Antony Blinken speaks French

[dalton99a]

[elleng]

1. Oui, il parle francais.

He attended the Dalton School in New York City until 1971, when he moved to Paris, France, where he attended École Jeannine Manuel.[7] He moved there with his divorced mother and her new husband, attorney Samuel Pisar, who had survived both the Auschwitz and Dachau camps in the Holocaust.[4]

[drray23]

2. his french is nearly undistinguishable from a native speaker.

I am a native speaker and his french is pretty much perfect. It will be nice to have a multilingual cultured person as a secretary of state.

[Orangepeel]

14. he grew up in France

Early life and education

Blinken was born on April 16, 1962 in New York City, New York, to Jewish parents, Judith (Frehm) and Donald M. Blinken.[4][5][6] He attended the Dalton School in New York City until 1971, when he moved to Paris, France, where he attended École Jeannine Manuel.[7] He moved there with his divorced mother and her new husband, attorney Samuel Pisar, who had survived both the Auschwitz and Dachau camps in the Holocaust.[4]

Blinken attended Harvard University, where he worked on The Harvard Crimson[8][4] and co-edited the weekly art magazine. After earning his bachelor's degree, Blinken reported for The New Republic.[9] He earned his J.D. degree at Columbia Law School in 1988.[10][11] After graduation, he practiced law in New York City and Paris.[9] During the 1988 presidential campaign, Blinken worked with his father Donald in fundraisers for Michael Dukakis.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Blinken#Early_life_and_education

[ucrdem]

3. Impressive

He's ready for le prime time!

[Phoenix61]

4. French used to be the language of diplomacy. nt

[fierywoman]

5. E tu, FLOTITS?

[patricia92243]

6. I have a crush on him already :) (I;m old enough to be his mother)

[OnDoutside]

21. Sort of like Jamie Lee Curtis in A Fish called Wanda, listening to John Cleese speak a foreign

language ?

[Cha]

7. Wow.. Fluently!

[DTomlinson]

8. ok?

[world wide wally]

9. A. Blinken

[niyad]

10. You know, after the last four years, I am just grateful for US officials who speak proper English

[MaryMagdaline]

30. Bingo!

[roamer65]

11. He needs to visit Canada immediately after January 20th.

I want to hear him speaking with PM Trudeau, flipping back and forth in English then French as they do in Canada.

[DFW]

20. French-speaking Canadians never speak their version in France

Québécois is different from continental French. They understand the Europeans just fine, being used to all the TV shows and movies from France.

One time, there was a film from Québéc entered into the Cannes film festival in France. The festival ordered subtitles in French so the locals could understand what was being said. The Canadians were furious, saying there was no need for French subtitles for a film in French. The festival people told the Canadians they could call the language of their film whatever they wanted, but the French couldn’t understand what was being said, and thus needed subtitles.

In 1982, I was on a plane from Havana to Montréal, and seated with some people from there. I heard them speaking French, so I spoke to them in my European French. They immediately told me it would be a one-sided conversation because they would understand me, but I wouldn’t understand them. They were about 80% correct.

[Hortensis]

26. "About 80% correct." :) Interesting and understandable.

[DFW]

29. 80 per cent because some basic words have not changed, either in pronunciation or meaning

A woman I knew in Paris used to work in a shop near my office there before she retired. She used to laugh about French-speaking Canadians who sometimes came into her shop. They would sometimes use expressions that had devolved to mean vulgar sexual insults in France, but had retained their original 1750s meaning in Canada, and were in everyday use in conversation there.

This isn't a phenomenon unique to Canada and French, either. A wealthy Guatemalan guy (a rarity in itself) used to hang around with the Hispanic students at my college. I was an unofficial member of the group. I speak Spanish, but with a continental accent, which the Latinos used to have a great time making fun of when I was around. They knew I had lived in Spain, so they gave me a pass. This Guatemalan guy announced he was making his first trip to Spain, and would see us in a couple of weeks when he got back. He recounted a funny encounter at Barajas airport (Madrid). He went to rent a car, and said he wanted to rent "un carro." The guys at the rent-a-car agency though this was hilarious, and told him there was a farm about ten KM away that had a few donkeys, and might be able to help him out. In Latin America, the word "carro," which means "cart" or in some places, "buggy" was still used to refer to automobiles, whereas in Spain, they use the word "coche" or "cotxe" in Catalan.

[Hortensis]

36. :) We still see remnants of 18th-19th century usages in the Appalachians.

For instance, a friend's grandfather describing his worry over a great granddaughter in the modern world told me "..., and I commenced to weeping." Like most older people people, he long ago grew up around old people who themselves grew up around old people. Two spans, in his case, reaching back into the mid 18th century. If only I remembered the whole thing, sweet and touching, because he's gone now, and of course these remnants of a living past are dying out as those modern whom communications reached late go.

Regarding English-speaking Canadians, I've found almost no difference between Canadian English and the English of American TV. The famously different "aboot," and I once had to ask when a couple coins the U.S. doesn't have were mentioned. A population map of Canada -- mostly a jagged outline along the Canada-U.S. border, and those modern communications, explain that. Our relationship another big reason to be so relieved at getting our nation back on a good neighbor track.

[roamer65]

40. Closer you get to Canada, the more the English sounds like theirs.

I’m from MI and when I went to Australia in 2001, they thought I was Canadian.

[Hortensis]

43. :) Of course. But I'm from CA and GA, and they mostly

sound just like Ryan Gosling or Alex Trebek to me.

Now, they definitely do not sound like our rural GA neighbors, 15% of whom I could not understand when I moved here. (Being asked to repeat what they know is good English once is surprising, twice rude.)

[GulfCoast66]

35. My grandmother's first language was French. Louisiana French.

Which is similar to Canadian French. Now she was a humble woman born in 1912. So never went to France. But the Louisiana French speaking person I know who has been to France said he understood what they were saying perfectly but had to work at being understood. But he said it did not take long to get better at it.

Unfortunately it is about a dead language in Louisiana despite the work being done by LSU to save it.

[roamer65]

41. They will understand Blinken, as it will be on TV for most.

A one way communication.

A Secretary of State speaking fluent French will be impressive to Canada and the EU.

[roamer65]

42. An old college roommate told me similar.

They went on a high school trip for their French class to Quebec. I remember him saying they could understand him, but he could hardly decipher the Québécois dialect.

[UTUSN]

12. *NO* - a French-speaker as a diplomat?!1 What is the President Elect *THINKING*?!1

Last edited Wed Nov 25, 2020, 01:43 PM - Edit history (4)

[GulfCoast66]

13. I speak just enough to get by in France. Ironically I could generally follow what he was saying.

But when the reporter who was asking the questions started up I was lost. And accent thing, maybe? Or speed.

Regardless I’ve always wanted people more educated than me in the government. I’m just a liberal redneck that studied Agriculture science at a state school and became interested in foreign travel in my 40’s. And stupidly thought I could learn French in my late 40’s. Tried my best and it was not horrible. But I will never be fluent.

The last thing I want is people like me running the show!

[kcr]

24. It's the speed

I can read French pretty well but have a hard time understanding native speakers unless they slow down. Really, the only way to get good at that is to spend time immersed in the language. I dream of spending a year or two in France.

[niyad]

33. Agree. I want people moe educated, more experienced, more competent than I am, running things.

I am smart enough to know that we need such people in charge. Although. . .looking at the horror show, I would imagine that pretty much any of us here on DU could Have done better. . .oh, wait! Destruction was the goal, not competence.

[niyad]

34. Agree. I want people moe educated, more experienced, more competent than I am, running things.

I am smart enough to know that we need such people in charge. Although. . .looking at the horror show, I would imagine that pretty much any of us here on DU could Have done better. . .oh, wait! Destruction was the goal, not competence.

[DFW]

16. He has a light accent but he is completely at ease in French

And I hope that Tlaib Rashida listens to that interview to hear what he says about Israel and the Palestinian State.

He also thinks very quickly on his feet. Just speaking French is not enough on its own. He is extremely well versed in all the subjects discussed, really impressive. Biden made an excellent choice.

[OnDoutside]

22. Yes, completely agree, it's not just enough for a diplomat to speak French, but they must speak and

understand the nuance of what is said, and in how they reply.

[renate]

17. Is it just me or is intelligence and competence super appealing?

I knew I’d be happy when Biden won but I hadn’t realized I’d be so stoked by his cabinet picks.

[Hortensis]

27. :) Stoked and relieved. And inspired. You bet.

[niyad]

31. It is not just you. All the qualities mentioned, plus reassuring.

[TrollBuster9090]

18. And, if any faketriots claim that being able to speak French makes you a 'liberal elite,'

You can remind them that:

A) YES, it does. DAMNED RIGHT it does. Although, I can't believe that we live in a country where half the population thinks education is a BAD thing., and

B) George S. Patton was also fluent in French.

[BGBD]

19. Atleast we know he know's where France is....

[phylny]

23. I couldn't love this reference more!

[DFW]

25. And if any of them say they are proud to speak "American," tell them, "no, you speak only European."

Unless they can demonstrate proficiency in Navajo, Hopi, Apache, Lakota, Iroquois, Tlingit, Inuit, or any of the other hundreds of languages that truly ARE American.

If they still doubt you, you can always pull up a map and show them where England is.

[Hortensis]

28. Irritate them by pointing to Spain as another "mother" language. nt

[niyad]

32. I am so stealing "faketriots"!

[dalton99a]

38. +1.

George Patton speaking with French civilians in Basse-Normandie, August 1944 (National Archives)

[boston bean]

37. Tres bien

[kskiska]

39. John Kerry does, too.

He reportedly speaks French, Italian, Portuguese, German and Spanish., as does his wife.