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The Sound Kitchen

This week on The Sound Kitchen you’ll hear the answer to the question about the disinformation campaign around the European Union’s “Green Deal” campaign. There’s “On This Day”, “The Listener’s Corner”, and plenty of good music. All that and the new quiz and bonus questions 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 [e-mail] Tell us why you like the piece of music, too – it makes it more interesting for us all!

Responding to this week’s bonus question “Whom do you consider more important – family, or friends?”, RFI Listeners Club member Helmut Matt from Herbolzheim, Germany sent a poem. Helmut wrote: “I have written a poem about what friendship and friends really are. It's in German and I can't translate the verses - but I can translate the meaning:

Friends

People come, people go.

People's actions move being.

Nothing that exists can exist forever,

Big worries become small.

We hope for the new year.

That everything will be better.

Secret wishes will come true.

Peace is coming to earth.

Faith in the power of love.

It alone will be eternal.

How it creates hope in the heart.

Only its power will set us free.

Friendship will only be revealed,

When the world leaves you alone.

It holds in distress and in danger,

And is firm in all times.

Life in the world is short.

So let the false friends go.

Only what keeps the strength in us,

Will last for all time.

Existence lacks eternity,

When everything fades, everything goes.

But our hearts grow wide,

When friendship lasts until death.

Thank you, Helmut!

The ePOP video competition is open!

The ePOP video competition is sponsored by the RFI department “Planète Radio”, whose mission is to give a voice to the voiceless. ePOP focuses on the environment, and how climate change has affected “ordinary” people. You are to create a three-minute video about climate change, the environment, pollution - told by the people it affects.

You do not need expensive video equipment to enter the competition. Your phone is fine. And you do not need to be a member of the RFI Clubs to enter – everyone is welcome. And by the way – the prizes are incredibly generous!

Go to the ePOP page to read about past competitions, watch past videos, and read the regulations for your entry. You can also write to us at [e-mail], and we’ll forward your mail to Planète Radio.

The competition closes on 12 September, but you know how "time flies”, so get to work now! We expect to be bombarded with entries from the English speakers!

Facebook: Be sure to send your photos for the RFI English Listeners Forum banner to [e-mail]

More tech news: Did you know we have a YouTube channel? Just go to YouTube and write RFI English in the search bar, and there we are! Be sure to subscribe to see all our videos.

Would you like to learn French? RFI is here to help you!

Our website “Le Français facile avec RFI” has news broadcasts in slow, simple French, as well as bi-lingual radio dramas (with real actors!) and exercises to practice what you have heard.

Go to our website and get started! At the top of the page, click on “Test level”. According to your score, you’ll be counselled to the best-suited activities for your level.

Do not give up! As Lidwien van Dixhoorn, the head of “Le Français facile” service told me: “Bathe your ears in the sound of the language, and eventually, you’ll get it." She should know – Lidwien is Dutch and came to France hardly able to say “bonjour” and now she heads this key RFI department – so stick with it!

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, Spotlight on Africa, 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 staff 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 [e-mail] 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 that 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 ([e-mail]) from our Listener Relations department in your RFI Club correspondence. Remember to copy me ([e-mail]) 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!

This week’s quiz: On 11 May, I asked you a question about disinformation.

We wrote an article that week about the disinformation campaign in full swing ahead of the European parliamentary elections: “EU's Green Deal the target of online disinformation ahead of polls”. The Green Deal – a key project of the European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen - is, as we wrote: “an ambitious commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, making the 27-nation bloc the ‘first climate-neutral continent’”.

You were to re-read our article “EU's Green Deal the target of online disinformation ahead of polls” and send in the answer to this question: how have disinformation campaigns portrayed the EU Green Deal proposal for phasing out petrol-driven cars?

The answer is, to quote our article: “Determined to drive down dependence on fossil fuels, Brussels wants to phase out the sale of new petrol-driven vehicles by 2035 in favour of electric cars.

This has been seized upon by many as an attack on individual freedoms, with social media users across Europe sharing misleading claims that Brussels wants to ban the repair of vehicles over 15 years old, or even seize and scrap them.”

What the European Commission actually proposed in July 2023 was a revision to a text on so-called “end-of-life vehicles” to better manage their recycling.

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, suggested by Jayanta Chakrabarty from New Delhi, India: “Whom would you consider more important, family or friends, and why?”

Do you have a bonus question idea? Send it to us!

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Dipita Chakrabarty from New Delhi, India. Dipita is also this week’s bonus question winner. Congratulations, Dipita!

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Hansha Biswas, a member of the RFI Pariwer Bandhu SWL Club in Bhilai, India, and RFI Listeners Club members Tanting Ghogomu from Ottawa, Canada; Arifa Alam Dolon from Natore, Bangladesh, and Zenon Teles, the president of the Christian - Marxist - Leninist - Maoist Association of Listening DX-ers in Goa, India.

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s program: The Overture to Cosi fan tutte by Mozart, performed by the Orchestre de Strasbourg conducted by Alain Lombard; the “Ode to Joy” from the Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven, performed by the Stringspace Quartet; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and the terzettino from Act I of Mozart’s opera Cosi fan tutte, sung by soprano Virginia Tola, mezzo-soprano Adriana Mastrangelo, and bass-baritone Víctor Torres. .

Do you have a music request? Send it to [e-mail]

This week’s question ... you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re-read Jessica Phelan’s article “Why did Macron call snap elections and what does it mean for France?”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 8 July to enter this week's quiz. The winners will be announced on the 13 July 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:

[e-mail]

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.