This week on The Sound Kitchen, you’ll hear the answer to the question about the pandas in the Beauval Zoo. There are your answers to the bonus question on “The Listeners Corner” and a tasty musical dessert on Erwan Rome’s “Music from Erwan”. All that and the new quiz and bonus questions too, so click 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.

World Radio Day is just around the corner, so it’s time for you to record your greetings for our annual World Radio Day programme!

WRD is on 13 February; we'll have our celebration the day after, on the 14 February show. The deadline for your recordings is Monday 2 February, which is not far off!

Try to keep your greeting to under a minute. You can record on your phone and send it to me as an attachment in an e-mail to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

Be sure to record your greeting from underneath a blanket. Then the sound will be truly radiophonic – I mean, you want everyone to understand you, right?

Don’t miss out on the fun. 2 February is just around the corner, so to your recorders!

Erwan and I are busy cooking up special shows with your music requests, so get them in! Send your music requests to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr Tell us why you like the piece of music, too – it makes it more interesting for us all!

Facebook: Be sure to send your photos for the RFI English Listeners Forum banner to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

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 bilingual 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”, and you’ll be counselled on the best-suited activities for your level according to your score.

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 Spotlight on France, Spotlight on Africa, the International Report, and of course, The Sound Kitchen. We also have an award-winning bilingual series – an old-time radio show, with actors (!) to help you learn French, called Les voisins du 12 bis.

Remember, podcasts are radio, too! As you see, sound is still quite present in the RFI English service. Please keep checking our website for updates on the latest from our excellent 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 english.service@rfi.fr If you would like to donate stamps and postcards, feel free! Our address is listed below.

Independent RFI English Clubs: Be sure to always include Audrey Iattoni (audrey.iattoni@rfi.fr) from our Listener Relations department in all your RFI Club correspondence. Remember to copy me (thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr) when you write to her so that I know what is going on, too. NB: You do not need to send her your quiz answers! Email overload!

This week’s quiz: On 29 November, I asked you a question about two Chinese pandas – Huan Huan and Yuan Zi – who were in the Beauval Zoo here in France, and had just gone back to China.

You were to re-read our article “France says goodbye to star pandas going back to China” and send in the answer to this question: How many cubs did Huan Huan give birth to while here in France?

The answer is, to quote our article: “Huan Huan gave birth to three cubs – the first to be born in France. The eldest, Yuan Ming, a male, was sent back to China two years ago, but twins born in August 2021 will remain at Beauval at least until 2027.” The twins’ names are Hunalili and Yuandudu.

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, suggested by RFI English listener Sadequl Bari Liton from Naogaon, Bangladesh, “How do you spend your weekly holiday?”

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

The winners are: Nafisa Khatun, the president of the RFI Mahila Shrota Sangha Club in West Bengal, India. Nafisa is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations on your double win, Nafisa.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are A. K. M. Nuruzzaman, the president of the RFI Amour Fan Club in Rajshahi, Bangladesh, and RFI Listeners Club members Samir Mukhopadhyay from West Bengal, India; Kanwar Sandhu from British Columbia in Canada, and last but not least, Habib Ur Rehman Sehla, the president of the International Radio Fan and Youth Club in Khanewal, Pakistan.

Congratulations winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “In the Hall of the Mountain King” from Peer Gynt by Edvard Grieg, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Nicolò Foron; the traditional Chinese “Sun Quan the Emperor”; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer; “L'auzel ques sul bouyssou” (“Bird sitting in the Bush”) by Estienne Moulinié, sung by Claire Lefilliâtre with Le Poème Harmonique conducted by Vincent Dumestre.

Do you have a music request? Send it to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

This week’s question ... you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re-read Paul Myers' article “France launches recruitment for 10-month voluntary national military service”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 9 February to enter this week's quiz; the winners will be announced on the 14 February podcast. When you enter, be sure to send your postal address with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

english.service@rfi.fr

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

80, rue Camille Desmoulins

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

Click here 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.