October 10, 2008
Posted by Brat
I don’t know Jack!
Canada is going to the polls in a federal election next week. Voting day is October 14th, and Canadians will trudge to the polls to see if we will elect yet another minority government. Unlike America, where the politicians seem to be campaigning forEVER, our election campaign officially lasts only six weeks. A short period, that only feels like forever.
We had an English language debate a while back, (Canada is officially bilingual, and a French debate was held days earlier,) and if you missed it, no need to worry. It was televised, by CBC of course, on the same night as the Palin/Biden debate aired south of the border. BIG decision – NOT! I did listen to both (kinda sorta) and was reminded, in the Canadian version, of schoolyard bullies, all yelling over each other….
Go read the rest at NewsBlaze here.
*cross-posted from Assoluta Tranquillita*
3 Comments
October 10, 2008
The big question here is “does Jack know you?!” Brat, do you mind my asking do you speak French?
October 10, 2008
Moi? Non!!!! Well, maybe petit something or other.lol…My daughter, who did go through the French immersion programme available across the country (courtesy of Pierre Trudeau), and graduated on the Honours Roll in both languages, despaired of trying to teach me French. My brain is just not wired for it.:( She, however, is absolutely fluent, to the point at one stage she used to dream in French :8
As for Jack? Well, he keeps sending me emails, so I guess he thinks he knows me. THAT is what prompted my piece. :ha
October 11, 2008
I used to be a student of Bel Canto singing — my main voice teacher was a lovely British woman who lived in the States. She lived with her husband who came here every year as part of a Professor exchange program with the University in the town where I used to live. Anyway she is LRAM licensed and absolutely incredible.
With her background we had to sing from many different eras in music and in different languages. I could pronounce German very well. Latin and Italian I had no problem with at all — as a matter of fact Italian is my preferred language to sing, BUT French I just could not do.
It’s a beautiful language, but the vowels are so colored to me that I just could not get my mouth to move right. She once told me “We need to put a large spoonful of mashed potatoes in your mouth while you are trying to sing in French!” I guess she thought that would make it sound better.
I don’t speak those languages fluently at all, but singing in them for years did begin the process of understanding them for me.
One quick and funny story — A friend and I learned the Letter Duet from the Marriage of Figaro in both English and Italian. We were to do Italian for study and English for the recital so that it would be easier to follow for our audience. Neither of us liked the English interpretation, but we were very obedient students. During a small rehearsal in preparation for an upcoming recital — we started singing the Duet in English. Somewhere, and neither of us knew where, we decided to switch to Italian. All I remember is starting off in English and ending in Italian and our teacher was mortified. :ch
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