The format of a My Take is 150 words – no more, no less – to express an opinion on a different topic each week. This week the topic was: comparison.
I always find it interesting to hear people present a message in both French and English.
Some are very good at word-for-word translation that leaves no room for interpretation, but for others, what is said in one language comes out sounding different in the other.
Quebec’s Premier has been very consistent, this year, in providing a summary of his an-nouncements in English after having detailed them in French, but summaries necessarily trim their subjects down to the basics, and that can change the way the message comes across.
Yesterday, Legault’s ‘Christmas is cancelled’ speech in English said that things are not as bad here as they are elsewhere, so Quebecers should be congratulated that their efforts have paid off, oh, and also Christmas is cancelled. In French, greater context made that same information a bit more coherent and more understandable, if not any more palatable.
