L'anniversaire de Tintin
French Listening Comprehension
Study Guide
Take a look at the following for help with any vocabulary and grammar that you might not
have understood in Tintin, then take
the test.
| Vocabulary | |
| BD | abbreviation of bande dessinée |
| bourru | gruff, surly |
| confier qqch à qqun | to entrust someone with something |
| à damiers | checkered |
| la débrouillardise | resourcefulness |
| décevant | disappointing (not "deceiving," which is a false cognate) |
| décliner | to be made into/offered in |
| un défi | challenge |
| la droiture | uprightness, rectitude, honesty |
| en toute discrétion | very quietly, without fanfare |
| un entretien | interview |
| étoffer | to fill/flesh out |
| étourdi | absentminded |
| un exemplaire | copy |
| farfelu | eccentric, hare-brained |
| un faussaire | forger |
| se forger | to create |
| franchir | to reach, pass |
| une fusée | rocket |
| inattendu | unusual, unexpected |
| la malice | michievousness |
| une mouture | version, draft |
| un plaidoyer | plea |
| un requin | shark |
| un scénariste | scriptwriter |
| sous-titré | subtitled |
| tenir qqch à coeur | to hold consider s.t. close to one's heart, to feel strongly about something |
| tirer de | to draw from |
| une toison | fleece |
| Grammar - Click the links for detailed lessons | |
| Present tense - In journalism and other factual narration, the present is often used even though the events are in the past. | |
| Qui, que, dont, où - relative pronouns | |
| People | |
| Albert Londres |
Albert Londres (1884–1932) was the prototype of the intrepid international reporter, and Tintin reenacts many of his journeys. He began his career covering World War I for Le Matin newspaper, and later crisscrossed the globe in search of stories. His most famous scoops revealed the horrors of the French penal system in Guyana and the mistreatment of the native black people in Belgian Congo. He also covered Palestine, the Balkans, Russia, India, and the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1932. Returning from this adventure, he was one of 67 who died when the ship on which he was travelling caught fire off Aden. Londres worked at a time when the press was undergoing massive expansion to satisfy the demands of the newly educated masses. He and a handful of others were the first to do what they did, and became national heroes. But his style was far more subjective and poetic than we would accept today in a news reporter. According to one of his biographers, he was "un voyageur, un observateur engagé, un poète et un redresseur de torts." An annual Albert Londres prize is now awarded for international journalism. |
| Steven Spielberg | Steven Spielberg took an option on the Tintin books in 1983, and according to the trade press has finally decided to move into production. Little is known about the project. The first film is supposed to be ready in 2006, and Tom Hanks has apparently agreed to play Captain Haddock. No one is sure what the story will be, but the gossip is that it will be based on a combination of albums, many of which go in pairs: for example, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure, The Seven Crystal Balls and The Temple of the Sun, or The Blue Lotus and Tintin in Tibet. |
| Hergé | One aspect of Hergé to which acres of newsprint have been devoted is his alleged racism and/or collaboration with the Nazis in World War II. It is difficult to deny that the early Tintin in the Congo contains some pretty distasteful caricatures of black people, and one of Hergé's stock baddies is a fat Jewish businessman called Bohlwinkel. During the war, he continued to work for the German-controlled Le Soir newspaper in Brussels, and after the Liberation he was imprisoned for a time. No one, however, has presented a serious case to suggest that his views reflected more than the generally held prejudices of the time. He had no problem ridiculing shaven-headed fascists when the opportunity presented itself. Nevertheless, the politics of Tintin have provided endless fascination, and a few years ago the French National Assembly even staged an informal debate over whether he should be considered on the right or the left. On the one hand, the reporter was both anti-Soviet and hostile to American-style capitalism—a true Gaullist, said supporters of President Chirac. Au contraire ! said the Socialists, citing his exploits helping South American freedom-fighters. He was a man of the people! |
| Characters |
In the English translations of the Tintin books, many names were changed: Milou became Snowy. Captain Haddock needs no translation. His stately home is Moulinsart in French and Marlinspike in English. The château on which it is based, Cheverny in the Loire Valley, has a permanent Tintin exhibition on display. Professeur Tournesol is Professor Calculus. The incompetent detectives Dupond and Dupont are Thomson and Thompson. |
| L'anniversaire de Tintin French Listening Comprehension Exercise |
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| Listen | Study | Test | ||
| Transcript Translation | ||||
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Sound files, transcript, and notes about People and Characters were originally published in Champs-Élysées audiomagazine (read my review) and are used with the permission of Champs-Élysées, Inc. |
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| Listening Index | ||||
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