One small problem
Montpelier University, France. I am here to give a lecture on instrumentation.
The lecture hall is packed, I stand at the front.
Silence falls, I start my lecture. In French of course, I always lecture in French in France. They appreciate that, despite my slight Normandy accent.
Questions and my replies, all in French.
Massive applause.
One woman remains after they have all gone ...
‘Pardon, Monsieur, congratulations on your lecture,’ she says in English. ‘One small problem, I am from the Academie Francaise, and one of the words you used was not proper French. You need to correct that.’
- Category: General / Misc
4 comments add one below
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Neville Hunt over 3 years ago
Quelle partie de la Normandie, Monsieur?
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Richard Hunt over 3 years ago
This is all true. Patrick, who taught me how to speak French so well, came from near Caen and had a fishing boat on the coast there. Last thing I knew he lived in Mantes-La-Jolie, near Paris, which also gave my French a Parisian twang (‘Wey’, rather than ‘Oui’). This made my accent far more intelligible further south. I never managed to achieve the Marseilles’ accent, but my daughter picked it up quite well. Richard
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Jamie Clapperton over 3 years ago
'I always lecture in French in France ' gave me a giggle. Good of that woman to point the one dodgy word out :-) Welcome to Drablr Richard. :-)
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Neville Hunt over 3 years ago
We’re all showoffs in my family, Jamie, if you hadn’t noticed! Hehe! 🥴
