To start this page off, here is an extract on the problem of spelling. I have to admit that I use the (French) spellchecker in Microsoft Word which resolves for me the question of whether the acute in médecin comes on the first or the second e. Would it be better to do without ? or only use the spellchecker at the end ?

Here's a figure that makes you ponder... according to Luc Ferry, Minister of education under the Raffarin government, 35% of French young people either are illiterate or read so badly that they could never read a novel. Bet it's worse here !  But this is a good programme. The second half is in the context of  the  Journée d'appel de préparation à la défense, which seems an excellent idea. We'll take another clip from this documentary later on.

The French idolise intellectuals, and we English have a great tradition of anti-intellectualism. So here is an extract where language conveys remarkably little meaning. We start with one eminent author who talks nonsense for a while and finishes with a provocative statement worthy of Oscar Wilde - that reading isn't for everyone. The second author, (Eric Orsennay, also eminent) totally lost, waffles and expires gracefully. The third, the philosopher Alain Finkelkraut says he agrees with the first and then, because he doesn't really, is obliged to talk a little sense. Seriously, as a transcription exercise, it is useful, because the brain doesn't have the usual common sense context clues to help the ear out.

The French language is everything from Rabelais to Pennac, passing by Céline and - les gros mots. France 5 did a documentary on this subject, and encore que je sois accusé de ne pas avoir dépassé le stade anal - I enjoyed it enormously. Here's an extract

I came across this piece from TV8 Mont Blanc while flicking through the channels. A programme on unusual jobs, and this was Ecrivain public, the expert in written French who corrects the drafts of authors, journalists. A profession which, I think has never existed in the anglo-saxon world, and which indicates just how difficult a language French is.  I wish I had caught this programme from the beginning, but I hope you find this interesting.

This is from Laurent Ruquier's chat show On ne s'est pas couché, and you might wonder why it is in our section on language. Just listen to the interplay of voices - a pure example of informal French, with the repetitions and the 'fillers' that are typical of people who are speaking fast, and who cannot anticipate their next thought.

Having spent some years in adult education classes discussing global warming - the only subject likely not to offend the susceptibilities of the English middle class - I love the French approach to subjects which for us are either taboo or belong to the world of the tabloid press. So here is a clip fro Arte's documentary La face cachée des fesses, a programme at once cheerfully impudent and informative, both linguistically and anatomically

Sometimes in flipping channels one comes across a corker of a programme. Such was La fabrique des mots from LCP - the parliamentary channel which I don't quote much here for obvious reasons. A couple of extracts here, mostly for the pleasure of hearing Alain Rey and others discussing the roots of the language.

Hubert Nyssen is the founder of the publishing house Actes Sud. This extract, from the series Empreintes should go under 'People'. However, this man isn't really a celebrity. Just a man who's done a power of good in the tight-knit little world of French publishing. I like his voice. That's really why he's here

Now here's a curious thing. I selected an extract from the second part of the series on language (we had La fabrique des mots above), with no feeling that it was particularly difficult. I had watched the programme with pleasure. However towards the end, the commentary of the dialogist Michel Audiard defeated me completely when I came to make the transcription. One follows generally what he's talking about - the way dialogists chatter to people to pick up the feeling for 'real speech'. But in fact we pick up very little detail, and it is the brain that fools us into thinking we're following. That's why it is so important to make transcriptions.

Here's a second extract from Le plaisir des gros mots. As I observed above, this also is living, breathing French. And, of course, it takes us into the world of natural speech rhythms. Also, it makes me laugh.

I followed with more hope than pleasure a programme on writers which offered lots of black and white clips of people like Céline and Sagan, but which overall lacked direction. This clip criticises the ostentatiously High Culture nature of literary programmes on television in the middle of last century. So what's changed ? You have to live with reality. Literary programmes are for people who like books. Religious programmes are for the faithful. And the other 85% of the population watch 'Dr House' on TF1.

Every so often there has to be a news item about the 'threat' to the French language posed by English. France 2 News picked up on the efforts of certain earnest intellectuals to substitute invented French words for common English imports. The result was tongue-in-cheek. Languages evolve. Often one disapproves of the results. I much prefer se rendre compte to réaliser, but only because I've taken the trouble to learn the former. The French say réaliser and we have to accept that people usually adopt the easiest formula, rather than the strictly correct

I am always aware of just how difficult it is for English and Americans to speak French. Ordinary grammar (genders, subjunctives) defeats us utterly, and the sound we make in French sounds flat and unmusical. Here is William Boyd, an English author, whose French, I am sure, is extremely good. However, the strain of expressing complex ideas means that grammar escapes from his conscious control, and that, plus the hesitant style and painful diction, give a poor impression. No wonder the French think we are a brutal race !
None of this is intended as a criticism. It's just that over five years I have come to realise just what a challenge both listening to, and speaking French, is. How do we do justice to this, the most beautiful of all languages ? We keep on working at it, is the answer

Here is Manu Dibango, saxophonist, born in the Cameroon and who grew up in the France of the '50s. I have tended to avoid the accents of the Francophone world,  Canadian, African, Haitian etc, simply because listening and understanding the accents of the Héxagone is hard enough. However, the African accent is distinctive and widely heard in France. A strange exercise, this, because when I watched the programme I found this very nice man's speech rather difficult to follow. However with repeated hearings, making the transcription, it quickly got much easier. A matter of accustoming the ear to the accent, probably. I'll look out some Canadian for that reason.

I almost hesitate to include this compilation from Les Guignols de l'Info, which starts with a joke about La dictée de Bernard Pivot, updated for the era of Facebook and SMS, because someone is sure to write to me pointing out that I have failed to spell properly the third person imperfect subjunctive of the verb tweeter. A good sketch, though, after which the Guignols dwell lovingly on the discomfort of Rachida Dati.

I don't know how Michel Onfray rates as a philosopher but he must be one of the most voluble in a profession not known for being tongue-tied. And the presenter of Le Grande Librairie Francis Busnel talks a good number of words to the minute too. It seems to me that we should have plenty of listening exercises where the voices are educated, clear, but fast. If you're interested in what they have to say about Freud, it's a bonus.