This week on The Sound Kitchen you’ll hear the answer to the question about the French linguist Jean-François Champollion. There are reflections on keeping time, “The Listener’s Corner” with Paul Myers, and Erwan Rome’s “Music from Erwan”. All that, and the new quiz question, too, so click on the “Play” button above and enjoy!
Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday – here on our website, or wherever you get your podcasts. You’ll hear the winner’s names announced and the week’s quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you’ve grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and listen every week.
Erwan and I are busy cooking up special shows with your music requests, so get them in! Send your music requests to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr Tell us why you like the piece of music, too – it makes it more interesting for us all!
Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!
In addition to the breaking news articles on our site, with in-depth analysis of current affairs in France and across the globe, we have several podcasts that will leave you hungry for more.
There’s Paris Perspective, Spotlight on France, and of course, The Sound Kitchen. We have an award-winning bilingual series – an old-time radio show, with actors (!) to help you learn French, called Les voisins du 12 bis. And there is the excellent International Report, too.
As you see, sound is still quite present in the RFI English service. Keep checking our website for updates on the latest from our team of journalists. You never know what we’ll surprise you with!
To listen to our podcasts from your PC, go to our website; you’ll see “Podcasts” at the top of the page. You can either listen directly or subscribe and receive them directly on your mobile phone.
To listen to our podcasts from your mobile phone, slide through the tabs just under the lead article (the first tab is “Headline News”) until you see “Podcasts”, and choose your show.
Teachers, take note! I save postcards and stamps from all over the world to send to you for your students. If you would like stamps and postcards for your students, just write and let me know. The address is english.service@rfi.fr If you would like to donate stamps and postcards, feel free! Our address is listed below.
Another idea for your students: Br. Gerald Muller, my beloved music teacher from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, has been writing books for young adults in his retirement – and they are free! There is a volume of biographies of painters and musicians called Gentle Giants, and an excellent biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., too. They are also a good way to help you improve your English – that’s how I worked on my French, reading books which were meant for young readers – and I guarantee you, it’s a good method for improving your language skills. To get Br. Gerald’s free books, click here.
Independent RFI English Clubs: Be sure to always include Audrey Iattoni (audrey.iattoni@rfi.fr) from our Listener Relations department in all your RFI Club correspondence. Remember to copy me (thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr) when you write to her so that I know what is going on, too. NB: You do not need to send her your quiz answers! Email overload!
And don’t forget, there is a Facebook page just for you, the independent RFI English Clubs. Only members of RFI English Clubs can belong to this group page, so when you apply to join, be sure you include the name of your RFI Club and your membership number. Everyone can look at it, but only members of the group can post on it. If you haven’t yet asked to join the group, and you are a member of an independent, officially recognised RFI English club, go to the Facebook link above, and fill out the questionnaire!!!!! If you do not answer the questions, I click “Decline”.
There’s a Facebook page for members of the general RFI Listeners Club, too. Just click on the link and fill out the questionnaire, and you can connect with your fellow Club members around the world. Be sure you include your RFI Listeners Club membership number (most of them begin with an A, followed by a number) in the questionnaire, or I will have to click “Decline”, which I don’t like to do!
This week’s quiz: On 7 October, I asked you a question about the French linguist Jean-Francois Champollion. That week, RFI English journalist Jessica Phelan joined Alison Hird and Sarah Elzas on their excellent podcast, Spotlight on France, to tell us how Champollion, in 1822, came closer than any other scholar of the day to de-coding Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. He already knew an Egyptian language that was spoken during Rome’s occupation of Egypt, and Champollion used that language to work backward, teasing out some of the meanings in hieroglyphics. You were to tell me the name of the language he knew that helped him with his discovery.
The answer is: Coptic. Coptic was the primary spoken language in Egypt from the 3rd century AD in Roman Egypt; it was supplanted by Arabic following the Muslim Conquest of Egypt in 639 AD. There are no native speakers of Coptic today, but it is still the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Coptic Catholic Church.
In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: “Who is the most beautiful woman in all of history … to you?”
Do you have a bonus question idea? Send it to us!
The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Alan Holder from the Isle of Wight in Great Britain. Alan is also the winner of this week’s bonus question – congratulations, Alan!
Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Fatematuj Zahra, co-secretary of the Shetu RFI Listeners Club in Naogaon, Bangladesh, and Ferhat Bezazel, President of the RFI Butterflies Club Ain Kechera in West Skikda, Algeria.
Additionally, there are RFI Listeners Club member Samir Mukhopadhyay from West Bengal, India, and RFI English listener Pratish Ranjan Behera from Odisha, India.
Congratulations winners!
Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “The Syncopated Clock” by Leroy Anderson, performed by the composer with his “Pops” Concert Orchestra; “Spell number 78: For Being Transformed into a Divine Falcon” from Songs from the Book of the Dead by Alberto Acosta; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Invisible Worlds” composed by Simon Mary and performed by Mukta, featuring Olivier "DouDou" Congar on drums and percussion.
This week’s question ... you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re-read our article “Official Swedish dictionary completed after 140 years” to help you with the answer.
You have until 4 December to enter this week's quiz; the winners will be announced on the 9 December podcast. When you enter, be sure you send your postal address with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.
Send your answers to:
english.service@rfi.fr
or
Susan Owensby
RFI – The Sound Kitchen
80, rue Camille Desmoulins
92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux
France
or
By text … You can also send your quiz answers to The Sound Kitchen mobile phone. Dial your country’s international access code, or “ + ”, then 33 6 31 12 96 82. Don’t forget to include your mailing address in your text – and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.
To find out how you can win a special Sound Kitchen prize, click here.
To find out how you can become a member of the RFI Listeners Club, or form your own official RFI Club, click here.
