The French President

[idun]

Does anyone else find him a very poor orator. Was he ever any good, I cannot remember if he was or not.

He seems to umm and arrr an awful lot and sounds like he is chatting in a bar instead of making a speech.

[Clarkkent]

If I recall correctly, you didn't like him much when you were teamed up!   [:)]

[idun]

I absolutely hate and detest the odious little man, he has caused us as a family much grief, which was to be expected, I never imaged any 'good' would come from him, but what has happened is unwelcome never the less.

[pachapapa]

[quote user="idun"]I absolutely hate and detest the odious little man, he has caused us as a family much grief, which was to be expected, I never imaged any 'good' would come from him, but what has happened is unwelcome never the less.[/quote]

Poor orator exacerbated by his stature, his nervous twitch and his curious I have just watched my hands and some basket has whipped the towel thing out of the machinre in the gentlemen's toilet.

Very irritating.

But for a good laugh one can pick and chose to view "his best moments" on http://www.elysee.fr/president/mediatheque/videos/2010/novembre/hommage-au-general-de-gaulle-a-l-occasion-du.9993.html?search=&xtmc=&xcr=&offset=0&context=null#

[Gardian]

[quote user="pachapapa"]

Poor orator exacerbated by his stature, his nervous twitch and his curious I have just watched my hands and some basket has whipped the towel thing out of the machinre in the gentlemen's toilet.

[/quote]

I'm told that he speaks very highly of you ! [6]

[Chancer]

Whatever your view of his politics anyone that pokes fun at his stature should ask themselves is this a reasonable thing to say of someone that was born like it and had no choice in the matter.

Now if he had paid out for breast, buttock or pectoral implants then yes perhaps to make fun of it would be acceptable.

I think he is a good if not a great orator, same goes for his son and I can listen to him for hours even if I dont always agree with his politics, the same as any good orator from any political party.

It makes such a change to hear someone on the telly that speaks clearly, correctly and with insistance, I get so annoyed with the majority of the people that even allowing for being nervous on camera are not capable of speaking more than 3 seconds without throwing in an euuhhh or adding one to every de or que, the worts are the so called people whee it is definitely an affectation. Its the reason that I cannot bear to listen to the majority of French radio stations as much as I really want to.

The other one that gets me is the trailing euuhh.........., the one where the person either does not want to say something or is not capable of stringing the words together and you are expected to guess what they are saying and agree or disagree with them.

I suppose its all part of learning and being comfortable with the language, before I left the UK the misuse of "like" and the way people peppered their speech with it, used it instead of the past tense etc used to like really get under my skin, like [;-)]

I think President Sarkozy will be addressing the nation either tonight or tomorrow with Francoius Fillon due to do the same next week, I am looking forward to both interviews.

[pachapapa]

Watching with interest the discourse with three "tame" interviewers, no Paxmans on french tele[:)], then will watch Arlette on France 2 .

No time to answer at mo'.

[mint]

I watched some of it and, as you say, tame interviewers and I'm afraid that I just lost interest.............

[Chancer]

I watched it all and then the response on Fr3 from Segolene Royal, the discussion continues but thats enough for me.

Paxman they werent but they had the terrible habit of all firing questions at him at the same time and throwing other questions at him whilst he was replying, even one interviewer doing that is enough to cope with.

I thought he orated well, I liked the bit when he asked repeatedly of Claire Chaval (pardon spelling) "oui où non?" then "I am sorry but I didnt hear your response" [:D]

[dave21478]

I

[dave21478]

[quote user="Chancer"].....

I think he is a good if not a great orator, same goes for his son and I can listen to him for hours even if I dont always agree with his politics, the same as any good orator from any political party.

It makes such a change to hear someone on the telly that speaks clearly, correctly and with insistance,

......[/quote]

I would agree completely. I have no interest at all in politics of any kind but I do know that Sarko is capable of getting his point over in a very clear manner indeed. I remember the run up to the general election, himself and Royale were giving interviews on TV. Content aside, Sarko's speach was very easy to listen to whereas Royale's was frankly tedious - nothing to do with what she was saying, but how she said it - It was a real effort to listen to her.

[Chancer]

I have a lot more interest in politics in France than I ever did in the UK, but even back then, in my own language I listened far more to those who were interesting to listen to.

Tonight I listened to 90 minutes of Sarkozy responding to questions and thoroughly enjoyed it, my French is far from perfect but I understood every word, there are people that I have known for 5 years, intelligent and interesting that even now I struggle to follow.

I watched about 5 minutes of Segolenes response, she called him a liar repeatedly even when the interviewer was speaking she kept interjecting "ment, ment, ment" it really turned me off.

Like it or not a politician has to be a good communicator and pretty much all of the French politicians that i have listened to are very good including Segolene but in this respect I think Sarkozy is exceptional, his son especially so for his young age.

François Fillon is another that can keep my attention and interest, he comes across as being very fair minded and determined if perhaps by necessity a little less passionate than Mr Sarkozy. I am looking forward to hearing his speech.

I tried to follow the interviews before the election but my French language and knowledge of French politics were very weak then.

[pachapapa]

[quote user="pachapapa"]

Watching with interest the discourse with three "tame" interviewers, no Paxmans on french tele[:)], then will watch Arlette on France 2 .

No time to answer at mo'.

[/quote]

The size of all his bits is of no importance to me but it is obviously of importance to him and his advisers; there are several instances of dwarfs being selected from among workers in Poitou during his extremely infrequent visits to Poitou. I believe similar set-ups have occurred in other areas. So a useful way of ridiculing him.

I loved the bit when he explained that a corner stone of french industrial recovery was his genial plan to harmonise france fiscally with germany in order to make it work just as well. Tears of mirth and amusement for this " pov' con ".[:)]

[pachapapa]

Then again from an oratorical and contextual viewpoint, I agree with french 20 minutes readers.

Avez-vous été convaincu par l'intervention de Nicolas Sarkozy?

• Oui
  23%
  23%
• Non
  77%
  77%

[NormanH]

Without wishing to be patronising it is good to see people like Chancer and sweetie following the politics of the country they live in in its language, and becoming confident enough to comment on the quality of the speakers.

I wish.there were more people here able and willing to make this effort and progress in French.

On the politics I am unconvinced by the President,not because of what he says, but because of evidence of what he does and doesn't do.

[Judith]

Unfortunately and with the best will in the world, I find politics, be it in the UK or France, somewhat tedious (mainly due to the insistence on blaming the current problems on the last incumbents) and so have not yet progressed to much TV watching or politicians, though I try to follow as much as possible online.

But I am improving at my understanding and speaking albeit slowly of French.  Last night I had to speak impromptu at my Rotary club, and I was told afterwards that what I said was quite comprehensible, and that I made my pint quite adequately.  I cannot say how pleased I was both by the comment, and the fact that I managed to understand 90% of what was said, it was only when speakers got agitated and spoke very quickly that I lost contact with the meaning now and then which is tons better than when I first arrived 2 years ago.

So just because we do not comment on political subjects does not mean we are not interested or don't understand French - sometimes we have better fish to fry!

PS - I'm just sorry that Sarkozy who started out so well, watered down so many of his ideas that it is now hardly worth bothering to get to the end of his term ......

[mint]

Judith talks about "......making her pint adequately...."

Would that be a pint of the local red then, Judith?[:D]

Going out soon but I shall PM you when I get back from Bordeaux....

[Judith]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

Judith talks about "......making her pint adequately...."

Would that be a pint of the local red then, Judith?[:D]

Going out soon but I shall PM you when I get back from Bordeaux....

[/quote]

Ooops - I usually proof read better than that!  But my excuse is that suddenly, this afternoon, I've started feeling not all that well, possibly a virus, so maybe I do need that pint of the local red stuff, which is of course exceptionally nice to drink, though perhaps not quite so nice as a Bordeaux .....