TRANSCRIPT
I'm sure that the vi.. this visit will bear (?) our relationship at the best level we can hope (sic). We come from a great partnership, India and France, and we must always improve the relationship between our two countries. India is a great democracy, the big (sic) democracy in the world, a country which is (in ?) development, and France must be with you in the challenge. Thank you, thank you.
ANALYSIS
Besides having an accent which borders on caricature, Hollande makes a number of mistakes. He says "bear our relationship" (probably translating the French "porter"), when he should have said "take", and omits the "for" after "hope". He should have used the superlative "biggest" when describing India as "the big democracy in the world" (though to be fair he gets the preposition "in" right). Finally, he talks about India being a country "in development" ("en dévelopement") rather than a "developing country". In any case, I'm not sure his Indian hosts would appreciate being referred to as a developing country, which sounds rather patronizing now that India is one of the so-called BRICS.
COMMENT
French President François Hollande doesn't seem to have made much, if any, progress since he was last caught speaking English on camera. It's strange that an elite politician would speak English so poorly. Mind you, Nicolas Sarkozy was no better. Not a great advertisement for language education in French schools ...
