Although part of the argument is that dubbed films are easier to follow, it is not always the case. This modern version of Jack the Ripper is a case in point. An excellent British series, it deals with the gritty side of policing and uses fast, intimate dialogue. And of course, as a modern series, the voices tend to be heard under the background noise and music. So - easier than the French equivalent, Central Nuit, but still something to test the ear. It's quite gory, this clip, so be warned !

When I saw that France 3 was screening the Queen, I was at once delighted, because it is an extremely well made film and an excellent candidate for this site; and embarrassed because the thought of millions of prime-time French television viewers watching this revelation that the English Monarchy is a dysfunctional family of  rich, arrogant, and unbelievably nasty people, is not pleasant. But we are a democracy, and the film makers did not get their heads cut off. Nor have the Windsors been beheaded. We have much to learn from the French.

Inspecteur Barnaby -  the British police series set in an idyllic area of the English countryside but which seems suffer an extraordinary level of death by violence is prime-time viewing each Sunday night on France 3. It's a good series. It's also incredibly easy to follow. The delivery is sometimes fairly fast, but only enough to keep up with the English dialogue, and every syllable is pronounced distinctly - even including the negative 'ne' which seems to have completely gone out of fashion in spoken French. So if there was ever proof of my thesis that students need to start with this type of material - this is it.

Man of the year stars Robin Williams - as great an actor as any country has produced - as a talk-show host who runs for President. The French audience will not have missed the parallel with Coluche, and I think we'll have to have an extract from a Coluche documentary dealing with that period of his life.

Le silence des agneaux has an atmosphere rather different from Man of the Year, but another great actor, Anthony Hopkins. Also this scene - the first encounter between Agent Starling and the gourmet Doctor  makes an excellent listening exercise. The dialogue is low-pitched throughout with the constant noise of air-conditioning over the top. It's typical of modern dubbing which reproduces more faithfully the original sound ambiance. More difficult for us, of course, but well worth the effort.

The actor that figures most often on the cover of my telly magazine is Hugh Laurie, a minor British comic actor who went to America and has achieved fame as Dr House. The series is immensely popular on the most popular of the French TV channels, TF1. It is certainly better than most of the series that, sadly, constitute French popular culture today. But for us, it is good listening practice.

Many years ago I was sitting on a train going to London, reading the book column of a newspaper. The writer was in some difficulty, because, as a literary critic, he found himself obliged to praise a book which was 'for women'. A romance, a mere love-story. Being honest, he said, look it's really rather good...  Then they made a film of it with Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep, and that was rather good, too. And finally, France 3, bless them, allow us to enjoy it in French, which takes the story out of Iowa and makes it universal. The French title is Sur la route de Madison. It's The Bridges of Madison County

Sadly, the best exercises for the ear are often the run-of-the-mill American series dubbed into French. The delivery is very rapid, but the dubbed voices very clear. So we can concentrate on learning to follow rapid French, without at the same time trying to guess words that are muttered and unclear. This is a good example Le journal du lendemain,  which arrived by email, and which I take to be about a man whose morning paper is always for the day after, and who therefore chases about saving people from sudden death. Silly, but it couldn't be better practice for the ear.

Coup de foudre à Notting Hill is at least as bad a film as the majority of those which hit French cinemas each Wednesday, but it's great for the student of French. As with most of these films, it can be followed quite easily, but there are always little passages of difficulty to test the ear. Here's the beginning and the end of the film. Don't worry about the middle. Boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy....

I wanted to find an extract typical of the modern trend in television series for frenetic pace, inaudible dialogue and incomprehensible plots. I guess Party Animals is it. In fact, the exchanges in the House of Commons is carefully choreographed and not so difficult to follow. However, the last part in the pub - very frustrating.

According to my correspondent who sent this, Matrix Revolution is a cult American sci-fi series. I found it fascinating, because, without a knowledge of the characters or the story, the brain finds it difficult to turn sounds into sense. An interesting exercise, though

This scene from  La rumeur court (Rumour has it), a film starring Jennifer Aniston, is full of naturalistic dialogue, muttered comments, exclamations, etc. But although the dubbing actors do their best to recreate the ambiance of the original dialogue, it shows beautifully the difference between an equivalent scene in a French film, and in an American film dubbed. This, although not very easy, is not so hard. Naturalistic dialogue in a French film is often incomprehensible. This is why I repeat so often that these dubbed films are such good listening practice.

Neither an English, nor an American film, but German. And for some reason, German actors pretending to be Italians, because this is a story of Commissaire Brunetti, who has to solve the murder of an eminent conductor (of musicians, not gondolas) in Venice. But what is that makes such films so much easier to follow than native French films. The relative slowness of the diction, yes. The clarity of the voices of the dubbing actors. Also, I think the fact that very often the translation is made into 'good' French - with the negative 'ne' that is hardly ever heard in real life or French films.