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Old 12-09-2008, 09:18 AM   #2387
BlackEleven
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobblehead View Post
How well do have the leaders with english as their native language spoken french?

Dion was always ridiculed for his poor english, and it reflected poorly upon his abilities. While I grant he was a brutal leader, I think he is probably a very intelligent man. However his poor grasp of english and his ability to be baited in parliament to the point twhere he was so angry his english actually degraded, really mad him look like a buffoon.

Do the english leaders suffer a similar fate in reverse when they campaign in french?
In a word: yes. Harper was widely critized here in Quebec for his poor French. However, he has recently dramatically improved his French and speaks virtually flawlessly (still with an anglo accent, but grammar, syntax etc are spot on), so its barely mentioned in the media any more.

In the most recent leadership debates, the French media was particularly hard on May for her barely understandable French (worse than Dion's English).
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