If only I could *say* 'Les Clochards celestes'

February 28, 2006 10:21 PM

I have three (linked) questions: According to this page, On the Road was adapted to radio for France Culture. I'd like to get my hands on a recording of this. I looked for a while, but Radio France doesn't seem to provide a way to buy radio shows on disc, and it looks like it was only aired once.

Question 2: I'd love to get The Dharma Bums in French (despite the lacking title...). I live in the US. Amazon.com doesn't carry it, it seems, nor do the other major bookselling places that deal with the US. It also seems that amazon.fr and amazon.com aren't terribly linked. Any ideas?

Question 3 is a bit more broad. I can read French quite well. I can write in French fairly well. I can listen to French fairly well. I can even come up with what I'm going to say when I speak it, but when it comes out, many words end up slurred, with horrible accent, and pretty much unintelligable. There are some sounds I just cannot seem to make (something like pronouncing 'Aurore' is pretty much impossible for me, it seems). Any and all advice would be great.

Merci!

posted by devilsbrigade to Writing & Language (3 answers total)

#2: I've ordered tons of stuff from amazon.fr. They are indeed linked, as my username/password from amazon.com worked just fine, and my credit card was accepted. Shipping is somewhat expensive, though.

#3: It sounds like you're at the stage at which you need to actually practice speaking more often. Have you tried searching for a French conversation partner?

Also, if you buy a cheap mixer, a decent mic, and a set of headphones, you can practice speaking by yourself and get better feedback on how you actually sound. Get a CD/DVD with a clear french voice and repeat what you hear.
posted by helios at 12:22 AM on March 1, 2006

Regarding question #2, here's a California based bookseller who has On the Road and Big Sur in French.
posted by bim at 6:04 AM on March 1, 2006

I scavenged the site for a few minutes without success. But I remember hearing, a long time ago, listeners on France Culture requesting for specific recordings. There was a long tradition of people collecting programs and distributing them afterwards. You may try to ask for it them here or here.

I'd say there might even be better places for this kind of request though.
Here is the 2005 schedule for "le feuilleton" (look back to march 2005).
You may also try to contact the cast (director, translator, etc) directly. It's not uncommon.
posted by Bio11 at 7:57 AM on March 1, 2006