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27/03/2008, 18:04 J.R's gone native Joined on 16/07/2006 Picardie, Sussex Posts 1,947 Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis Has anyone seen the recently released Danny Boon (or perhaps Bune) film? Or more importantly did they understand any of it? For those who dont know it is a parody of the the patois of the Nord called Chti, I watched a recording of his one man show at Lille and was amused to see that it was sub-titled so that the rest of France could enjoy it! - All the cinemas in my region have been packed out but does it have the same appeal across the rest of France? I speak quite good French and usually completely understand and enjoy French cinema but am a little uncertain whether to go and see this one, the excerpts that I saw I understood and were very funny and thankfully very visual. My French girlfriend thinks that it would go over my head (perhaps intellectually), actually a lot of the language and slang is very similar to Picard which I am reasonably used to but there were two scenes in his one man show that I could not understand at all mainly because I couldnt work out what the subject was. Any advice gratefully received. P.S I noticed that one of the French papers headline for the Sarkozy/bruni visit was "Bienvenue chez les tish" - (Bri - "tish")    Report

27/03/2008, 19:22 Cat Joined on 21/01/2005 ------- Forum Moderator ------- Lot Posts 3,197 Re: Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis I've not yet seen the film, but it's been very popular down here in the south-west too, with cinemas extending their showings to cope with the demand.  Mr Cat is a native born ch'ti speaker, and I perhaps understand the nordiste accent (and the slang)  better than the southern one but I come unstuck if two ch'ti speakers start really going for it. I caught a part of a Danny Boon show on TV last night (perhaps it was the same one) and most of that too was subtitled.  Mr Cat reckons I'd find the film hard going, I'm inclined to agree.  I did like the part of the trailer for the film where he was driving up north on a beautiful clear night, and the moment he passed the Nord Pas de Calais sign the heavens opened and it started to belt down with rain.  It so often seems to do that whenever we go back up north to visit the in-laws. Cathy Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...    Report

28/03/2008, 9:30 J.R's gone native Joined on 16/07/2006 Picardie, Sussex Posts 1,947 Re: Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis The film really does show the warmth of the people in the Nord which is not apparent at first when faced with such a strange language. The saying is that you cry twice when you stay in the Nord, once when you arrive and the second time when you leave Whereas in Picardie you just cry all the time!    Report

28/03/2008, 9:51 Clair Joined on 23/08/2004 ------- Forum Moderator ------- Lot (46) Posts 7,252 Re: Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis Enrico Macias has been singing since 1967: Les gens du Nord (starts at 4:30) Lyrics Clair, a Real Virtual French Person    Report

30/03/2008, 20:20 FairyNuff Joined on 06/11/2007 Indre Posts 32 Re: Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis Replying to the OP, we went to see this film about two weeks ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Our French couldn't be described as fluent, but we managed to understand properly about 70%, and to follow the rest of it fairly easily. I'd say go and see it, it's a heart-warming story, we came out of the pictures (that shows my age!) feeling good and glad to have seen it. FairyNuff Do I come here often?    Report

30/03/2008, 22:30 Anton Redman Joined on 23/08/2004 Gironde Posts 2,146 Re: Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis Not aware of a patois in the North but my ear is not very good. Have heard older restaurant staff or owners in Bethune and Hesdin switch to Flemish if they are getting grief from Parisiens. Lot easier to eaves drop than French    Report

31/03/2008, 14:32 J.R's gone native Joined on 16/07/2006 Picardie, Sussex Posts 1,947 Re: Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis Thanks Fairynuff I will now have to convince the girlfriend to see it a second time.    Report

31/03/2008, 14:32 Viv Joined on 31/03/2008 Posts 1 Re: Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis Definitely go and see it - most of the expressions that pass you by will probably pass non-Ch'tis by as well and the film is so visual and well acted that the odd moment of incomprehension won't matter.  Vital bits are translated into "real" French or mimed anyway. My French [Swiss variety] is pretty fluent although not used much nowadays; the Swiss freind with whom I went also had trouble understanding one or two bits but it didn't matter at all.  After all, that's part of the fun. Laugh your self silly, it's entertaining and heart-warming at one and the same time.    Viv    Report

02/04/2008, 23:39 Jill Joined on 23/08/2004 Posts 587 Re: Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis My 17 year old son saw it a few weeks ago while on an exchange trip to France with college.  He thoroughly enjoyed it, even though he didn't understand all of it.  He says he'll buy it for me for Christmas as I'd like to see it and he says he would like to see it again.  He's just working on his AS level French, so if he can get enough from it to be amused, probably you should be OK with it.  There was an article about it in the Tele mag a couple of weeks ago and there were a few examples of Chti' in there.  Dany Boon was also on a show on French television late last week and he seems to do a stand up act using some of the jokes which are in the film.  There were a few clips from it too, and yes it was quite hard to understand in random bits, but in context I expect it would be easier.  Unfortunately I dozed off and didn't see all of it.  It wasn't boredom, and it wasn't through drinking the very excellent Cht'i Ambree, as we couldn't get any in the Saumur region!  Perhaps it's a good idea to buy it when it comes out on DVD and use the French subtitles if you don't want to read English ones - I'm not sure it is the sort of film which would get English subtitles, anyway. Jill (99)    Report

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