On Sat, 9 Feb 2013 Martin wrote:

On 9 Feb 2013 19:42:55 GMT, Emery Davis wrote:

On Sat, 09 Feb 2013 09:43:34 +0000, David Rance wrote:

On Fri, 8 Feb 2013 Martin wrote:

I never anything so daft as Monty in a straw hat driving a 2CV between
French gardens on TV this evening.

Actually I enjoyed the programme very much. What on earth was daft about
it?

Lord his French was awful.

near to non existent.

Nonsense! True, his pronunciation was very poor, but so is that of most
English people, isn't it? He'd obviously lived in France some time ago
because he could come out with some common phrases quite fluently but he
did find other things less easy to express.

Our attitude to the pronunciation of foreign languages has been coloured
by the way we were taught when at school - at the least for the older
among us. The emphasis was too much on pronunciation, correct grammar
and agreements, to the detriment of being able to express ourselves. My
wife, who was a teacher of French for forty years and is now an "A"
level aural examiner, says, "What's the point of learning French, if the
thought that the French are going to laugh at you if you get things
wrong prevents you from going into a cake shop and buying a cake?"

Monty's lack of fluency is a lesson to us all that it doesn't *have* to
be perfectly correct! And those who sneer at him (because, presumably
their French is more fluent than his) ought to know better!

And all the BS about (mispronounced) paysans, honestly.

We certainly enjoyed the scenery, summer in the south and all that. Good
stuff when you're stuck here in the mud! But that straw hat...

Did you ever see a paysan wearing a straw hat and driving a 2CV?

Yes, my neighbour in Normandy always did when gardening (he died about
six years ago) and he'd lived in the same village all his life. It's not
unknown! And he would continually tell me off for *not* wearing a hat
(but not for not driving a 2CV!).

I know that Monty was not universally liked by urglers when he presented
Gardeners' World and, because of this, it seems that urglers will always
take the opportunity to ridicule him. But this is a different kind of
programme which seeks to present the different kinds of French gardens.
He was not trying to be an expert but an enthusiast. The first programme
in the series, in which he talked about the formal gardens designed by
Le Nôtre and his followers, I thought was excellent and his presentation
most engaging. But then I don't have a dislike of his style.

Just trying to put the other point of view.

David

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK