Chirac speaks perfect English yet spoke in French in his interview on 60 Minutes last night. Does this seem like a subtle act of defiance to anyone else? I couldn’t help but think that it did nothing to prove his policies are pro-peace and not merely anti-american.
I don’t know for certain whether his English is perfect or not, but in a situation where I want to be perfectly clear I would default to my native language. It gives him the homefield advantage, so to speak.
Well, I know I certainly set time aside in my evening just so I could miss the interview in its entirety. There’s really nothing important he can possibly say at this point.
Just because he spoke in his native tongue doesn’t mean he is anti-american. French people are very proud of their language, they even have a sort of “language police” that is supposed to uphold the language as it has always been. My french teacher (who is from france) told us once that if people start pronouncing a word differently, the french don’t change the spelling, they just make a new exception to traditional pronounciation rules. They cringe when they hear the words “le hot dog” and “le tee shirt.”
I think he was just being stubbornly french.
No, I don’t think so. ShibbOleth is right. Better to speak in the native language and have a translator to prevent mix-ups or anything like that. It’s just smart in most cases.
Oh, come on.
First of all, whenever I heard Chirac speak English, it was far from perfect. Secondly, he is the president of one of the largest countries in Europe. If 60 Minutes wants to interview him about something of this importance, he has a right to do it in his own language, and request the journalists bring an interpreter.
From what I understand, President Bush speaks Spanish pretty well. If a Spanish TV program were to interview him on something, would Bush be an asshole for saying “I’d rather do it in English, as I’m more comfortable with it”? Of course not.
And if this is the same show that I think I’ve seen segments of, what was up with the faux French accent in the dub-over? I’ll bet dollars to donuts that they played the same stupid trick as they did in the Saddam Hussein interview. What utter nonsense.
The funny thing in that other thread is, that I used dubbing over Chirac with a fake French accent as a ridiculous example to demonstrate how stupid the dub-over of the Hussein interview was.
That was 11 days ago.
Never overestimate the integrity of journalism, I suppose.
Well, I hope Bush’s Spanish makes more sense than his English, or our relations with Latin America are going to hell.
I somehow never get tired of seeing that in print. 
Coldie, any idea on whether Chirac provided his own translator, or if CBS was responsible for the translation? I didn’t actually see this (since I don’t actually watch much television).
I don’t know. All I know is that the dub-over French accent sounded fake. Kind of like watching 'Allo 'Allo.
How dare a foreigner not speak English!
Bush’s command of Spanish is junior-high-school level. It’s embarrassing to those of us who took it in high school.
Not the policeman I hope? How Chirac must wish he could “say it only wuuhnce” instead of over and over for months. Come to think of it, that’s quite a good game – which 'Allo 'Allo characters do the main figures in all this most resemble? Blair has to René Artois of course but who is Herr Flick – Bush or Saddam?