French Stereotypes in Song

300 words here! Do SOMETHING French! Interpret a song, watch a film with subtitles, make a French recipe, go to a French resto, read a French article etc…. Your activity is not limited to French from France but can be any kind of cultural activity from ANY French speaking country. Please post your response as a COMMENT to this post here (if you have not already posted!) BY SUNDAY ( I am extended this)

a lundi!

CL

I listened to quite a few songs before stumbling upon this one. The melody instantly stood out to me and the words. Tous les garçons et les filles translates to All the boys and the girls. The part of the song that stood out to me was,

Tous les garçons et les filles de mon âge
Savent bien ce que c’est qu’être heureux
Et les yeux dans les yeux, et la main dans la main

Ils s’en vont amoureux sans peur du lendemain
Oui mais moi, je vais seule par les rues, l’âme en peine

It talks about how everyone her age knows what it means to be happy because they have someone they love. Eyes in eyes and hand in hand. They fall in love without the fear of tomorrow or the future.

Everyone is happy but she’s alone because she has no one to love and no one loves her. I feel like a lot of people go through this, seeing other people happy and just feeling alone. The song starts off rather sad but then towards the end it becomes more positive with the lyrics,

Où les yeux dans ses yeux et la main dans sa main
J’aurai le coeur heureux sans peur du lendemain

Le jour où je n’aurai plus du tout l’âme en peine
Le jour où moi aussi j’aurai quelqu’un qui m’aime.

It talks about how one day she will have someone’s hand in her hand and gaze into someone else’s eyes. How she’ll be in love without the fear of tomorrow. That one day she won’t be alone anymore and have someone that loves her.

A  French speaking country that is not French is an Caribbean country in the West Indian Ocean called Haiti. in the country the Native language is called creole. In the 17th century the Spanish and French both colonized this small island at that time was called Hispaniola for the Spanish and Saint-domingue for the French. The Spanish settled in the west and the French to the east. The French used this island for manufacturing coffee and sugar. Creating a plethora of wealth for French shipping it super and coffee throughout the 17th century world, but it did come a price. The demand of sugar was so high the French need people to harvest the sugar. So, they turned to Africa. The French bought over nearly 800,000 slaves from Africa (Library of Congress. “History of Haiti.” Http://www.nationsonline.orgWeb.). The African slaves was brought into hellish like conditons. Thousands died because of the labor they had to endure. Many salves ran away for their From their plantations creating an rebellion towards the the people who held them captive. In 1791 Toussaint Louverture became the commander of officer of the rebellion of the french.  Louverture was and educated former slave who studied the military campaign of Julius Caesar (Library of Congress. “History of Haiti.” Http://www.nationsonline.orgWeb. Toussaint Louverture made Saint-Dominique an island of blood. Despite his methods his curl methods. Louverture accomplished his goal of creating an State free form european rule. Saint-Dominque later to be known as Haiti became the first independent country free form european rule in the Caribbean.

I’ve always thought french was such a beautiful language and hearing the language sung makes it even more beautiful. Adding music into the mix adds another layer of depth to the language. Although I love the French language I’m not too familiar with french artists. The few I know include Mika and Indila. The artist I chose to look more closely at was Indila. Indila is the stage name for French pop artist Adila Sedraia. Indila’s debut album went diamond and platinum in France and Belgium within the time span of a year. The song I chose to look at was S.O.S. by Indila. The song is absolutely amazing. The lyrics are very touching and quite sad. The rhythm is very smooth and catchy. When analyzing the lyrics in french and then looking for the translation the words that stood out to me the most were, “Le silence tue la souffrance est loi. L’entends-tu? Est-ce que tu le vois?”. “The silence kills the suffering in me”, such powerful words that many can relate to. When listening to this song, I took them to mean searching for an identity when you’re lost and in pain.  There are not huge differences that  I’ve noticed between English pop songs and French pop songs except for of course the language that each are in, but to me there is something about the song being in French that just gives the whole song another layer of emotions. It might just be my perspective because of the romanticism of the French language, but I felt very strong emotions all throughout the song. Overall I really enjoyed the song and I might just be adding some French songs to my playlist.

S.O.S. by Indila

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m65jhGwtWrg

Ava is sung by a French Candian singer named Beatrice Martin but the name she sings under is Coeur de Pirates. The song is about a girl named Ava who is in love with someone who continuously plays with her heart and makes her feel worthless about herself. The narrator or singer is telling her to leave him and to also treat herself better. I came across this song because of another song that I loved from Coeur de Pirates album Blonde, la petite mort. the song has a subtle jazzy style with soft rock. I would recommend this song to a friend who likes a pop or even R&B style of music.

Switzerland, also known as “Confoederatio Helvetica (CH),” is a French-speaking country in Central Europe. Interestingly, the country does not use the Euro as its official currency; it uses the Swiss Franc. Despite being a small country (New York is 3.42x larger) with approximately 8 million people, Switzerland does not have one main language spoken in the country. It has four! Aside from French, the official languages of the country include German, Italian and Romansch. All documents have to be printed in three languages (Romansch not included). Switzerland is a popular tourist destination because it contains close to 20% of the Alps. The mountain areas have a strong skiing and mountaineering culture, and are also known for the folk art of yodeling. Its scenic, antiquated towns house medieval relics and are for the most part untouched by the passage of time.

The capital is Bern City. A few famous cities are Geneva, Zürich, and Basel. The country is separated into 23 “Kantone,” otherwise known as cantons or states.  Switzerland is, of course, known for its chocolate, cheese, watches, army knives, and banks. Prior to 2013, the Swiss banks were discreet regarding their clientele, but are now obligated to disclose information about the accounts.

Switzerland also has a reputation for maintaining a strictly neutral global stance. This foreign policy has been upheld since 1525, which is quite an incredible feat. The country was not involved militarily in WWI nor WWII, although during WWII the tiny country was armed and in a state of mobilization due to the possibility of a German invasion.

You will find all of the documents you need for the course in the pages above!

For those of you who did not get a copy of the first day expressions you can find it here and print it out for our next class:

Expressions_utiles2