Le Turban Et La Rose
That’s what I am reading now. I can’t but observe the observer:
François Nicoullaud, the former French Ambassador in Tehran, combines originality, humor and erudition.
More on this book later.
François Nicoullaud blogs at à contre-courants
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Dammit! I can’t read or speak French! I might pick it up fairly quickly if I were there because I took it in school from third grade to halfway through high school, but… agh! I can’t believe I’m poor and stuck.
How aggravating! 😦
Have you ever used any of these online translators?
They are handy if needed.
I know a few languages but none – including Persian – very well. Better to know one perfectly.
I’m with 99. I lived in France from ages 6-8. It was the first language I read fluently in. They said I spoke French like a native Parisian. And now? Nothing. I can read a little but find my way around complex text? No way. I lost the language from disuse and while trying to learn English.
I will have to look into translators. Since I’ve been blogging, I’ve been to several blogs written in languages besides the ones I know and it’s been frustrating not knowing how to read even a short blog entry.
Peace,
Pagan
Heh. I remember trying to help someone translate the translation from one of those online translators! OMG! It was pretty funny. I think it had started out in German and the translation was so odd they turned to me to see if I couldn’t force some meaning to swim up from the soup. As I recall, after all the news in that piece finally did come out from reputable sources it looked as though I’d gotten it about 75 percent right!
It was tough going. 😆
Maybe they’re getting better now, though. That’s been well over a year ago….
Do tell us when you finish. More fun to hear from you than the book author.
btw, did you see Satrapi’s film?
Ok 🙂
Yes, I saw Persepolis. The graphism was really good. Critics mainly focused on the “people are people after all” aspect, maybe by the end of the 21st century some will get this complicated idea 🙂
Satrapi is smart and she handled quite well her movie tour, although she was even booed!
Btw I just thought of something in the above book that might interest you: the writer relates that in Oct 80, Bush (the first) meets Iranian emissaries in Paris to make sure that the hostages wouldn’t be released under President Carter… you know the rest. Not a surprise, “treacherous alliances” all the way!
We can all thank Abbie Hoffman for that bit of real information about Republican perfidy in 1980.
Rest his soul.
Thanks 99, I will look it up.
Btw Naj, Pedestrian has written beautifully about Persepolis, here.