175-737: The Adventures of Tintin ( French : Les Aventures de Tintin ; [lez‿avɑ̃tyʁ də tɛ̃tɛ̃] ) is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé . The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a century after Hergé's birth in 1907, Tintin had been published in more than 70 languages with sales of more than 200 million copies, and had been adapted for radio, television, theatre, and film. The series first appeared in French on 10 January 1929 in Le Petit Vingtième ( The Little Twentieth ),
350-422: A Sartre -esque character", an " existentialist before the term had been coined", going on to observe that Tintin exists only through his actions, is just a narrative vehicle, having "no surname, no family, hardly anything of a face, and the mere semblance of a career." The image of Tintin—a round-faced young man running with a white fox terrier by his side—is easily one of the most recognisable visual icons of
525-466: A big-game hunter , accidentally killing fifteen antelope as opposed to the one needed for the evening meal. However, concerns over the number of dead animals led Tintin ' s Scandinavian publishers to request changes. A page of Tintin killing a rhinoceros by drilling a hole in its back and inserting a stick of dynamite was deemed excessive; Hergé replaced the page with one in which the rhino accidentally discharges Tintin's rifle while he sleeps under
700-502: A "narrative vehicle" for Hergé's plots. Hergé biographer Pierre Assouline notes that in the early Adventures , Tintin shows "little sympathy for humanity". Assouline describes the character as "obviously celibate, excessively virtuous, chivalrous, brave, a defender of the weak and oppressed, never looks for trouble but always finds it." Michael Farr deems Tintin to be an intrepid young man of high moral standing, with whom his audience can identify. His rather neutral personality permits
875-511: A 24th unfinished album was released, the studios were disbanded, and the assets were transferred to the Hergé Foundation . Tintin is a young Belgian reporter and adventurer who becomes involved in dangerous cases in which he takes heroic action to save the day. The Adventures may feature Tintin hard at work in his investigative journalism, but seldom is he seen actually turning in a story. Readers and critics have described Tintin as
1050-744: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process
1225-457: A balanced reflection of the evil, folly, and foolhardiness that surrounds him, allowing the reader to assume Tintin's position within the story rather than merely following the adventures of a strong protagonist. Tintin's representation enhances this aspect, with comics expert Scott McCloud noting that the combination of Tintin's iconic, neutral personality and Hergé's "unusually realistic", signature ligne claire ("clear line") style "allows
1400-506: A boy and a little white dog. Abbe Wallez thought that these characters could be developed further, and asked Hergé to use characters like these for an adventure that could be serialised in Le Petit Vingtième . Hergé agreed, and an image of Tintin and Snowy first appeared in the youth supplement on 4 January 1929, in an advert for the upcoming series. Hergé would later insist that Tintin would only be "born" on 10 January 1929, in
1575-610: A branch of the Western Publishing Company in the 1950s. The albums were translated from French into American English with some artwork panels blanked except for the speech balloons. This was done to remove content considered to be inappropriate for children, such as drunkenness and free mixing of races. The albums were not popular and only six were published in mixed order. The edited albums later had their blanked areas redrawn by Hergé to be more acceptable, and they currently appear this way in published editions around
1750-602: A classic Franco-Belgian strip". Syldavia in particular is described in considerable detail, Hergé creating a history, customs, and a language, which is actually a Slavic-looking transcript of Marols , a working-class Brussels dialect. He set the country in the Balkans , and it is, by his own admission, modelled after Albania . The country finds itself threatened by neighbouring Borduria, with an attempted annexation appearing in King Ottokar's Sceptre . This situation parallels
1925-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,
SECTION 10
#17327941017502100-505: A criminal case was initiated, although the matter was transferred to a civil court. Belgium's Centre for Equal Opportunities warned against "over-reaction and hyper political correctness ". French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from
2275-555: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
2450-537: A hero who embodied human qualities and virtues but no faults. The Adventures of Tintin mirror the past century while Tintin himself provides a beacon of excellence for the future." Thompson says Tintin is "almost featureless, ageless, sexless", and does not appear to be burdened with a personality. Yet this very anonymity remains the key to Tintin's gigantic international success. With so little to mark him out, anybody can identify with him and live out his adventures. Millions have done so, both adults and children, including
2625-530: A lesson in mathematics. Hergé later admitted the flaws in the original story, excusing it saying: "I portrayed these Africans according to ... this purely paternalistic spirit of the time". Sue Buswell, who was the editor of Tintin at Methuen, summarised the perceived problems with the book in 1988 as "all to do with rubbery lips and heaps of dead animals", although Thompson noted her quote may have been "taken out of context". Drawing on André Maurois ' Les Silences du colonel Bramble , Hergé presents Tintin as
2800-652: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on
2975-510: A recent theft. Sometimes Tintin is the one being interviewed, such as when a radio reporter presses him for details, "In your own words." But aside from these few examples, Tintin is never actually seen consulting with his editor or delivering a story. As his adventures continue. Tintin is less often seen reporting and is more often seen as a detective, pursuing his investigative journalism from his apartment at No. 26 Labrador Street. Other characters refer to him as Sherlock Holmes , as he has
3150-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in
3325-683: A result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including the United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ,
3500-675: A result, the colourful supporting cast was developed during this period. Thomson and Thompson ( Dupont et Dupond in Hergé's original version) are two incompetent detectives who look like identical twins, their only discernible difference being the shape of their moustaches. First introduced in Cigars of the Pharaoh , they provide much of the comic relief throughout the series, being afflicted with chronic spoonerisms . They are extremely clumsy, thoroughly incompetent, and usually bent on arresting
3675-475: A sense of responsibility to my readers". Hergé's use of research and photographic reference allowed him to build a realised universe for Tintin, going so far as to create fictionalised countries, dressing them with specific political cultures. These were heavily informed by the cultures evident in Hergé's lifetime. Pierre Skilling has asserted that Hergé saw monarchy as "the legitimate form of government", noting that democratic "values seem underrepresented in [such]
SECTION 20
#17327941017503850-495: A series of adventures in 1910 titled Tintin, le petit Parisien [ fr ] . Hergé, an avid news reader, would have been aware of the activities of a number of popular journalists well known in Belgium, notably Joseph Kessel but especially Albert Londres , one of the creators of investigative journalism . Almost certainly another influence was Palle Huld , a 15-year-old Danish Boy Scout who travelled around
4025-465: A sharp intellect, an eye for detail, and powers of deduction. Like Holmes, he is occasionally a master of disguise, and in Rastapopoulos even has an archenemy . Tintin's occupation drifts further in later adventures, abandoning all pretence of reporting news and instead making news in his role of explorer. Clearly unencumbered with financial preoccupations, after Red Rackham's Treasure he
4200-529: A small goblin boy named Tintin, who had a rounded face and quiff. Hergé agreed that Rabier's manner of drawing animals had influenced him, although he swore that he was unaware of the existence of Tintin-Lutin until one of his readers later informed him of the similarity. In 1907, Gaston Leroux (author of The Phantom of the Opera ) created the character Joseph Rouletabille , a young journalist and amateur detective. Marcel Priollet [ fr ] wrote
4375-575: A strip about a Boy Scout patrol leader titled Les Aventures de Totor C.P. des Hannetons ( The Adventures of Totor, Scout Leader of the Cockchafers ) for the Scouting newspaper Le Boy Scout Belge ( The Belgian Boy Scout ). Totor was a strong influence on Tintin , with Hergé describing the latter as being like Totor's younger brother. Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier stated that graphically, Totor and Tintin were "virtually identical" except for
4550-715: A strong protagonist. Tintin's iconic representation enhances this aspect, with Scott McCloud noting that it "allows readers to mask themselves in a character and safely enter a sensually stimulating world". Snowy ( Milou in Hergé's original version), a white Wire Fox Terrier dog, is Tintin's loyal companion. Like Captain Haddock, Snowy is fond of Loch Lomond brand Scotch whisky , and his occasional bouts of drinking tend to get him into unintentional trouble, as does his only fear: arachnids. Captain Archibald Haddock ( Capitaine Haddock in Hergé's original version)
4725-623: A tree. In 2007, the UK's Commission for Racial Equality called for the book to be pulled from shelves after a complaint, stating: "It beggars belief that in this day and age Borders would think it acceptable to sell and display Tintin in the Congo." In August 2007, a Congolese student filed a complaint in Brussels that the book was an insult to the Congolese people. Public prosecutors investigated, and
4900-547: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in
5075-462: A way of moving and a physical presence that must have inspired me without my knowing it. His gestures stayed in my mind. I copied them clumsily, without meaning to or even knowing I was doing it; it was him I was drawing." A few years after young Hergé joined Scouting , he became the unofficial artist for his Scout troop and drew a Boy Scout character for the national magazine Le Boy Scout Belge . This young man, whom he named Totor , travelled
5250-495: A weekly youth supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle . Appearing as a young man with a round face and quiff hairstyle, Tintin is depicted as a precocious, multitalented reporter who travels the world with his dog Snowy . Since his inception in the early 20th century, Tintin has remained a popular literary figure with statues and commemorative murals of the character seen throughout Belgium. In addition to
5425-411: A well-rounded yet open-ended, intelligent, and creative character, noting that his lack of backstory and neutral personality permits a reflection of the evil, folly, and foolhardiness which surrounds him. The character never compromises his Boy Scout ideals, which represent Hergé's own, and his status allows the reader to assume his position within the story, rather than merely following the adventures of
The Adventures of Tintin - Misplaced Pages Continue
5600-609: A work given to him by Wallez and authored by Joseph Douillet , the former Belgian consul in Russia, that is highly critical of the Soviet regime, although Hergé contextualised this by noting that in Belgium, at the time a devout Catholic nation, "anything Bolshevik was atheist ". In the story, Bolshevik leaders are motivated by personal greed and a desire to deceive the world. Tintin discovers, buried, "the hideout where Lenin , Trotsky , and Stalin have collected together wealth stolen from
5775-429: A work whose idioms and jokes would be meritorious in their own right. Despite the free hand Hergé afforded the two, they worked closely with the original text, asking for regular assistance to understand Hergé's intentions. The British translations were also Anglicised to appeal to British customs and values. Milou, for example, was renamed Snowy at the translators' discretion. Captain Haddock's Le château de Moulinsart
5950-457: A working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As
6125-405: A youth supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle ( The Twentieth Century ). The success of the series led to serialised strips published in Belgium's leading newspaper Le Soir ( The Evening ) and spun into a successful Tintin magazine . In 1950, Hergé created Studios Hergé , which produced the canonical versions of ten Tintin albums. Following Hergé's death in 1983,
6300-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French
6475-569: Is a Merchant Marine sea captain and Tintin's best friend. Introduced in The Crab with the Golden Claws , Haddock is initially depicted as a weak and alcoholic character, but later evolves to become genuinely heroic and even a socialite after he finds a treasure from his ancestor, Sir Francis Haddock ( Chevalier François de Hadoque ). The Captain's coarse humanity and sarcasm act as a counterpoint to Tintin's often-implausible heroism; he
6650-454: Is a quick thinker and an effective diplomat. He is simply an all-rounder, good at almost everything, which is what Hergé himself would have liked to be. Tintin's personality evolved as Hergé wrote the series. Peeters relates that in the early Adventures , Tintin's personality was "incoherent", in that he was "[s]ometimes foolish and sometimes omniscient, pious to the point of mockery and then unacceptably aggressive", ultimately just serving as
6825-472: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English
7000-546: Is also a skilled radio operator with knowledge of Morse code . He packs a solid punch to a villain's jaw when necessary, demonstrates impressive swimming skills, and is a crack shot. He proves himself a capable engineer and scientist during his adventure to the Moon. He is also an excellent athlete, in outstanding condition, able to walk, run, and swim long distances. Hergé summarized Tintin's abilities thusly: "a hero without fear and beyond reproach." More than anything else, Tintin
7175-489: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given
The Adventures of Tintin - Misplaced Pages Continue
7350-422: Is always quick with a dry comment whenever the boy reporter seems too idealistic. The hot-tempered Haddock uses a range of colourful insults and curses to express his feelings, such as "billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles!" ( Mille milliards de mille sabords! ) or "ten thousand thundering typhoons!" Professor Cuthbert Calculus ( Professeur Tryphon Tournesol in Hergé's original version; tournesol
7525-399: Is an opera singer of whom Haddock is terrified. She was first introduced in King Ottokar's Sceptre and seems to appear wherever the protagonists travel, along with her maid Irma and pianist Igor Wagner . Although amiable and strong-willed, she is also comically foolish, whimsical, absent-minded, talkative, and seemingly unaware that her voice is shrill and appallingly loud. Her speciality
7700-652: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in
7875-407: Is ensconced as a permanent house guest in the stately Marlinspike Hall with retired mariner Captain Haddock and the scientist Professor Calculus . Tintin occupies all of his time with his friends, exploring the bottom of the sea, the tops of the mountains, and the surface of the Moon (sixteen years before astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin ). Through it all, Tintin finds himself cast in
8050-619: Is especially noticeable in the seascapes, which are reminiscent of works by Hokusai and Hiroshige . Hergé also declared Mark Twain an influence, although this admiration may have led him astray when depicting Incas as having no knowledge of an upcoming solar eclipse in Prisoners of the Sun , an error T. F. Mills attributed to an attempt to portray "Incas in awe of a latter-day ' Connecticut Yankee '". Tintin first appeared in English in
8225-422: Is frequently replaced by malapropisms such as " Paddock ", " Stopcock ", or " Hopscotch ", while Nestor, Haddock's butler, is confused with "Chestor" and "Hector". Her own name means "white and chaste flower": a meaning to which Professor Calculus once refers when he breeds a white rose and names it for the singer. She was based upon opera divas in general (according to Hergé's perception), Hergé's Aunt Ninie (who
8400-563: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English
8575-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from
8750-434: Is never far away from his stories." It is this sense of humour that makes the appeal of Tintin truly international. The Adventures of Tintin was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. Tintin remains popular today; by the time of the centenary of Hergé's birth in 2007, Tintin had been published in more than 70 languages with sales of more than 200 million copies. The study of Tintin has become
8925-532: Is never specified. Throughout the Adventures , published over 50 years, he remained youthful. "Tintin was born at fifteen", says Assouline. Hergé commented, "For me, Tintin hasn't aged. What age do I give him? I don't know ... 17? In my judgement, he was 14 or 15 when I created him, Boy Scout, and he has practically not moved on. Suppose he put on 3 or 4 years in 40 years ... Good, work out an average, 15 and 4 equals 19." From Tintin's first adventure, he lives
SECTION 50
#17327941017509100-469: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in
9275-828: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for
9450-639: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,
9625-712: Is the French word for 'sunflower') is an absent-minded and partially deaf physicist and a regular character alongside Tintin, Snowy, and Captain Haddock. He was introduced in Red Rackham's Treasure , and based partially on Auguste Piccard , a Swiss physicist. "Everybody wants to be Tintin: generation after generation. In a world of Rastapopouloses , Tricklers and Carreidases —or, more prosaically, Jolyon Waggs and Bolt-the-builders —Tintin represents an unattainable ideal of goodness, cleanness, authenticity". —Literary critic Tom McCarthy , 2006 Hergé's supporting characters have been cited as far more developed than
9800-459: Is the Jewel Song ( Ah! Je ris de me voir si belle en ce miroir / Ah! My beauty past compare, these jewels bright I wear ) from Gounod 's opera Faust , which she sings at the least provocation. She is often maternal toward Haddock, of whose dislike she remains ignorant. She often confuses words, especially names, with other words that rhyme with them or of which they remind her; "Haddock"
9975-553: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure
10150-483: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in
10325-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially
10500-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism
10675-469: The Adventures of Tintin from a more "adult" perspective as Les Métamorphoses de Tintin , published in English as The Metamorphoses of Tintin, or Tintin for Adults in 2010. In reviewing Apostolidès' book, Nathan Perl-Rosenthal of The New Republic thought that it was "not for the faint of heart: it is densely-packed with close textual analysis and laden with psychological jargon". Following Apostolidès's work, French psychoanalyst Serge Tisseron examined
SECTION 60
#173279410175010850-471: The Allies entered Brussels and Hergé's German employers fled. Le Soir was shut down and The Adventures of Tintin was put on hold. Then in 1946, Hergé accepted an invitation from Belgian comic publisher Raymond Leblanc and his new publishing company Le Lombard to continue The Adventures of Tintin in the new Le journal de Tintin ( Tintin magazine). Hergé quickly learned that he no longer had
11025-764: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of
11200-609: The Art Deco designer, also affected early Tintin adventures: "His influence can be detected at the beginning of the Soviets , where my drawings are designed along a decorative line, like an 'S'". Hergé also readily adopted the image of round noses from George McManus , feeling they were "so much fun that I used them, without scruples!" During the extensive research Hergé carried out for The Blue Lotus , he became influenced by Chinese and Japanese illustrative styles and woodcuts . This
11375-609: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of
11550-465: The Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only a second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and
11725-533: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains
11900-559: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,
12075-877: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It
12250-574: The Italian conquest of Albania , and that of Czechoslovakia and Austria by expansionist Nazi Germany prior to World War II. Hergé's use of research would include months of preparation for Tintin's voyage to the Moon in the two-part storyline spread across Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon . His research for the storyline was noted in New Scientist : "The considerable research undertaken by Hergé enabled him to come very close to
12425-626: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It
12600-594: The Paris Gare du Nord railway station, following which he organised the publication of the story in book form. The story's popularity led to an increase in sales, so Wallez granted Hergé two assistants. At Wallez's direction, in June he began serialisation of the second story, Tintin in the Congo , designed to encourage colonial sentiment towards the Belgian Congo . Authored in a paternalistic style that depicted
12775-902: The United Kingdom . He also sent Tintin to fictional countries of his own devising, such as the Latin American republic of San Theodoros , the East European kingdom of Syldavia , or the fascist state of Borduria —whose leader's name, Müsstler, was a portmanteau of the names of the Nazi German Führer Adolf Hitler and the Italian Fascist Prime Minister Benito Mussolini . In May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded Belgium as World War II spread further across Europe. Although Hergé briefly fled to France and
12950-713: The Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by
13125-775: The World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin
13300-689: The provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco; the Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to
13475-427: The ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in
13650-506: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;
13825-526: The 1991 Canadian -made The Adventures of Tintin animated TV series, which originally aired on HBO and subsequently on Nickelodeon . At the same time, actor Richard Pearce provided the voice of Tintin for a radio drama series of Tintin created by the BBC , which also starred Andrew Sachs as Snowy. In 2005, English actor Russell Tovey played the role at the London Barbican Theatre for
14000-718: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed
14175-754: The Arab emir, and Abdullah his mischievous son, Dr. Müller the evil German psychiatrist, Oliveira da Figueira the friendly Portuguese salesman, Cutts the butcher whose phone number is repeatedly confused with Haddock's, and Allan the henchman of Rastapopoulos and formerly Haddock's first mate. The settings within Tintin have also added depth to the strips. Hergé mixes real and fictional lands into his stories. In King Ottokar's Sceptre (revisited once more in The Calculus Affair ) Hergé creates two fictional countries, Syldavia and Borduria , and invites
14350-595: The Blue Diamond and Mr. Boullock's Disappearance . She was later replaced by 11-year-old Roland Ravez, who also lent his voice to recordings of the Cigars of the Pharaoh and The Blue Lotus . Jean-Pierre Talbot played Tintin in two live-action movie adaptations: Tintin and the Golden Fleece (1961) and Tintin and the Blue Oranges (1964). Canadian actor Colin O'Meara voiced Tintin in
14525-555: The British countryside would be acceptable to British readers. The resulting 1966 album is the dramatically updated and redrawn version most commonly available today. As of the early 21st century, Egmont publishes Tintin books in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. The Tintin books have had relatively limited popularity in the United States. The works were first adapted for the American English market by Golden Books ,
14700-703: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French
14875-917: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,
15050-511: The Catholic newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle (" The Twentieth Century "), where his director challenged him to create a new serialised comic for its Thursday supplement for young readers, Le Petit Vingtième (" The Little Twentieth "). In the edition 30 December 1928 of the satirical weekly newspaper Le Sifflet (a parallel publication to Le Vingtième Siècle ), Hergé included two cartoon gags with word balloons, in which he depicted
15225-466: The Congo . Later, Hergé made corrections to Tintin's actions, for example, replacing Tintin's dynamiting of a rhinoceros with an incident in which the rhino accidentally discharges Tintin's rifle, and called his earlier actions "a transgression of my youth." In the end, you know, my only international rival is Tintin! We are the small ones, who do not let themselves be had by the great ones. –Charles de Gaulle As Farr observes, "Hergé created
15400-484: The Congolese as childlike idiots, in later decades it was accused of racism, but at the time was uncontroversial and popular, and further publicity stunts were held to increase sales. For the third adventure, Tintin in America , serialised from September 1931 to October 1932, Hergé finally got to deal with a scenario of his own choice, and used the work to push an anti-capitalist, anti-consumerist agenda in keeping with
15575-538: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of
15750-484: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained
15925-567: The Golden Claws was the first to be published with Hyslop's lettering. Hyslop was given versions of Hergé's artwork with blank panels. Hyslop would write his English script on a clear cellophane -like material, aiming to fit within the original speech bubble. Occasionally the size of the bubbles would need to be adjusted if the translated text would not fit. In the early 2000s, Tintin's English publishers Egmont discontinued publishing books featuring Hyslop's handwritten lettering, instead publishing books with text created with digital fonts. This change
16100-741: The Hergé Foundation has presented such criticism as naïveté and scholars of Hergé such as Harry Thompson have said that "Hergé did what he was told by the Abbé Wallez", Hergé himself felt that his background made it impossible to avoid prejudice, stating: "I was fed the prejudices of the bourgeois society that surrounded me". In Tintin in the Land of the Soviets , the Bolsheviks were presented as villains. Hergé drew on Moscow Unveiled ,
16275-675: The Hergé Foundation, Hergé's widow Fanny Rodwell said: "We never thought that this story of friendship would have a resonance more than 40 years later". The study of Tintin, sometimes referred to as "Tintinology", has become the life work of some literary critics in Belgium, France and the United Kingdom. Belgian author Philippe Goddin has written Hergé et Tintin reporters: Du Petit Vingtième au Journal Tintin (1986, later republished in English as Hergé and Tintin Reporters: From "Le Petit Vingtième" to "Tintin" Magazine in 1987) and Hergé et les Bigotudos (1993) amongst other books on
16450-643: The Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as a second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as
16625-553: The Moon ). However, as Michael Farr observes, Tintin has "tremendous spirit" and, in Tintin in Tibet , is appropriately given the name Great Heart. By turns, Tintin is innocent, politically crusading, escapist, and finally cynical. If he has perhaps too much of the goody-goody about him, at least he is not priggish; Hergé admitting as much, saying, "If Tintin is a moralist, he's a moralist who doesn't take things too seriously, so humour
16800-451: The OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as a second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
16975-530: The Scout uniform, also noting many similarities between their respective adventures, particularly in the illustration style, the fast pace of the story, and the use of humour. He was fascinated by new techniques in the medium such as the systematic use of speech bubbles—found in such American comics as George McManus ' Bringing up Father , George Herriman 's Krazy Kat , and Rudolph Dirks 's Katzenjammer Kids , copies of which had been sent to him from Mexico by
17150-591: The Soviet Union, Belgian Congo, Peru, India, Egypt, Morocco, Indonesia, Iceland, Nepal, Tibet, and China. Other actual locales used were the Sahara Desert, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Moon. Hergé's extensive research began with The Blue Lotus ; Hergé said that "it was from that time that I undertook research and really interested myself in the people and countries to which I sent Tintin, out of
17325-705: The World of Hergé in 1988. The reporter Michael Farr brought Tintin literary criticism to the English language with works such as Tintin, 60 Years of Adventure (1989), Tintin: The Complete Companion (2001), Tintin & Co. (2007) and The Adventures of Hergé (2007), as had English screenwriter Harry Thompson , the author of Tintin: Hergé and his Creation (1991). Tintin's earliest stories naively depicted controversial images, with Tintin engaging in racial stereotypes , animal cruelty , violence, colonialism , including ethnocentric caricatured portrayals of non-Europeans, most notably and notoriously in Tintin in
17500-521: The central character, each imbued with strength of character and depth of personality, which has been compared with that of the characters of Charles Dickens . Hergé used the supporting characters to create a realistic world in which to set his protagonists' adventures. To further the realism and continuity, characters would recur throughout the series. The occupation of Belgium and the restrictions imposed upon Hergé forced him to focus on characterisation to avoid depicting troublesome political situations. As
17675-416: The character Tintin developed; he replied, "He practically did not evolve. Graphically, he remained an outline. Look at his features: his face is a sketch, a formula." This view was echoed by Assouline: "Tintin was as uncomplicated as the story line". Hergé never explained why he chose Tintin as the character's name, stating that it has no inherent meaning . He had previously made use of alliteration with
17850-401: The character of Tintin and the sort of adventures that would befall him came to me, I believe, in five minutes, the moment I first made a sketch of the figure of this hero: that is to say, he had not haunted my youth nor even my dreams. Although it's possible that as a child I imagined myself in the role of a sort of Tintin". —Hergé, 15 November 1966. Georges Prosper Remi, best known under
18025-484: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Tintin (character) Tintin ( / ˈ t ɪ n t ɪ n / ; French: [tɛ̃tɛ̃] ) is the titular protagonist of The Adventures of Tintin , the comic series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé . The character was created in 1929 and introduced in Le Petit Vingtième ,
18200-519: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French
18375-696: The early 21st century, Little, Brown and Company (owned by the Hachette Book Group USA ) continues to publish Tintin books in the United States. Moulinsart 's official Tintin app in Apple 's App Store , launched with the release of the digital version of Tintin in the Congo on 5 June 2015, features brand new English language translations by journalist, writer and Tintin expert Michael Farr . The English-language Adventures of Tintin books were originally published with handwritten lettering created by cartographer Neil Hyslop. 1958's The Crab with
18550-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French
18725-594: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as
18900-528: The executive director of ICT Europe Tsering Jampa noted was "for many ... their introduction to the awe-inspiring landscape and culture of Tibet". In 2001, the Hergé Foundation demanded the recall of the Chinese translation of the work, which had been released with the title Tintin in Chinese Tibet . The work was subsequently published with the correct translation of the title. Accepting on behalf of
19075-458: The famous quiff is plastered to Tintin's forehead, but during a particularly vigorous car chase in what became page 8 of the printed volume, his quiff is out and remains so. By the time he arrives in Chicago for his third adventure, both Hergé and his readers feel they know Tintin well, and he was to change little in either appearance or dress. Hergé was once asked by interviewer Numa Sadoul how
19250-545: The final instalment of the series, Tintin and Alph-Art , was released posthumously. The series is set during a largely realistic 20th century. Its protagonist is Tintin , a courageous young Belgian reporter and adventurer aided by his faithful dog Snowy ( Milou in the original French edition). Other allies include the brash and cynical Captain Haddock , the intelligent but hearing-impaired Professor Calculus (French: Professeur Tournesol ), incompetent detectives Thomson and Thompson (French: Dupont et Dupond ), and
19425-425: The first episode of Tintin in the Land of the Soviets . Hergé admitted that he did not take Tintin seriously in the early Adventures , explaining simply that he "put the character to the test"; that he created Tintin "as a joke between friends, forgotten the next day." Hergé biographer Benoît Peeters noted that Tintin was "supremely Belgian" in his characteristics, a view echoed by Assouline, who deemed all of
19600-516: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of
19775-915: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,
19950-829: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being
20125-415: The globe and righted wrongs, all without ruffling his Scout honour. As was the format for European comics at the time, the early drawings of Totor merely illustrated the story; the text that appeared below the drawings is what propelled the action. Years later, Totor would be very much in Hergé's mind; his new comics character would be, Hergé himself later said, "the little brother of Totor ... keeping
20300-424: The independence he preferred; he was required to produce two coloured pages a week for Leblanc's magazine, a tall order. In 1950, Hergé began to poach the better members of the Tintin magazine staff to work in the large house on Avenue Louise that contained the fledgling Studios Hergé . Bob De Moor (who imitated Hergé's style and did half the work), Guy Dessicy (colourist), and Marcel DeHaye ( secretary ) were
20475-454: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French
20650-479: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon
20825-612: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,
21000-479: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what
21175-655: The life of a campaigning reporter. He is sent to the Soviet Union , where he writes his editor a dispatch. He travels to the Belgian Congo , where he engages in photojournalism . When he travels to China in The Blue Lotus , the Shanghai News features the front-page headline, "Tintin's Own Story". In The Broken Ear , with notebook in hand, Tintin questions the director of the Museum of Ethnography over
21350-439: The life work of many literary critics, observers sometimes referring to this study as "Tintinology". A prominent literary critic of Tintin is Philippe Goddin , "Belgium's leading authority on Hergé", author of numerous books on the subject, including Hergé and Tintin, Reporters and the biography Hergé: lignes de vie . In 1983, Benoît Peeters published Le Monde d'Hergé , subsequently published in English as Tintin and
21525-483: The likes of Steven Spielberg , Andy Warhol , Wim Wenders , Françoise Sagan , Harold Macmillan and General Charles de Gaulle , who considered Tintin his only international rival. While working on Tintin's next adventure, Tintin and the Alph'Art , Hergé died at 76 on 3 March 1983, and with him died the adventures of his most famous character. Several leading French and Belgian newspapers devoted their front pages to
21700-469: The midst of World War I , when Belgium was under German occupation , he had drawn pictures in the margins of his school workbooks of an unnamed young man battling the Boches (a slang term for Germans). He later commented that these drawings depicted a brave and adventurous character using his intelligence and ingenuity against opponents. None of these early drawings survive. Hergé was also influenced by
21875-451: The name of his previous character, Totor. Michael Farr believes that "Tintin" is probably the character's surname because other characters, such as his landlady , occasionally refer to him as Mr. Tintin (as printed on his doorbell). Assouline asserted that it cannot be his surname because he lacks a family, believing that Hergé had adopted it because "it sounded heroic, clear, and cheerful" as well as being easy to remember. Tintin's age
22050-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by
22225-523: The news, some illustrating it with a panel of Snowy grieving over his master's unconscious body. Tintin has appeared in real-life events staged by publishers for publicity stunts. Tintin's first live appearance was at the Gare du Nord station in Brussels on 8 May 1930, towards the end publication of the first adventure, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets . Fifteen-year-old Lucien Pepermans dressed to play
22400-714: The nucleus. To this, Hergé added Jacques Martin (imitated Hergé's style), Roger Leloup (detailed, realistic drawings), Eugène Evany (later chief of the Studios), Michel Demaret ( letterer ), and Baudouin Van Den Branden (secretary). As Harry Thompson observed, the idea was to turn the process of creating The Adventures of Tintin into a "veritable production line, the artwork passing from person to person, everyone knowing their part, like an artistic orchestra with Hergé conducting". The studios produced eight new Tintin albums for Tintin magazine, and coloured and reformatted two old Tintin albums. Studios Hergé continued to release additional publications until Hergé's death in 1983. In 1986,
22575-431: The opera diva Bianca Castafiore . The series has been admired for its clean, expressive drawings in Hergé's signature ligne claire ("clear line") style. Its well-researched plots straddle a variety of genres: swashbuckling adventures with elements of fantasy, mysteries, political thrillers, and science fiction. The stories feature slapstick humour, offset by dashes of political or cultural commentary. "The idea for
22750-415: The original comic series, Tintin has appeared in numerous plays, radio shows, television shows, and feature films, including the Steven Spielberg -directed film The Adventures of Tintin (2011). Hergé biographer Pierre Assouline noted that "Tintin had a prehistory", being influenced by a variety of sources that Hergé had encountered throughout his life. Hergé noted that during his early schooling in
22925-475: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of
23100-404: The paper's reporter Léon Degrelle . Although Hergé wanted to send Tintin to the United States, Wallez ordered him to set his adventure in the Soviet Union , acting as antisocialist propaganda for children. The result, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets , was serialised in Le Petit Vingtième from January 1929 to May 1930. Popular in Francophone Belgium, Wallez organised a publicity stunt at
23275-434: The paper's ultraconservative ideology. The Adventures of Tintin had been syndicated to a Catholic magazine named Cœurs Vaillants ( Brave Hearts ) since 1930, and Hergé was soon receiving syndication requests from Swiss and Portuguese newspapers, too. Hergé wrote a string of Adventures of Tintin , sending his character to real locations such as the Belgian Congo, United States, Egypt , India , Tibet , China , and
23450-533: The part and travelled with Hergé to the station by train. They were expecting only a handful of readers but instead found themselves mobbed by a whole horde of fans. Fourteen-year-old Henri Dendoncker appeared as Tintin returning from Tintin in the Congo . Others have played Tintin returning from the adventures Tintin in America and The Blue Lotus . Actress Jane Rubens was the first to play Tintin on stage in April 1941. The plays, written by Jacques Van Melkebeke , included Tintin in India: The Mystery of
23625-644: The pen name Hergé , was employed as an illustrator at Le Vingtième Siècle ( The Twentieth Century ), a staunchly Roman Catholic, conservative Belgian newspaper based in Hergé's native Brussels . Run by the Abbé Norbert Wallez , the paper described itself as a "Catholic Newspaper for Doctrine and Information" and disseminated a fascist viewpoint. Wallez appointed Hergé editor of a new Thursday youth supplement, titled Le Petit Vingtième (" The Little Twentieth "). Propagating Wallez's sociopolitical views to its young readership, it contained explicitly pro-fascist and antisemitic sentiment. In addition to editing
23800-518: The people". In 1999, the issue of Tintin's politics was the subject of a debate in the French parliament; this event prompted the British weekly newspaper The Economist to publish an editorial on the matter. Tintin in the Congo has been criticised as presenting the Africans as naïve and primitive. In the original work, Tintin is shown at a blackboard addressing a class of African children: "My dear friends. I am going to talk to you today about your fatherland: Belgium". Hergé redrew this in 1946 to show
23975-449: The physical appearance and mannerisms of his younger brother Paul, who had a round face and a quiff hairstyle. In search of adventure, Paul later joined the Belgian Army , receiving jeers from fellow officers when the source of Hergé's visual inspiration became obvious. Hergé later stated that in his youth, "I watched him a lot; he entertained me and fascinated me... It makes sense that Tintin took on his character, gestures, poses. He had
24150-401: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French
24325-413: The protagonists of the early Adventures "very Belgian". Hergé himself commented: "my early works are books by a young Belgian filled with the prejudices and ideas of a Catholic, they are books that could have been written by any Belgian in my situation. They are not very intelligent, I know, and do me no honour: they are 'Belgian' books." Peeters ultimately considers the early Tintin to be "incoherent ...
24500-497: The reader to mask themselves in a character and safely enter a sensually stimulating world." To the other characters, Tintin is honest, decent, compassionate, and kind. He is also modest and self-effacing, which Hergé also was, and is the most loyal of friends, which Hergé strove to be. The reporter does have vices, becoming too tipsy before facing the firing squad (in The Broken Ear ) or too angry when informing Captain Haddock that he nearly cost them their lives (in Explorers on
24675-404: The reader to tour them in text through the insertion of a travel brochure into the storyline. Other fictional lands include Khemed on the Arabian Peninsula and San Theodoros , São Rico , and Nuevo Rico in South America, as well as the kingdom of Gaipajama in India. Apart from these fictitious locations, Tintin also visits real places such as Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States,
24850-407: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in
25025-403: The role of international social crusader, sticking up for the underdog and looking after those less fortunate than himself. From the first volume onward, Hergé depicted Tintin as being adept at driving or fixing any mechanical vehicle that he comes across. Given the opportunity, Tintin is at ease driving any automobile, has driven a moon tank, and is comfortable with every aspect of aviation. He
25200-433: The series contains the key to understanding literature itself. McCarthy considered the Adventures of Tintin to be "stupendously rich", containing "a mastery of plot and symbol, theme and sub-text" which, influenced by Tisseron's psychoanalytical readings of the work, he believed could be deciphered to reveal a series of recurring themes, ranging from bartering to implicit sexual intercourse that Hergé had featured throughout
25375-523: The series in his books Tintin et les Secrets de Famille ("Tintin and the Family Secrets"), which was published in 1990, and Tintin et le Secret d'Hergé ("Tintin and Hergé's Secret"), published in 1993. The first English-language work of literary criticism devoted to the series was Tintin and the Secret of Literature , written by the novelist Tom McCarthy and published in 2006. McCarthy compares Hergé's work with that of Aeschylus , Honoré de Balzac , Joseph Conrad , and Henry James and argues that
25550-630: The series. In 1983, French author Benoît Peeters released Le Monde d'Hergé , subsequently published in English as Tintin and the World of Hergé in 1988. English reporter Michael Farr has written works such as Tintin, 60 Years of Adventure (1989), Tintin: The Complete Companion (2001), Tintin & Co. (2007) and The Adventures of Hergé (2007), while English television producer Harry Thompson authored Tintin: Hergé and his Creation (1991). Literary critics , primarily in French-speaking Europe, have also examined The Adventures of Tintin . In 1984, Jean-Marie Apostolidès published his study of
25725-497: The series. Reviewing the book in The Telegraph , Toby Clements argued that McCarthy's work, and literary criticism of Hergé's comic strips in general, cut "perilously close" to simply feeding "the appetite of those willing to cross the line between enthusiast and obsessive" in the Tintinological community. The earliest stories in The Adventures of Tintin have been criticised for animal cruelty; colonialism ; violence; and ethnocentric , caricatured portrayals of non-Europeans. While
25900-433: The sort of adventures that would befall him came to me, I believe, in five minutes, the moment I first made a sketch of the figure of this hero: that is to say, he had not haunted my youth nor even my dreams. Although it's possible that as a child I imagined myself in the role of a sort of Tintin. Hergé, 15 November 1966. Tintin appeared after Hergé got his first job as a photographic reporter and cartoonist working at
26075-407: The spirit of a Boy Scout." Assouline would describe Totor as "a sort of trial run" for Tintin. Novelist and biographer Harry Thompson simply stated that Totor would "metamorphose" into Tintin. Literary influences have been observed. Benjamin Rabier and Fred Isly published an illustrated story in 1898 titled Tintin-Lutin [ fr ] (" Tintin the Goblin "), in which they featured
26250-407: The supplement, Hergé illustrated L'extraordinaire aventure de Flup, Nénesse, Poussette et Cochonnet ( The Extraordinary Adventure of Flup, Nénesse, Poussette and Cochonnet ), a comic strip authored by a member of the newspaper's sport staff. Dissatisfied with this, Hergé wanted to write and draw his own cartoon strip. He already had experience creating comic strips. From July 1926, he had written
26425-414: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In
26600-486: The twentieth century. Hergé created Tintin as a young, blonde Belgian who is a native of Brussels, visualizing Hergé's values of conservative values and traditional norms . Assouline deemed Tintin to be middle-class, which he considers one of the few traits that the character had in common with Hergé. In his first appearance, Tintin is dressed in a long travelling coat and hat, a few pages later adopting his plus fours , check suit, black socks, and Eton collar. At first,
26775-619: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French
26950-431: The type of space suit that would be used in future Moon exploration , although his portrayal of the type of rocket that was actually used was a long way off the mark". The Moon rocket is based on the German V-2 rockets. In his youth, Hergé admired Benjamin Rabier and suggested that a number of images within Tintin in the Land of the Soviets reflected his influence, particularly the pictures of animals. René Vincent ,
27125-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by
27300-425: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of
27475-399: The weekly British children's comic Eagle in 1951 with the story King Ottokar's Sceptre . It was translated in conjunction with Casterman , Tintin's publishers, and starts by describing Tintin as "a French boy". Snowy was called by his French name Milou . The process of translating Tintin into British English was then commissioned in 1958 by Methuen , Hergé's British publishers. It
27650-481: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of
27825-402: The world in 1928 and wrote about his adventures the following year. Robert Sexé , a French motorcycle photojournalist, travelled and wrote about the Soviet Union, the Belgian Congo, and the United States—immediately followed by Tintin's adventures. Years later, when Hergé was asked who inspired Tintin, he answered, "Tintin c'est moi." Hergé had seen the new style of American comics and
28000-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as
28175-446: The world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share the official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in
28350-535: The world. From 1966 to 1979, Children's Digest included monthly instalments of The Adventures of Tintin . These serialisations served to increase Tintin's popularity, introducing him to many thousands of new readers in the United States. Atlantic Monthly Press , in cooperation with Little, Brown and Company beginning in the 1970s, republished the albums based on the British translations. Alterations were made to vocabulary not well known to an American audience (such as gaol , tyre , saloon , and spanner ). As of
28525-510: The wrong character. The detectives usually wear bowler hats and carry walking sticks except when sent abroad; during those missions they attempt the national costume of the locality they are visiting, but instead dress in conspicuously stereotypical folkloric attire which makes them stand apart. The detectives were based partly on Hergé's father Alexis and uncle Léon, identical twins who often took walks together, wearing matching bowler hats while carrying matching walking sticks. Bianca Castafiore
28700-428: Was a joint operation, headed by Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner, who worked closely with Hergé to attain a translation as true as possible to the original work. Due in part to the large amount of language-specific word play (such as punning) in the series, especially the jokes which played on Professor Calculus ' partial deafness, it was never the intention to translate literally; instead they strove to fashion
28875-412: Was considered a self-imposed exile, he ultimately decided to return to his occupied homeland. For political reasons, the Nazi authorities closed down Le Vingtième Siècle , leaving Hergé unemployed. In search of employment, he got a job as an illustrator at Belgium's leading newspaper, Le Soir ( The Evening ), which was allowed to continue publication under German management. On 17 October 1940, he
29050-531: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but
29225-400: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul
29400-486: Was instigated by publisher Casterman and Hergé's estate managers Moulinsart , who decided to replace localised hand-lettering with a single computerised font for all Tintin titles worldwide. On 1 June 2006, the Dalai Lama bestowed the International Campaign for Tibet 's Light of Truth Award upon the Hergé Foundation, along with South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu . The award was in recognition of Hergé's book Tintin in Tibet , Hergé's most personal adventure, which
29575-432: Was known for her "shrill" singing of opera), and, in the post-war comics, on Maria Callas . Other recurring characters include Nestor the butler, Chang (or Chang-Chong-Chen) the loyal Chinese boy, Rastapopoulos the criminal mastermind, Jolyon Wagg the infuriating (to Haddock) insurance salesman, General Alcazar the South American freedom fighter and (on and off) President of San Theodoros, Mohammed Ben Kalish Ezab
29750-469: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates
29925-439: Was made editor of the children's supplement, Le Soir Jeunesse , in which he set about producing new Tintin adventures. In this new, more repressive political climate of German-occupied Belgium , Hergé could no longer politicize The Adventures of Tintin lest he be arrested by the Gestapo . As Harry Thompson noted, Tintin's role as a reporter came to an end, to be replaced by his new role as an explorer. In September 1944,
30100-402: Was ready to try it. Tintin's new comic would be a strip cartoon with dialogue in speech bubbles and drawings that carried the story. Young reporter Tintin would have the investigative acumen of Londres, the travelling abilities of Huld, and the high moral standing of Totor; the Boy Scout travelling reporter that Hergé would have liked to have been. The idea for the character of Tintin and
30275-412: Was renamed Marlinspike Hall. When it came time to translate The Black Island , which is set in Great Britain , the opportunity was taken to redraw the entire book. Methuen had decided that the book did not portray Great Britain accurately enough and had compiled a list of 131 errors of detail which needed to be put right, such as ensuring that the British police were unarmed and ensuring that scenes of
30450-411: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of
30625-437: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,
#749250