With Magali on Saturday at 2pm and on Wednesday at 10pm, discover Le Top Dix, the French Top 10. Only on Seahaven FM!
If the only French songs you know are “La vie en rose” and “La mer”, don’t miss this opportunity to update your knowledge of French Pop. You might even like it!
Happy listening!
Babette
Many years ago, I spent several winter months in the small Greek
The island, as most forsaken Greek islands in the late eighties, was host to the state’s “rejects”. Costas the harbour master from Patras was a drunk who had caused a collision between two boats, Manolis the OTE manager(Post and Telephone state company) from Karpathos was a Nea Demoktratia (conservative) supporter when PASSOK was in government, Dimitri the Papas (Orthodox priest) had been caught gallivanting and the doctor was so young he had been posted there the time to grow a beard and look more professional before returning to Athens as a more mature and more credible doctor. There were two Kafenions open in Fry during the day and only one taverna open in the evening, where all the “rejects” (and me) used to meet for a jolly supper of seafood and Retzina.
One day as I arrived to join my friends for supper, I found them in an unusual a state of excitement. The radio was tuned in to the local Aya Maria Kassos station and all had on the tip of their tongues the correct answer to the daily quiz question but of course none of them could say it. I amazed them all when I gave the answer* and someone quickly dialled the radio’s station’s phone number and passed me the receiver. The prize was a free drink in one of the Kafenions.
The next day, fighting a strong Voria wind and a hangover, I staggered to a house where I’d been told I’d find the radio station. What I found was a smoke-filled room with four boys in their early twenties, and what looked like a black box, wires strewn on the floor and several beer cans. It turned out there was no prize voucher to collect and that Petros who ran the kafenion had been told to expect Y Gallida (The French Girl).
I stayed for the three hours their broadcast lasted and I was hooked. It seemed the whole island was listening to the Aya Maria Radio station. The phone kept ringing with songs requests from Vassiliki daughter of Fotoula for her second cousin Maria on her father’s side, or from Yannis O Trellos (the mad one) for his mate Yorgo. There was important information passed on, such as Yanni the fisherman telling his wife Vassoula that he’d be home late and to keep his food in the hot oven and there was even an interview with Manolis, a Kassiotis locally famous for his research on yawning.
It was local community interaction at its best. It gave the islanders a sense of togetherness that is so important in isolated places and… you could get free drinks!
When I saw the Seahaven FM poster in the Transmanche ferry terminal in Newhaven, I was immediately taken back to all those years ago in Kassos. Just like Aya Maria Station, Seahaven FM brings the Seaford-Newhaven-Peacehaven community together, supports local businesses and informs its listeners. The only difference is the professionalism, which is evident as soon as you enter the Seahaven FM den. The interview with Nick Mallinson and David Foster was very relaxed and yet very well conducted.
Unfortunately, their 2nd test FM broadcast is over but they are continuing to broadcast their live programs on the internet. They have applied for a Full Time Community Radio Licence and should know the outcome of their application before the end of 2008.
Please support them in any way you can. They are doing a fantastic job.
Best cosmofil Regards
Babette
*Question: Which Cretan writer was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize?
Answer: Nikos Kazantzakis
Hello
Now that the Top Up Your French on Board’s first summer is about to end, I think it is time for an assessment of what was a “Première”! I still find incredible that no-one had thought before of offering language sessions on international ferries. Please let me know if you have come across the same service offered before on a ferry.
Top Up Your French Onboard has been an overwhelming success in terms of media intere st but more importantly in terms of “customer satisfaction”. Participants arrived looking shy and feeling under-confident, some even sea-sick, but they left after the session looking far happier and ready to “give it a go!” and not sea-sick anymore, which is a definite plus! The feedback was absolutely amazing and of course heart-warming so watch out for more “Tune into the Local Language” sessions on more ferries in the near future!
The sessions were not only a success with the participants but they were also very well received in the media, even the French media. The Paris-Normandie newspaper published two really nice articles about the sessions and a FR3 team came onboard the Côte d’Albâtre last Thursday to film the Top Up Your French sessions.
Last but certainly not least, I was interviewed on Seahaven FM last Friday by Nick Mallinson and David Foster. I think they give their local community a fantastic service and I will write a special blog entry about them next.
There will be no sessions during the week in the winter but I will be organising Weekend Trips to Dieppe including a Top Up Your French Onboard sessions and a guided tour of the town with a “treasure hunt” and a meal at one of the harbour restaurants. Please email me at babette@cosmofil.com for more info.
Best cosmofil greetings
Babette
A big thank you to Tom for talking about his Top Up Your French two experiences in his blog. I could not wish for better feedback and support.
http://tomroper.typepad.com/tr/2008/08/what-i-did-on-m.html
Best cosmofil greetings
Babette
“No, thanks, I can say yes and no in French, that’s all I need really.” Heard last week from a friendly woman in her thirties as I was distributing leaflets in the bar. Basing myself on this but also on the rag she was reading, I am led to assume that she believes that people visiting Britain should speak English, that France would be a nicer country without the French and that she agrees with comedian Nick Coppin that English people don’t need to learn foreign languages.
To be fair, Nick did moderate his statement as the Richard Bacon show on Radio 5 Live drew to a close on Monday night (or more accurately early Tuesday morning). He accepted that people visiting a foreign country should know how to greet locals in their own language and that Brits moving abroad should learn the lingo. Hey Nick, we never said that holidaymakers should pass a degree in Chinese before going to have their picture taken on the Great Wall of China. As for speaking the language of your host country, any chance you could use your stage charisma to pass on the message to the ex-pats who’ve come out of their ghettos for a shot of British humour?
Thinking of which, I wonder how many ex-pats living in Normandy will read the article on the Top Up your French sessions in their local paper the Paris-Normandie? And how many will see the news report on the FR3 Regions channel next week? Just like the British, the French media are intrigued (or amused). They think that attempting to get the Brits to speak foreign languages instead of shouting and pointing is like trying to get the French to become vegetarian!
How wrong are they! We are still weeks away from the “rentrée” but everyday I receive emails and phone calls from adult students asking me when their class is going to start again or which class they should join. From the “débutant/e” to the “nearly native” level, the excitement is growing as we get nearer the start of the new academic year.
I have some new projects in mind for this coming year. Following the success of the Charleston Farmhouse guided tour in French, I will suggest more cultural visits conducted in French. I will also organise trips to Dieppe with Top Up Your French sessions on the ferry and a guided tour of the Dieppe museum. More exciting projects will be revealed very soon.
Best cosmofil greetings to all.
Babette
Hello
Well, who would have thought that the Top Up With French On Board sessions would become a news item on the BBC? I don’t know if you had the opportunity to watch the report by John Young for the BBC South East Today program. John and his team were on board the Côte d’Albâtre on Thursday and their entertaining take on the TOP UP With French On Board was shown in the evening news.
On Tuesday, I was invited to join in a Radio 4 You and Yours discussion about Brits bad behaviour abroad. Meg Munn, foreign Office minister, agreed that helping people to communicate with the locals and getting to know about local culture was a good way to improve Brits’ bad behaviour abroad. Nice to receive a pat on the back from a government representative! You can rest assured that I’ll do my best to make the most of it!
On Monday 18 at midnight, I’ll be on BBC Radio 5 Live arguing that yes, it is important to speak foreign languages abroad, even though English is the new lingua franca. Richard Bacon will be presenting the show. It will be interesting to know who they have found to defend the other side of the argument.
There were short but to the point articles in all the Sussex Express’s editions and on the stylish Viva Lewes. I am sure this will help to spread the word about the Top Up With French On Board sessions.
Last but certainly not least, we now have a cosmofil page on the Transmanche website with a link to the Top Up Your French On Board on the cosmofil website. Have a peek! Transmanche Ferries Top up your French on board with Cosmofil
I wish you all a pleasant Sunday. I’ll be at the annual animals blessing on the Tye in Alfriston later this morning. I just wonder what they would make of such a ceremony Across the Channel!
It’s already a month since the first Top Up Your French session took place on board the Côte d’Albâtre. A steadily increasing number of passengers are joining me around the captain’s table with especially more children now that the school holidays have started. How lovely to hear their laughter and their first attempt at ordering a meal in French!
I hope you were able to listen to the interview on BH, the Sunday morning Radio 4 program. The BBC South East Today team will join me on Thursday 14th of August and I am told their report will appear in the evening program.
We’ll soon have a link from the Transmanche LD Lines home page. This is excellent news and I am sure it will bring more people to the sessions.
The Top Up Your French sessions are an essential part of the cosmofil concept. Helping people to communicate in the language of the country they are visiting is the first step towards a better understanding of different cultures. This is the message I want to put through to MEP Sharon Bowles when we talk this week. I am a passionate European and I believe cosmofil can help promote Europe in the UK.
Best cosmofil wishes
Babette
Bonjour!
Today is the big day, with our first national broadcast. When I say “our”, I’m not using the regal plural but I am thinking of all the people who have supported me from the very beginning. So, we are on Broadcasting House today and I hope you don’t feel I’ve let you down. As I said in my previous blog entry, I can only get better, but this is assuming we get another chance.
I’ll be distributing flyers and trying to get people to come to a Top Up your French session while you’ll be drinking your third cup of tea with the Sunday papers spread around you Radio 4 in the background.
I went to see Norman Baker MP yesterday at his surgery in Lewes, Normie as my friend Mayke calls him. I did not kiss him on both cheeks on her behalf as she had asked me to do but we’re not on those terms (yet!) and actually I don’t think she is either! She’s a Dutch woman with a big heart, and when she kisses you you’d think she has a loo plunger adapted to her lips!
So Norman Baker was very receptive and offered to help me with the media and with getting in touch with our MEP Sharon Bowles. He also said he would write a press release for me. My natural French arrogance (don’t you like stereotypes?) made me think “well Normie, that’s very nice, but I didn’t wait for you to write a press release that got me to BH and also a “sounds great, what are your sailing dates in the summer” from, wait for this, Simon Calder, yes, the Independent Travel writer! ” Funnily enough, I still haven’t managed to secure an article in the local papers such as Sussex Express and The Argus. I accept that reading about a mad French woman trying to get people to learn foreign languages is not as exciting as “Kitten found in geranium” (Sussex Express), but hey! I’m local (Alfriston) and I can prove it; can the kitten???
Ooops, nearly 7 am and I must get ready for the ferry. It’s a later start today but I still woke up at 4.30! I’m meeting my Transmanche contacts and supporters Emmanuelle and Marie in Dieppe for lunch. First time I have the opportunity to step off the ferry since I’ve started the ferry sessions.
Best cosmofil greetings
Babette
Hello
I still can’t believe it! Cosmofil on Radio 4, Broadcasting House (BH) on Sunday at 9am? Up to the last minute, this morning 6.15 I did not really believe that Paddy O’Connell would be boarding the ferry in Newhaven to join me on a day return trip to Dieppe. Actually, he almost did not make it, arriving just seconds before the bus took the foot passengers to the ferry, in real “Tintin reporter” style!
If you know me a little, you will have an idea of how anxious I was about meeting him, but believe me, my anxiety subsided as soon as we met. He could have been an old friend of mine and in fact I felt more at ease with him than with many people I have known for years. I guess that’s what makes a good reporter, this ability to make people comfortable so they confide in them.
Paddy helped me set up for the day’s crossings (sticking posters on the wall and setting up the captain’s table for the first Top Up your French On Board session). He then followed me when I went to the cafeteria and the bar with my questionnaire and £1 off vouchers trying to get people to join a session. Amazing how the sight of a microphone (and Paddy’s light hearted questions) can get people talking! There was much laughter and frank admissions along the lines of “yeah well, I know I should make the effort but what the heck, I’m on holiday, let me finish my drink and I might think about it”.
Top Up Your French On Board broke a new record today with 10 people attending the first morning session, 6 adults and 4 children. It was a joyful session, with 3 generations of one family playing their part in the roleplay “ordering a meal at the Cosmofil restaurant”. So much fun and just what cosmofil is about, bringing people together to enjoy communicating in a foreign language.
Only two people came to the afternoon session, despite the £1 off voucher and Paddy’s rich voice making the announcement on the loud speaker. Still, two is better than none, and I’m sure they’ll help spread the word, one way or another.
I hope I did not miss this fabulous opportunity to put the cosmofil message across. Of course I am annoyed with myself for not always giving short and sharp answers or sounding cleverer but hey, it was a first so I can only get better. Anyway, I am sure the children’s laughter is worth ten times more than anything I could have said.
Tune in to BH on Sunday at 9am if you can. I will be almost mid-way between Sussex and Normandy so I’ll listen to the broadcast on the internet when I get home on Sunday night.
Best cosmofil greetings to You
Babette
Hello
Do you know what this road sign means?
I am amazed by the number of British participants to the ”Top Up Your French On Board” sessions who have no idea about the importance of this French road sign. This road sign warns drivers that they must give way to the cars coming on their right at the next crossroad. Even an English couple now settled in France did not know what it meant. Amazing isn’t it? There must be an angel looking after them.
Obviously feeling concerned, I’m busy laminating more road signs to do my bit for the safety of the Brits in France (and of drivers coming to their right). Who would have thought cosmofil would one day work alongside the gendarmes (AKA “les poulets”)!
Babette