11-17 Nov, 22
News feeds – the usual ledes plus several articles
Textbook + workbook
Par ici: méthode de français – Échelle québécoise 5-6 (B1)
**Hiver**
Épisode 10: Bilan : On se débrouille! Review of lessons 6-9. I skipped "Le projet phare" at the end. It involved getting into groups and discussing health matters, and creating a game of giving directions to others. I could have role played but it seemed too overwhelming. I should come back to it later, but probably won't. Not my best effort, I'm afraid. Oh well, on to spring.
TV
• L'épicierie – 22 min
– s21ep9 Un cours de médecine culinaire, une première (imagine, teaching medical students about nutrition!) + nos éponges de cuisine sont probablement gorgées de bactéries + on découvre les tarailli
• STAT – 22 min
– s1ep33-36
• De garde 24/7 – 46 min
– s8ep9 En état d'alerte
• La table de Kim – 46 min
– s2ep2 La foi en l'avenir – guests : animatrice France Beaudoin, comédienne Sophie Cadieux, chirugien Daniel Borsuk (qui a réalisé la première transplantation faciale au pays ); c'est Ariane Paré-Le Gal qui a préparé le repas, elle est spécialisée en cueillette en forêt. Dessert is strawberry, sweet clover tarts. Having a guest chef is a change from last season where Kim and/or her mom did the cooking.
• Tout le monde en parle – talk show – 142 min
– s19ep7 Invitées : Fabien Cloutier, actor/writer; Jean-François Lepine, journalist; Kim Thùy, she talks about her piece in Solo about the abuse she endured for 35 years + she's on the cover of Châtelaine – si lumineuse. It's the season of Kim. Good, I like her so much!; Souldia, rapper (pas ma tasse de thé but he has amazing tattoos, including his whole head and neck); Valérie Plante, mayor of Montreal; Adib Alkhalidey, actor/writer/comedian/singer
This show is really long so I don't often watch it but I wanted to see Kim and Valérie Plante. I understood about 40% of the show, enough to get the gist, but I missed so much. Ugh. Still, I should watch it regularly because most québécois celebrities are on it at some point. It's very good for learning about Quebec culture.
Youtube videos
• Ma prof de français – 10:05 min
– Les anglicismes au Québec : mots anglais utilisés par les Québécois pour parler de l'hiver; spinner, slider, windshire (windshield), frosty, party, snowboard, sloche (slush)
• Wandering French – 1:39 min
– Différence : futur simple et futur proche
Current book
Still reading Un outrage mortel by Louise Penny. Just renewed for another 3 weeks but I should be finished sooner. A 20-hour power outage helped.
Balado
Aujourd'hui l'histoire – 23 min
– La querelle du joual : deux conceptions de l'identité québécoise
From the website:
Pour certaines personnes, le joual symbolise la déchéance et la pauvreté intellectuelle d'un Québec colonisé. Pour d'autres, il est plutôt un symbole d'affirmation nationale, un marqueur d'identité.
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À partir de la fin des années 1960, le discours négatif du joual s’efface, et cette appellation perd de son élan et se transforme en « français québécois ».
The play Les Belles-sœurs by Michel Tremblay (c1968) portrayed working-class québécois women speaking "joual" and was quite controversial at the time. Per the Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia:
The impact of this work is still being debated in Quebec today, but suffice it to say that it changed much of what was believed to be Quebec culture: language, the form of theatre, which plays should be done at which theatres, the displacing of the Old Guard ...
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It set off a storm of controversy, firstly because of the language (a particularly raucous - some say vulgar - joual), and then because it dared to portray working class women doing working class things. Also, it went after men. None of this sounds particularly special today, but in 1968, theatre in Quebec was just releasing itself from religious and morality plays and joining (late) in the Quiet Revolution ...
Needless to say, it's been hugely influential. See also, Les insolences du Frère Untel by Jean-Paul Desbiens « Pourquoi se forcer pour parler autrement, on se comprend. »
Québécisme
Passer un sapin (duper qqn) = to trick or deceive
Ex. Loi sur les langues officielles : Ottawa accusé de « passer un sapin » au Québec. (Radio-Canada lede – I feel like I may be repeating this one. Sorry, if so.)
Bon, salut. À la prochaine.