French 101
I'm trying to learn French so I watched the debate last night en francais. It was very illuminating, I must say. Stephane Dion was, by far, the easiest for me to understand of all the five leaders - which I suppose is a good thing in terms of how well I'm coming along in French. I also noticed how much I appreciated him for it. The entire time he was talking I was dancing around the room in my head (there's plenty) in grateful joy, "I understand you! I understand you!"
I can't imagine what that means politically in terms of the reverse.
Gilles Duceppe? Well, at one point, he made a quip while Dion was talking (they sat beside each other - very telling, I thought). I didn't quite catch the quip, but when he realized he'd thrown Dion off the point he was trying to make, which I didn't quite catch, either... (my French comprehension dissipates after an hour or so) he touched his arm in a gesture of "just kidding, relax".
It was really nice. Then I realized, "Hey... I like Gilles Duceppe in French..." And I can't imagine what that means, politically, either. I mean, I much preferred Stephane Dion and Gilles Duceppe in French to the other three leaders in French. So I put myself in the shoes of a Quebecois and thought, "Wow, they're much more generous about us (English Canadians) than we are about them because there's no way I'd vote for any one of our three Anglophone leaders if I were French. No way."
Harper? I dunno but I think the best description of Harper in French is - menacing. It clearly has to do with maintaining his cool so he can keep it together to debate in French, but, man - he really comes across as threatening. Those must be some scary Quebeckers who are voting for him, is all I can say.
Jack Layton seems to speak well enough, but he looks as much like Jack Layton speaking French as he does speaking English. It struck me as odd that he didn't come off any differently. And by odd, I mean - spooky.
I had to mute the tv when Elizabeth May spoke French. I'm sorry, I sound like a snob now but there's no way Quebeckers weren't leaping for the remote to save their ears every time she opened her mouth to speak. I find her tone less than sultry in English (although I like her) but in French she's like fingernails on a blackboard.
Anyway, it struck me that to have an entirely different impression of our politicial leaders when two of them are using their first language and three of them aren't, and I share the first language of the three who aren't, has pretty broad political implications for the country.
One other thing, after the show, Chantal Hebert was on a panel discussing the debate. She looked pretty. Happy and pretty. By then, I didn't know what she was saying because my capacity for understanding French had reached overload but, whatever she was saying, I agreed with her more'n I would have if she'd been saying it in English, I'm sure.
So, call me tolerant and understanding, but I came away from that debate with a new appreciation for all those Canadians whose first language is French who live and work in our English world and don't just find us offputting and annoying.
Unless... they do...
