Author Topic: Dont Understand French Speaking in English (Read 2738 times)

bowler · « **on:** December 01, 2013, 10:15:31 PM »

Everyone I talk to who speaks honestly tells me the same thing, we don't understand much of what Father says, his strong French accent makes it difficult to understand anything that is not repeated a few times in different ways. Whether it be Fr. Rostand, Bp. Fellay, Bp. Tissier and all the French priest that we have had to hear.

No one is honest enough to say this to these priests as they don't want to hurt their feelings? Or just don't want to admit that they do not really understand everything they say?

It appears that the SSPX Menzingen has put French priests in charge of as many priories as they can find men they can trust. The future of the USA is to have foreign priests with worse and worse accents. Pretty soon we will just go to mass to receive the sacraments, and follow our missals, forget about instruction about the faith, even if the instructions were good, few will understand anything in depth.

A just punishment from God?

Signed,
An American with exhausted ears.

Frances · « **Reply #1 on:** December 01, 2013, 10:28:41 PM »

I also have difficulty with some accents, although French is not one of them. I know a smattering of it, so perhaps that helps. I suppose its one way to disguise doctrinal abberations, but the same can then be said of some of the Resistance priests. Perhaps there are those who can't understand Fr. Chazal or Fr. Iglesias. I know of a woman who is embarrassed at her difficulty with understanding Bishop Williamson's English! Personally, I have extreme difficulty with understanding Indian accents. Getting a customer service or tech support person on the phone from Mumbai is doomed to end badly. I simply cannot understand them! So I can appreciate your frustration. But imagine how frustrating it must be for the priest! At least you needn't preach a sermon or give a conference in a foreign language! Would that this were the most serious problem in Tradition!

Nadir · « **Reply #2 on:** December 02, 2013, 12:05:10 AM »

Much of the rest of the world have problems understanding the Americans.

SoldierOfChrist · « **Reply #3 on:** December 02, 2013, 12:19:26 AM »

We had a change of guard at our chapel recently and we had different visiting priests for about two months until our assigned priests arrived. One visiting priest gave a sermon about how "conspiracy theories" were bad news, and that Catholics shouldn't bother with them if they seriously want to get to Heaven. The crux of his argument was, what if you've figured it all out, and then your life ends, but you haven't spent any time on your immortal soul. Will you console yourself saying, "Well, at least they didn't trick me?" I found his sermon to be a bit lacking, but then, on my knees praying, after having received the Blessed Sacrament, I felt more inclined to be thanking God for having been merciful enough to allow me to consume Him, to allow me into His Communion, and for sending us this validly ordained priest, to turn bread and wine into His Body and Blood, and allowing us to receive Him. This put everything into perspective for me. Since then, I find myself much more grateful, and less picky about the sermons. The priest we finally got, gives great sermons, and I am evermore thankful for being so lucky. But even if we didn't have a priest who gave good sermons, or a priest whom I could easily understand, I see that it is not the sermon that is the important part of the Holy Mass. As long as the priest is giving authentic Catholic doctrine, then we should be thankful that he is there to provide us with the Mass.

Tiffany · « **Reply #4 on:** December 02, 2013, 04:02:47 AM »

Can you try to listen to additional recordings by the priest? That will probably help, the more you are exposed to it.

ggreg · « **Reply #5 on:** December 02, 2013, 05:35:16 AM »

I can understand English spoken with any accent.

It's just a question of exposure to the various accents. The more multi-cultural your society the more exposure you have to different accents. Irish pikey is probably the hardest of all to understand, which Glaswegian a close second.

Listen hard and concentrate and you'll soon adjust your ear to be able to understand the French priest or the call centre operator.

I once had a Bostonian tell me they couldn't understand me when I spoke. Which, frankly, they should be ashamed of given that I speak the Queen's English, albeit slightly faster than normal but with a clear accent.

The worst thing about Indian call centre people for me is not their thick accent but the fact that they have to respond to you in a scripted way and cannot talk freely. It's not their fault but I would like their bosses executed.

ggreg · « **Reply #6 on:** December 02, 2013, 05:43:27 AM »

35 accents in English.

St Gertrude · « **Reply #7 on:** December 02, 2013, 09:22:05 AM »

Bowler, just a question, do you speak French? I do (and fluently) but sometimes have difficulty understanding my relatives from France who speak English at a fast rate of speed. I can understand their French, no problem, but English is a different story. I suspect this problem is more common than people think.

bowler · « **Reply #8 on:** December 02, 2013, 09:22:09 AM »

Quote from: bowler

Everyone I talk to who speaks honestly tells me the same thing, we don't understand much of what Father says, his strong French accent makes it difficult to understand anything that is not repeated a few times in different ways. Whether it be Fr. Rostand, Bp. Fellay, Bp. Tissier and all the French priest that we have had to hear.

No one is honest enough to say this to these priests as they don't want to hurt their feelings? Or just don't want to admit that they do not really understand everything they say?

It appears that the SSPX Menzingen has put French priests in charge of as many priories as they can find men they can trust. The future of the USA is to have foreign priests with worse and worse accents. Pretty soon we will just go to mass to receive the sacraments, and follow our missals, forget about instruction about the faith, even if the instructions were good, few will understand anything in depth.

A just punishment from God?

Signed,
An American with exhausted ears.

Two points above

2) Menzingen is placing French priests in charge of the USA because they don't trust Americans. Obviously, if there are American priests, they should be the first in line to run things, since they know the language. If there is a shortage of American priests, then next in line would be English speaking priests from other countries. The final option would be foreign priests that speak good English, as judged by English speaking priests! None of the above is being done. The priests are selected strictly because they can be trusted by Menzingen. Hence we have priests in the USA that are not qualified to be pastors, teachers, leaders.

bowler · « **Reply #9 on:** December 02, 2013, 09:30:42 AM »

By the way, I speak another romance language better than any SSPX foreign priest speaks English. And I can tell you from extensive experience with that romance foreign language, that in my life, I have only known like 3 people who spoke English and the other language equally with the same successful level of communication.

There is no way I can delivery a theological discussion in my second language as easily, nor anywhere as well, as I can in English. In the same way, these French priests just can't deliver the sermon they could in their own language. It must be frustrating for them. If the SSPX would limit the foreign priests assignments to the few who are masters of the languages, rather than to those people they trust, the faithful would be JUSTLY served, and souls would be converted.

As is, all the faithful are receiving are the mass and the sacraments in these chapels manned by French priests who's only qualification is that they can be trusted by Menzingen.

1st Mansion Tenant · « **Reply #10 on:** December 02, 2013, 01:18:30 PM »

I think it depends on where you are from. I grew up in a multi-cultural area, so I think I have fewer problems understanding many accents. So far, the hardest for me to understand is a thick German accent, since I hadn't had much experience with those. And I think I still understood that one better than most others who were listening. I think sometimes the sermons sink in better when I have to strain a bit to understand the speaker, since it takes more effort and concentration. But seriously- they should be aware that there are fixes for the accent problem- Hollywood uses speech specialists all the time. If the priests were willing to put in the time and effort, the worst of the problems could be remedied fairly quickly. Either they don't want to bother with it, or people have just been too polite to say "Honestly, I can't understand a thing you are saying from the pulpit". I once heard one state that his English was "fluent"- well, it might be fluent Fr., but it is barely understandable. It is a huge waste of time to give a homily when most of the congregation just sits there fish-eyed and waits for the first words of the Credo. (And usually, it seems, they are the ones who like to give super-long sermons. Would it be horrible to get some business cards from speech trainers and discreetly drop them into the collection plate?)

Matto · « **Reply #11 on:** December 02, 2013, 02:44:41 PM »

One of the new priests who comes to my chapel doesn't even try to speak English. He is French and when he says Mass he doesn't even give a sermon because he knows if he did no one would understand him. I think it is very stupid to assign a priest to a place where he did not know the native language (unless there was no alternative).

claudel · « **Reply #12 on:** December 02, 2013, 02:47:52 PM »

Quote from: ggreg

… It's just a question of exposure to the various accents. The more multicultural your society the more exposure you have to different accents. Irish pikey is probably the hardest of all to understand, with Glaswegian a close second. …

I'm unfamiliar with the expression "pikey"? Could it be slang for a Gypsy / "traveller"?

My hat is off to you if you can readily understand the mush emerging from the typical Glaswegian mouth. I live in an appallingly multicultural society and have quite a good ear to boot, but along with the Valley Girl-influenced speech of American teenage girls, Glaswegian is for me the toughest nut to crack.

There used to be a Scots TV series called Taggart that I watched here in the States on PBS back in the eighties and early nineties. Before I got a VCR in the late eighties, I'd understand only a third of what the characters were saying (repeated playback helped me up the percentage to 50!).

A dozen or so years ago, I met and got friendly with the Edinburgh-born and -bred husband of a colleague at the office. When I learned that he too was a Taggart fan, I told him that I had understood only about half of the dialogue. He said that I was doing quite well, since neither he nor anyone he knew from Edinburgh had much better than 60 percent comprehension. He also said that the BBC used to show the program with subtitles in Yorkshire and some other areas of England.

The long and the short of it is that I sympathize with bowler's lament.

bowler · « **Reply #13 on:** December 02, 2013, 03:21:50 PM »

Quote from: bowler

There is no way I can delivery a theological discussion in my second language as easily, nor anywhere as well, as I can in English. In the same way, these French priests just can't deliver the sermon they could in their own language. It must be frustrating for them.

To be clearer, I'm saying that it must be frustrating for the French priest himself, his not being able to express himself fully, because he does not have the vocabulary to do it. I know it is for me when I have to give a presentation in my second language. And I speak far better in my second language than any SSPX French priest speaks in English.

Neil Obstat · « **Reply #14 on:** December 02, 2013, 04:44:43 PM »

Quote from: bowler

Quote from: bowler
Everyone I talk to who speaks honestly tells me the same thing, we don't understand much of what Father says, his strong French accent makes it difficult to understand anything that is not repeated a few times in different ways. Whether it be Fr. Rostand, Bp. Fellay, Bp. Tissier and all the French priest that we have had to hear.

No one is honest enough to say this to these priests as they don't want to hurt their feelings? Or just don't want to admit that they do not really understand everything they say?

It appears that the SSPX Menzingen has put French priests in charge of as many priories as they can find men they can trust. The future of the USA is to have foreign priests with worse and worse accents. Pretty soon we will just go to mass to receive the sacraments, and follow our missals, forget about instruction about the faith, even if the instructions were good, few will understand anything in depth.

A just punishment from God?

Signed,
An American with exhausted ears.

Two points above

2) Menzingen is placing French priests in charge of the USA because they don't trust Americans. Obviously, if there are American priests, they should be the first in line to run things, since they know the language. If there is a shortage of American priests, then next in line would be English speaking priests from other countries. The final option would be foreign priests that speak good English, as judged by English speaking priests! None of the above is being done. The priests are selected strictly because they can be trusted by Menzingen. Hence we have priests in the USA that are not qualified to be pastors, teachers, leaders.

Presuming what you say is true, that unqualified SSPX priests are being assigned as pastors in American chapels when their thick French accents make them difficult to understand and the only reason seems to be that they're given this assignment because Menzingen thinks they're trustworthy, the logical conclusion would be that Menzingen's principal concern is CONTROL and conversion of sinners, spreading the Faith and holding fast to Tradition all move down the list or perhaps even disappear entirely, so long as CONTROL remains firmly ensconced.

.