Essay and exam phrases

 

Crime: violent youths

Ce qu’il me choque…

+ subjunctive

What shocks me is…

Je trouve difficilement croyable que…

+ subjunctive

I find it difficult to believe that…

Il n’y a rien de surprenant à ce que…

+ subjunctive

There is nothing surprising about…

J’ai du mal a comprendre que…

+ subjunctive

I have difficulty in understanding that…

Pour moi, l’étonnant, c’est que…

+ subjunctive

The thing that surprises me is that…

Je pense que le comportement de ces jeunes est…

+ subjunctive

I think the behaviour of these youths is…

Je n’arrive pas à comprendre pourquoi…

+ subjunctive

I am unable to understand why…

Ce genre de comportement s’explique facilement/difficilement…

+ subjunctive

This type of behaviour is easily explained / difficult to explain

Pour qu’ils s’en sortent, il faudra que l’on…

+ subjunctive

In order that they see the end of it / get out of it, it will be necessary that we/you/they + verb

C’est à nous de…

+ subjunctive

It’s up to us to…

Il en impose au gouvernement de…

+ subjunctive

It impresses the government to…

 

Politics: le Front National (≈ the BNP)

Le FN a envie de attiser les passions

The FN wants to stir up emotions

Le FN a envie de renforcer les préjugés racistes

The FN wants to reinforce racist prejudices

Le FN a l’intention de renvoyer les immigrés chez eux

The FN intends to send immigrants back to their country of origin

Le FN cherche à favoriser la recrudescence du racisme

The FN seeks to make widespread the current increasing trend of racism

Le FN essaie d’utiliser les immigrés comme de boucs émissaires

The FN tries to treat immigrants as scape goats

Le FN essaie de promouvoir le patriotisme

The FN tries to promote patriotism

Le FN tient à encourager l’intolérance / la méfiance / la xénophobie

The FN is determined to encourage intolerance / distrust / xenophobia (hate or fear of foreigners)

Le FN tient à refouler les immigrés

The FN is determined to drive back immigrants

Le FN veut banaliser des idées racistes

The FN wants to make commonplace (or trivialise) racist thinking

Le FN veut rejeter la responsabilité de chômage sur les immigrés

The FN wants to lay the blame for unemployment on the immigrant population

Le FN vise à reprocher aux immigrés d’augmenter le taux de chômage

The FN aims to blame immigrants for the increase in unemployment rate

Le FN vise à se débarrasser des ghettos

The FN aims to get rid of ghettos

Le Front National cherche à cesser le flux migratoire

The Front National seeks to halt the influx of migrants