Thread: French Speakers

Originally Posted by kiwiling

Where did that come from?

That was when the the Rainbow Warrior was sunk by French Intelligence in New Zealand waters ... mid 80s.

Not 70s ... my memory is failing ...

TC learn french before thinking u can teach me french grammar, u donkey, est=is, et=and

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Bleu, Blanc, Rouge, Je suis Francois le Francais

Originally Posted by keekwai

That was when the the Rainbow Warrior was sunk by French Intelligence in New Zealand waters ... mid 80s.

French Intelligence Service...the operation was a serious cockup...not even worthy of a comedy script because an innocent man was killed...although it relects poorly on the French government...as do many of their other exploits in history...I think it does not reflect on the people...but that is just my opinion

Thank you Kiwiling, I agree that most politicians since Napoleon have benn useless to say the least except for some great ones (Jaures, De Gaulle...). And to come back to that quotes it is from the 70's and i think it was intended to the french rugby team who was touring NZ then (but i might be wrong).

Originally Posted by purplesmoker

And to come back to that quotes it is from the 70's and i think it was intended to the french rugby team who was touring NZ then (but i might be wrong).

It was definitely connected with the RB sinking. I actually had a French boss in Christchurch at the time and he said he was getting the odd "comment" There was a bit of anti French sentiment floating around N.Z at the time ... not just over the RB sinking ... but over the nuke tests in their backyard.

maybe but the dates don't match.

I remember showing him (French boss) the article with that quote. His response? "That's about right"

But then ... he'd turned his back on France, settled in N.Z, married a Kiwi, had BBQs and wore flip flops. He was only a few steps away from rooting sheep.



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Originally Posted by purplesmoker

maybe but the dates don't match.

I'm the one who made the original post. I made a mistake by plucking "1970s" off the top of my head. But I was there at the time. It was in 1985.

Originally Posted by purplesmoker

I agree that most politicians since Napoleon have benn useless

but it was the British who burned Joan of Arc at the stake...a horrible story if there ever was

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Originally Posted by keekwai

It was in 1985.

There was a lot of anti French sentiment around then...remember NZ was a lot more "British" then than it is now...although the French aren't that popular in South East Asia either...I remember picking up a couple of French hitchhikers then...they were nice people...and had got such a negative reaction they were trying to pretend they were Swiss!!...the surprising thing was they were totally unprepared for the backlash...one could ask what Le Monde was publishing about the Rainbow Warrior and the Tahiti nuclear tests at the time...both were disgraceful...that aside my personal experience with French people is that they are good company...especially over a drink

Hi I have not read this whole thread but looking for a private french native speaker tutor in bkk area any suggestions pls?

Go to the Alliance Francaise, a lot of people post jobs there, u might get what u're looking for.