There’s a similar Spanish film called Ochos Apellidos Vascos which is fun, if you speak Spanish (and poss a tiny bit of Basque) because if you need subtitles it’ll be a bit lost on you.
Of course! Obligatory in the region 
It is of course full of caricatures. And I wish the people were all as open and warm in real life.
Isn’t it true that a French person from the south of France has much the same difficulty in understanding ch’ti as someone from Surrey trying to keep up with a Geordie?
I read once somewhere that the old ‘language’ /patois/accent around here (Berrichon) was the French equivalent of Geordie. You certainly still encounter it in the older folk but it is disappearing. I was totally flumoxed by an old boy in my village when I went to his aid one day. I got the gist of what he was saying but not a clue exactly. It wasn’t until a cycling colleague told me that nobody understood him that I began to feel a little better for myself. He died a few years back now, in sad circumstances, and the village never quite seemed the same again to me. I missed him cursing his strimmer when it wouldn’t start!
Ah you have just revealed what it is that has been alluding me for the past 16 years “In short, relax and let the brain to do its thing”, I clearly Don’t have one. Oh well back to hope. 
2 Likes
I found french films with french subtitles helped, particularly with fast speech where the elided syllables begin to make sense when you have a ‘crib’. And france info at breakfast time.
Yes. And it’s really encouraging when you reach the stage when you spot errors (or differences) in the subtitles.
I suppose all of our comments illustrate how important a variety of input is.
2 Likes
this comment reminds me of the Spanish cowboy films… lots of verbal Spanish(whatever) and the English subtitle might be just one word
1 Like
For those of us of a particular age all I have to say is “Monkey”, though that was dubbed rather than subtitles.
1 Like
To be fair, “Yours faithfully” could be rendered in French as “Je vous prie de croire, [Madame / Monsieur / Mon Général], à l’assurance de mes sentiments les plus respectueux et à l’expression de ma très haute considération.” Which is quite a lot of lip movement if read aloud.
3 Likes
As an English speaker who successfully learned German (while living and working in Germany) I assumed picking up French wasn’t going to be the challenge that it turned out to be. The addition of 37 candles on the cake might also have played a significant role I fear. In any case I found the main problem to be aural comprehension. I could read French novels fairly easily but put me out on the street and I might as well have been in Beijing (not quite but you get my drift). In any case I found a solution that really worked well for me: download an audiobook (nothing too complicated, a detective novel for example) in French. Buy the paperback version and read the book while you listen to the audio. It works. For me the biggest surprise was how quickly it works. Give it a try.
7 Likes
Welcome, @Davo .
That’s a great idea.
I’ve always found German easier than French as it is more rule based; there are fewer exceptions. Yes there is far more grammar to understand, but it depends how your brain is wired.
The best way to learn a language is to be put in situations where you have no option to revert to your mother tongue.
The Germans and Spaniards also had a lovely reform sorting out spelling etc at the end of the 19th C, so what you hear is what you write and what you see is what you say. Pace GBS and his ghoti ‘n’ chips we francophone and anglophone people are still waiting.
Allez
Aller
Allé
Allée
Allés
Allées
Allait (This and the next are pronounced the same as the others by the likes of me from the south, even without an audible accent)
Allaient
Haler
Halez
Halé
Halés
Halée
Halées
Etcetcetcetc
nb not hâlé 
but you could stick it in there too. And prob a load more
4 Likes
Yes, being mildly dyslexic French can be difficult, “why are these extra letters at the end of the word?” Anyway I passed a C1 with a lot of work, the speaking was mastered as my partner is French, she gives me hell when my grammar is incorrect.
similar to.. assuring you of our very best attention at all times, we remain your blah blah blah… back in the year dot when one used quill pens
but I was thinking more of the lengthy, loud, angry exchanges which translate as one or two swearish words
We went to the theatre last week (Les Chiens de Navarre) and the introduction was set in a National Assembly. The debate about raising pensions age to 72 was underway as the audience came in and had the full range of long winded stereotypes with their flowery formulaic speeches. A lot of thumping of the gavel. They had planted protesters in the audience too, which added to the atmosphere.
2 Likes
Love it! 
That’s why we’re heading back to the UK.
1 Like
Or no definite article at all in some languages. My late wife, a native Russian speaking Ukrainian, couldn’t understand why one was needed in English.