Category: Newsletters

PS. By the way, the most frequent translations of the noun into French are « soin » and « soins » – not the same thing! And the verb « soigner » can have lots of meanings …!

The PSC Newletter Nov 12, 2010

Listen to it!

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One of the ways I use to discover vocabulary or semantic gaps in someone’s language habits is to see what word associations and particularly which polar opposites my client can recall quickly … which words and ideas are actually active … and which are still “on the tip of the tongue.”

For example, if I ask for the opposite of the English word “hot” … I want to know whether or not you’ll come up with a word like “cold” … rather instantly. If the keyword is “near,” then I’m looking for the presence  or absence of the words “far” or ‘distant.’  If the keyword were to be “nice,” I’d be interested to know just about any negative word that comes to mind.

Proceeding this way, I’m able to identify the gaps that are often the sources of frustration. This occurs when we’re speaking a foreign language … not to mention our own native languages!

What’s interesting is that between languages, the thought patterns are like Venn diagrams. Sometimes the word pairs coincide and are easily transposable from one language to the other … but in other cases they aren’t. One of the most frequently used words in English is the word “good.” If you are a native English speaker, chances are you will instinctively and immediately say that the opposite is … “bad.”  Not because others – evil, for instance – aren’t “right,” but because good and bad are the most frequently used to refer to the same things. A good movie, a bad movie; the good guys, the bad guys … etc. The perfectly valid opposite pair “good/evil” is just slightly less frequent … though I think there was an American president who tended to see the world that way .. -:)

Now if you take the word “right” … what’s the opposite? Is it “wrong” or is it “bad” ?

We think in terms of words and groups of words. In English, we’d say for instance:

“Sorry … you’ve got the wrong number” … But unless they’re CONSCIOUS of this instance, the French might say … “Sorry … You’ve got the bad number.” or … if they’re mentally translating before speaking “You did the false number.” (in this imaginary situation, of course!)

Why? Because in French the opposite pair for a phone number or other factual information like email addresses or flight info, etc.  would be … “bon”  (right, good, correct, accurate) and “faux” (wrong, mistaken, erroneous, false);

Thinking in different languages involves exploring these semantic fields.

A last quiz … “What’s the opposite of “now” ?

The answer is in the title of today’s post … about the French phototographer, Eugène Atget. Enjoy it.

Photography in Paris: Eugène Atget … then and now.

And thanks for reading today’s The Paris Savannah Connection.

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How’s your memory doing these days?

What a question! And an easy question it is. “Forgetting is a temporary loss of consciousness.” But what are the sorts of things we forget?

One of the most obvious is the answer to the question … Where?

Where did I put my … keys? glasses? watch? wallet?

The generally accepted solution to this problem is retracing your steps. Where did you have it last? Where did you see it last? Follow your footsteps backward.

How can we improve our memories?

By using them! That sounds so obvious, doesn’t it? Here’s an exercise you can try at any given point in the day. I use it as a technique in language learning and in speech training but its use is effective in our native languages as well: Stop whatever you’re doing and think about where you are, what you’re doing, who you’re with. Now think back to what you were doing just before the “now”… and before that .. and before that … until you get to some point such as waking up in the morning.

Remembering has to do with the past.

Being conscious of the past … is a real memory trainer.

Try reviewing your day before you fall asleep! Backwards. You’ll be amazed at how extraordinarily rich it was. If there was a particular moment you want to recall, think of the environment, the colors, the scents, the details and the overall picture. We perceive SO much!! Unconsciously. Bringing it up front, so to speak, shows us how much we really did observe.

The incredible side effect of this exercise is that, by reviewing events, we put words and images together. And we improve our vocabularies by activating passive, latent knowledge.

There’s another wonderful advantage to being conscious of everything that’s happened: Not only can we learn from … our mistakes, the human mind is perfectly capable of … a selective memory. We can choose to forget! What in computer lingo is called “deleting” … or what used to be called “erasing.”

Have a wonderful weekend … and may it be a happily memorable one!

Maybe with … A glass of wine …

And thanks for reading The Paris Savannah Connection.

Mark

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When I first began teaching English in France, I heard an expression I had never encounterd before: False Friends. What in the world could that mean? Only a Frenchman studying English would know … that he meant word look-alikes or even worse, imposters or traitors!

There are quite a few words which, in French and in English, have the same or similar spellings, maybe the same roots, maybe even similar pronunciations but which are not used in the same ways in the two languages.  As with wild mushrooms … some look-alikes … are dangerous.

If you hear a Frenchman say “actually” in English … you can be suspicious. The word slips into a sentence easily and isn’t illogical in most cases. If the Frenchman knows that the word means “in fact” and he uses it that way … that’s fine. BUT if he thinks that “actually” is the faithful translation of the French word “actuellement” … we’re mistaken and into … look-alikes: A fair translation of the idea of “actuellement” would be “now, at the present time.”

Not just two words but two different concepts.

The French word, actuel, expresses a concept in TIME; the English word actual expresses the concept of fact, of ACCURACY.

The same is true of the look-alike “eventuel” and the English “eventual.” The French word means … perhaps, maybe, possibly, could be, might be … The concept behind the word: what about … non-committment ?

And the English word “eventual” ? Sooner or later we’ll get to that one … when we’re into the concept of time … we’ll get there …. gradually.

Misunderstandings are born of … assumptions. Beware of look-alikes!

Tip of the day: In order to avoid misunderstandings, ask questions!  Just to confirm what you think you understood. It’s very … economical.

Fortunately … “false” friends aren’t the only kind … There are real and sincere friendships too, with long and deep roots, including one that is called Franco-American.

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By now you probably know that I, like you and most other domesticated animals, am sensitive to the weather: clear, sunny days are the ones I like best but the cloudier and cooler, I’d say brisky, ones give us the opportunity to put on our warmer jackets and scarves and hats and crunch leaves under our shoes as we walk down the streets, too.

Springtime is bye-bye to the winter everywhere; in France, summer is … oh! just take it all off! … and winter, well, according to where you are … in the winter, we appreciate being warm and dry at home and there are very nice winter days … if you’ve got warm socks and shoes and gloves and all that … but we’re not there yet. Today is September 21st.

Today is the first day of autumn. Fall.  We must all have memories attached to a season. It’s the air, the colors, the sounds, the light of day, of dawn, of dusk. It’s the moderate speed of the season. And among my fondest autumn memories is going mushroom hunting in the Limousin. The Massif Central. Les Monts d’Ambazac. For my American readers, this is the countryside around Limoges. A landscape of briar-covered hills and old stones; stone-lined Roman paths coming from who knows where crossing forests, deep dark green-forests where the ferns grow tall and the oak trees grow high. These are hills and woods you wouldn’t want to explore without a guide.

I had the best guides anyone could ever have: Maurice, my father-in-law, knew where the cèpes would be … if there were any to be found… and IF we could spot them just beneath the golden, brown leaves where they blended with the terrain just OUT of the ground  … he knew when the girolles might break through the moist earth … he knew that after the rain a day or two earlier IF the sun were to warm the earth just as the moon was in phase, well, maybe we’d come back with a few … maybe with a basketful. I remember so well wearing high boots so as to be protected against snakes, stepping hard so they’d slither away with the vibrations – and I remember so well, joyously bringing our treasure back to the little stone house, that thick stone house, cool inside no matter what the weather was like outdoors, with a big oak table, a fireplace and a wood-burning stove … where, after we’d meticulously scraped the earth off the stems and cleaned off the caps of OUR mushrooms… with a moistened cloth or tissue,  my mother-in-law would then cook up those only-in-the-autumn cèpes with garlic and parsley … and, because it was Sunday, an autumn Sunday, a special autumn Sunday because we were all together … serve them with a leg of lamb …

Lucky Days in France.

They sure made me feel welcome. More than welcome. Loved.

There’s nothing like a little emotion to help you remember an autumn day.

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Mid-September is invigorating. Fresh. new. The hot, humid lazy summer’s behind us. It’s an encouraging month. It’s a forward-looking month.

Here in Paris, after a hint of the weather to come, the air is a little cooler, the clouds a bit higher, the days not quite so long. September is the background to the beginning of the year.

September is a school month.

Who doesn’t remember having to wake up, getting washed and dressed, gathering books and notebooks, pencil, paper and ruler, just in time for a quick breakfast and … out: September waiting for you outside on the doorstep.

It was the same whether you were student … or teacher … or a mother or father getting ready for your day.

September is optimistic.

It’s organizational. It’s putting things into order. And planning on how to get everything done on time. By Thursday. Schools mean … tests, too! But that’s not yet. This is September. We’ve got time … We’ve JUST started!

There are hundreds of schools in Paris and thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of students. Paris is a student’s paradise. And the center of the paradise is the Luxembourg Gardens, haven of peace in the whirlwind of the city, where students young and not so young anymore, do what we need to do most: learn to live in the outside world. September is the background.

September is an autumn color month. Yellows and gold and shades of browns and reds and crimson. Dark greens.

September is, perhaps, the most hospitable month of the year over here. There’s the shade of the chestnut trees and the sun streaming through, just right, so you can sit outdoors and if it does get too cool … you throw on a sweater, a pullover, a jacket … or go into a nearby (yes, smokeless!) café where you can appreciate the aroma of coffee.

September welcomes the world.

Paris and Savannah are extraordinary places to be in September. We have so much to learn! From our pasts, from each other.

September is here. October’s not so far off. What’s on your schedule? Good luck! Study, work hard, you won’t regret it! There’s so much more to be said about September … but it’s already 8:30 …and I’ve gotta go!

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A couple of nights ago while I was watching the sun setting from the Back River pier, I could see flashes of lightning far off in the distance and once in a while hear the deep low  sound of rumbling, grumbling thunder. Those are both powerful phenomena. Light against dark; sound against silence. In fact, threatening phenomena … so powerful … so beyond our control.

It took some time for the winds to bring the clouds as far as the ocean but, once the sun had gone down – I almost wrote ‘had gone into hiding for the night’ – the clouds did come and fast and then the flashes of lightning seemed to come quicker and quicker, the thunder louder.

A torrential downpour begins with a single drop of rain … then another and another and another until you can’t count them anymore and you certainly can’t escape the drama … you can only take it in, experience it, live it, and marvel at it.

There was a deafening loud, booming clap of thunder; lightning like fireworks and flashes showed who was in charge and then STOP. The lights went out. The ceiling fans stopped. Darkness took over. The rain was coming down in torrents. The storm had taken over. I thought about the story of Jonah on the boat before he jumped overboard.

… The rain continued … and continued … and continued …

I fell asleep. And you don’t know what happens while you’re asleep, do you? Remember the story of Rip Van Winkle?

Well, a sound woke me up … the ceiling fan started to turn again … a light went on somewhere … I must have hear the refrigerator start up again … Signs that the electricity had come back on. I looked at my watch: 3:31 am. I went outside. Pools of water on the ground. Stars, a universe of stars above.

I thought for a moment: This is one of the reasons I’m here. Even if I didn’t know it, even if I hadn’t been aware of it until then: The Connection.

The back in time connection. The connection to real places and events, sources. The connection to people you know … even when you meet them for the first time.

There’s a saying that says: There’s no place like home.”  Well, I’d say …

“There’s no place like Tybee.”

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Good news!

Isn’t that what we live for? When things finally happen for the best? When hopes and dreams come true … and not just by good luck.

Like health:

• all systems are working the way they’re supposed to … or you’re getting better … feeling better … getting some exercise … and you’re not such a great client at the pharmacist’s;

Like … achievement:

• being successful; meeting your goals; getting accepted to the school you were hoping for;

Like money:

• finding out you’ve got a promotion, a bonus, new revenue, new contracts, your investments are on the rise;

Like love:

• you are on the same wavelength as … your other half …. or at least going in the right direction! And the future is full of promise;

Like friendship:

• someone can count on you as much as you can count on them

Like encounters

• full of potential.

Add to these a background, however chaotic like the sea, that allows you the freedom to do, to believe, to say

and … with one little smile, there you are, you’ve got a good-news day!

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I made a huge spelling mistake in yesterday’s  newsletter as well as an obvious typo of the word “thirteen.”  Sherry B., a Savannah gal,  quickly pointed them out. Thanks, Sherry!

Independence: this is the correct spelling in English. Likewise : independent.

Indépendance: this is the French word. Et aussi: indépendant.

In both cases, the notions are the same: without being dependent (in French dépendant).

It’s no surprise that this concept is linked to both America and France. Isn’t “independence” linked to the concepts of  “freedom” and “liberty?”

Associated concepts might include : free thinking; emancipation; non-conformity; autonomy … More?  Add them please!

Maybe the gift of the “Statue of Liberty” was like so many gifts … One reflecting the giver as much as the receiver?

The Declaration of Independence.  Asserting one’s freedom.

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Too much! In French, “C’est trop!”

What more can you express with just this short exclamation?! This is one we hear everyday all around the world because it’s so true every day! I can’t believe it!

How much? Too much!

How far? Too far!

Are you kidding me?  C’est trop beau. Beyond expectations. Beyond what I ever imagined.

How beautiful? Too beautiful for words.

“Let’s go to  …”

Too expensive … too far … too new … too old … too cold … too fast … too slow … too good …

What’s the difference between the French and Americans?

The conservative French often say “C’est trop …tard…”  And daring Americans … “It’s never too ….late.”

And can’t we all say to someone: “Nothing’s too good for you.”

Of course, some days, on either side of the pond … it really is “Too Darn Hot.”

And that’s just what Ella Fitzgerald is singing on today’s Paris Savannah Connection.

Enjoy it!

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