Here is the most amateur, tacky video in the world with which to

1. help you better acquaint yourself with a little more colloquial French, and
2. learn a little bit about the city of Gatineau, Québec.

I used to live in Gatineau many years ago.

For me, Gatineau is

1. a city for which I have a soft-spot,
2. a place where I have a number of friends, and
3. a place which holds a lot of memories — including many stories which could never be repeated (what happens in Gatineau stays in Gatineau).

I’m back in Gatineau for a few days, lending a hand to a friend with a few things.

Thus, I don’t have time to sit down and type a new post.

But I did the next best thing… I pulled out my iPhone, stuck it to my windshield, and made a very amateur video post (amazing what you can do with iPhones in just a few minutes).

A few things to note:

• I placed both French and English subtitles in the video.  This will help you follow along to try to improve your own listening skills (click the cc button at the bottom of the video).

• It was when I wrote the subtitles, and when I actually listened to my own colloquial French, that I realized my own Prairie French sometimes sounds quite hick quite informal, and reminded me of the earlier series of six French posts,  Let’s go fishing… .  

Thus I apologize if you have been dealt an overdose of extreme “hickness” informal/colloquial French these last few days.  But you’ll run into us hicks these kinds of colloquialisms (oral informalities) often enough.   Best to acquaint yourself with the lingo before you run into us it (hahaha!!).

There is no time like the present to train your ear.

To help you with this task, I kept the ENGLISH subtitles as true to the French as possible (which is how and when was when I realized just how hick my commentaries were – hahaha!).

Here is my train wreck of a video.  Just go with it and laugh (I made it when I had a few extra minutes in a cafe – so what did you expect? Star Wars?).

If you’re interested, here is the full version of the light show I touched upon in the above video (this time filmed much more professionally by someone else).  It certainly is worth checking out if you happening to be in capital!!  (I have seen other light shows across the country.  You can even find them in unexpected places, such as the church on the East side of UQAM’s Berri campus, but the one below is the best I’ve seen yet).

Will be back in a few days 🙂