It's a pity

[Fljotsdale]

Cohen speaks French. Apropo of nothing. Just thought I'd drop that in.

[linda_lakeside]

Well sure Cohen speaks French. He is French (Canadian). One album I don't have in my collection is Un Canadien Errant. I think I will get it as I love to hear him speaking or singing in French (as in the French lines in The Partisan).

If nothing else, I can try to memorize the lines phonetically (with the aid of the lyric sheet). I sing along with the French lines in the Partisan (but only when I know I'm truly alone).

Linda.

[Fljotsdale]

Well sure Cohen speaks French. He is French (Canadian). One album I don't have in my collection is Un Canadien Errant. I think I will get it as I love to hear him speaking or singing in French (as in the French lines in The Partisan).

If nothing else, I can try to memorize the lines phonetically (with the aid of the lyric sheet). I sing along with the French lines in the Partisan (but only when I know I'm truly alone).

Linda.

Is Toronto French? I'm rubbish at geography...

I knew he is bi-lingual, but the English is so natural I never considered the French might be as well.
Oh, well, no good being stupid if I don't prove it, LOL!

[tom.d.stiller]

I'm sorry to interrupt your nice talk with a few facts...

Leonard is not from Toronto (English) but from Montreal which is indeed French. But - he belongs to the English-speaking minority in Montreal.

So both of you are right, and wrong.

Cheers
tom

[Fljotsdale]

I'm sorry to interrupt your nice talk with a few facts...

Leonard is not from Toronto (English) but from Montreal which is indeed French. But - he belongs to the English-speaking minority in Montreal.

So both of you are right, and wrong.

Cheers
tom

Ouch! I meant Montreal. It didn't feel right when I wrote Toronto...

I did say my geography was lousy...

And thanks, tom

[linda_lakeside]

Tom Stiller:

I beg to differ, indeed Leonard is from Montreal, but, more importantly, he is from Quebec. Even if brought up by an English-speaking minority, there is no escaping the French speaking majority.

That's all I have to say on that. I'm just standing up for my Francophone buddies. Un Canadien Errant, doesn't sound like English to me. And, as you may have noticed, my French is impeccable.

Thank you,
Linda.

[Tchocolatl]

It sure was Nouvelle-France and Montréal is reported to be the biggest French city in America. Though Québec is more homogene in term of French than Montréal. Maybe they sell 'exotism' because how could you compare the old Europe with young America? Only travel agencies could do things like that, I think.

Flojt, Linda has fun again. Leonard Cohen being French Canadian. Of course. He was born in Québec in a family which was traditionnaly part of the anglophone minority. I remimber having read about him and his 'fate' being born form this father (a nationality) and that mother (another one) in a part of a country which is a minority in this country, in the part of this part that is a minority within the minority of this country, in a religion which is also a minority withing all the parts - and how it could be an explanation for him feeling himself as the Stranger, the gypsy (the other?) in its work. Though I share the opinon of Linda about Cohen (probably) being care much more about Israel than Canada, English or French (it is just the land where the bird was born, by chance, and home is where the heart is), now he could be seen as one of the most important Montrealers of the city's History.

(How do you find that? he?)

P.S. : Besides he lived in France for a rather medium-long term.

[Tri-me]

In New Brunswick I am from Fredericton
In Canada I am from New Brunswick, and no fellow Canadian that is not out in the ocean that is St. Pierre Miquelon, off the coast of Newfouldland, which is France
In another country I am Canadian
Don't be embasarrased about lack of knowledge of geography. I was in Yellowknife a person told me they drove across Canada,. I asked how far they went, they said Toronto!!
I would love to hear Leonard Cohen sing in French, French sounds very romantic je t'aime, je t'aime jemai partier mon amouur.
I don't know what it is like in Montreal, have not been there for ten years, gaud I have to get there. The word on the street is....if a Francophone give you a hard time about being Anglo, tell them you are an American New Brunswick is the only officially bilengual province in Canada. My French je suis pas bilingue, je parle un peu, pas mal hein?

[linda_lakeside]

Flojt, Linda has fun again

.

I'm innocent... .

Tchoco, you remember what I said about Leonard and Israel? I'm impressed. But you're right, he was born into the minority of the minority of the minority, if you know what I mean.

And yes, I remembered when you said it, that he did live in France for a while, just out of University I think. I'm not sure what a medium-long time is, but it was long enough for him to absorb the ambience, I'm sure.

Linda.

[linda_lakeside]

Tri-me,

You've not heard Leonard sing in French? On the 1975 Best of, (forget which album it came from - maybe the first) he sings The Partisan. Granted, in the version I'm thinking of, it's mostly his female back-up that one hears, but you can still hear him in French. Besides, you should have that disc, just to round out your collection. In my humble opinion.

Linda.

[Fljotsdale]

It sure was Nouvelle-France and Montréal is reported to be the biggest French city in America. Though Québec is more homogene in term of French than Montréal. Maybe they sell 'exotism' because how could you compare the old Europe with young America? Only travel agencies could do things like that, I think.

Flojt, Linda has fun again. Leonard Cohen being French Canadian. Of course. He was born in Québec in a family which was traditionnaly part of the anglophone minority. I remimber having read about him and his 'fate' being born form this father (a nationality) and that mother (another one) in a part of a country which is a minority in this country, in the part of this part that is a minority within the minority of this country, in a religion which is also a minority withing all the parts - and how it could be an explanation for him feeling himself as the Stranger, the gypsy (the other?) in its work. Though I share the opinon of Linda about Cohen (probably) being care much more about Israel than Canada, English or French (it is just the land where the bird was born, by chance, and home is where the heart is), now he could be seen as one of the most important Montrealers of the city's History.

(How do you find that? he?)

P.S. : Besides he lived in France for a rather medium-long term.

I understood every word, Tchoco. No, really. And you are having fun again, hey?

[Tchocolatl]

Do you think Flojts? Then please forgive my less then perfect English speach.

Yep it begins to be fun, indeed. Tri-me's big joke about NB being the only official bilingual spot in the so officially bilingual Canada. Tri-me do you know what the advice is over here? When you travel in the rest of Canada, if you don't want to have your head severed from your body, say you are from France. Pas mal, en effet.

[linda_lakeside]

I have heard it said (perhaps erroneously) that there is a large French speaking community in Alberta. That announcement speaks for itself.

Linden.

[Tchocolatl]

French Canadians are spread all over Canada in more or less big concentration of population but they are the minority in all provinces except in Québec.

Now when people want to find something to fight over, they always succeed in doing so, be it a difference of language, religion, colour of skin, hair, or not taking lunch hour at usual times, whatever, there is no frontier. Differences are not the problem : intolerance is.

So when people want to live in peas, sorry, in peace, differences of all sorts are not a problem.

Sometimes, people seem to fight just for the fun of it and for any other purpose. It is a game like another one. I pass my turn, though. My thrill is on blueberry hill.

[linda_lakeside]

My thrill is on blueberry hill.

Yeah? Well, I kinda go for peas myself.