanguagegroup.com/blog/canadian-french-vs-french-7-important-differences#:~:text=Canadian%20French%20may%20sound%20older,and%20phrases%20taken%20from%20English.&;text=Another%20source%20of%20differences%20between,derived%20from%20First%20Nations%20languages.

[sanmac]

Precisely, JD, even within your own relatively small country there are so many accents, dialects, expressions, and word usages.

[Jackdaw33]

All the following are correct, depending on whom is being referred to: vous êtes né, vous êtes née, vous êtes nés, vous êtes nées.

[JimF]

^ Correct.

[AZardoz]

Jim, give it up. Ever been there ? Anglo ? No more cred than a white person in Harlem.
The dreaded Québécois have a major attitude about language & they have very restrictive laws about the use of English.
This clown was complaining about PPE supplied by the US to our armed forces on very short notice to deal with the emergency in senior care homes.
https://thepostmillennial.com/watch-quebec-mp-complains-that-life-saving-medical-equipment-doesnt-have-french-labelling-calls-it-a-trojan-horse
They won't be on the shelves at Walmart, mate.

[Jackdaw33]

The same could be said of Wales, who have a massive chip on their shoulders regarding language. All public signs must be bilingual, with Welsh taking priority, often with unintentionally hilarious results.

[AZardoz]

Jackdaw, please post some.
I have a collection of silly signs & always looking for more.

[Spicerack]

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/man-responsible-welsh-translation-gaffe-15214716

[AZardoz]

No idea if any of these are true:
https://www.cyclingwales.co.uk/badlytranslated.html
Can anyone verify ?

#8 is similar to a Chinese problem:
https://postimg.cc/rdh1F08Y

[Jackdaw33]

All those links are true. I have seen some of them in print. The problem seems to arise when trying to translate from English into Welsh, rather than vice versa.

[Old_Geezer]

That's because, by and large, the people of this nation speak English, it being the national language. They don't necessarily speak the language of their ancestors.

It also underlines the foolishness of having information twice, once in the national language and once in a nostalgia generating language that used to be commonly used in that part of the nation. What a waste of time, money, resources. Those in authority should be sacked for insisting on it.

[Jackdaw33]

I agree, OG. There cannot be anyone alive now in Wales who, although Welsh-speaking, is not also fluent in English. It is probably worse in Scotland, where they pander to Gaelic speakers who number less than 2% of the population, and even they are capable of speaking English.

[AuntPollyGrey]

You can all yakker on in your schoolboy french, trailing the french grammar internet sites to your hearts content. My MT is French.

Jim - //in every flavour of French, men say "je suis né" and women say "je suis née"/

There is no difference in the pronunciation of né and née when spoken . Females do not say ''knee' they says 'neh' same as Males.

Jackdaw I've seem some of your French/English/French translation its very 'allo allo'. You need to think in French not think in English and translate word for word.

Now this grumpy Québécoise will leave the argument. Maybe jim can start a thread on the difference between disinterested and uninterested.

à bientôt les garçons :-)

[sanmac]

AZaddoz, thanks for posting that link at 0411 as it refers to my post of 1535 on Saturday. I was actually watching CPAC's live airing of the House's "hybrid" sitting when, as you say, this clown arose to spout forth his almost virulent outburst. I just couldn't believe what I was hearing...But then what would you expect from the Bloc Party?

[AZardoz]

Yes, Sanmac. I missed your ref at first. The thread was rather long by then.
Not the first time there have been inane proclamations from the House, and won't be the last.