Category: Cross Cultural Comments

Here’s the inside story …

THERE may be no city that takes shopping more seriously than Paris, the birthplace of haute couture and a place where mere browsers, while welcome, can still be made to feel snubbed in subtle ways. In fact, the French term for window shopping, faire du lèche-vitrine, translates directly as “to go window licking.” To shop more like a local, it helps to know the score at the coolest stores in town. Here are four of them

continue at the New York Times.

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As some of you know,  I’ve developed a vey specific method to deal with a fundamental language issue: forgetfulness.

The method is simple enough. We start with a word or a concept that’s used in everyday speech. It can be an adjective like “hot,” a verb like “to sit down” or even an adverb like “forward” or a preposition like “on.” It could also be a noun like “ceiling” or “night” or a pronoun like “us” or “here.”

What we then do is explore our memories for the opposites of these words. Sometimes the contrary comes instantaneously while for others, it takes a moment or two and for some, we just can’t find them even though we … “know” them.

Where are these words we can’t find?

Assuming they’re not new, never-encountered words but merely inactive or latent, are they just lost in our memories – covered in dust, or rusty … like an old bicycle in the back of the garage or is there some other psycho-linguistic reason we can’t recall them? Do we know them … but ignore them?

It seems that most of the time, these words we “know” but can’t remember – or seem to have forgotten – have fallen asleep … and like Sleeping Beauty who wakes up with a kiss from her Prince Charming, only need their complementary partners, their “other halves” to wake them up and come back to life!

And when this waking up happens, we’re bringing something up from our unconscious to our consciousness. And what do you know? Recognition happens.

Déjà vu?

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Every activity has its own specific language habits, short cuts, terms which often reflect frequently used concepts.

So unless you’re in touch with some specific world, you probably wouldn’t know the lingo. So, for those of you who need to brush up on some heavy slang … here’s a lesson from what’s happening in a New York courtroon: Mafia Talk.

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is a French verb and can even be a reflexive one: “se jalouser” …  It could have something to do with rivalry. English has a colourful expression … “green with envy!”

In a smallish community, Anglo Saxons sometimes think in terms of “keeping up with the Joneses” which idiomatically expresses the notion of being envious of someone else’s visible signs of prosperity. Which leads us back to the words desire, and hence, a state of unsatisfied desire, or insatisfaction leading to want … but quite far from … need or necessary.

English has two adjectives, necessarily unsexed: jealous and envious; French has the masculine jaloux (5 400 000 hits in Google) and  feminine : jalouse (2 890 000 hits in Google) – Quite a big difference but maybe there are historical and literary reasons for these statistics.  For the record, jealous shows up about 51 000 000 times while envious appears almost 8 000 000 times – but that again, may be due to the effort required to pronounce three syllables rather than just 2 …  or because English is so predominant nowadays. Unless it has something to do with highly effective advertising and insatiable consumerism.

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I loved algebra. It was a lot of fun. Figuring out angles and working through theorems. Finding the logic which would take us from one hyothesis to a proven conclusion. And on top of that, we had a very pretty teacher who must have spent a good part of her salary on her wardrobe.

Fascinated I was by Venn diagrams. Those overlapping circles which showed an area in which two or three or more ideas intersected. And as she explained it all so well, we really paid attention!

Words are like that: first, in just one language and even moreso in two or more languages. They have common areas where they can be used synonomously or are in the same semantic field. The words I’m thinking about right now are passionate ones, too:  jealousy, envy, desire. These three overlap but each has its own identity, its own uses, its own connotations – often sharing some of those with other words.

• Jealousy has to do with a feeling that you’re missing out on a privilege, an advantage, a favor that’s being enjoyed by someone else … and you deeply resent it. A fear of potential loss, perhaps.
• Envy – a hungry feeling to possess something you don’t have … but something someone else does. Could lead to craving.
• And then, desire, coming from within, a wanting, feeling, sensation. Primitive. Sensual. Animal. These are the English words.

Now if you open up an English-French bilingual dictionary, you just might see that jealousy is translated as jalousie … that envy is translated as envie … and that desire is translated as désir … Don’t be fooled! That’s just one part, maybe even one VERY SMALL part of the story … Beware of imitations. Misunderstanding comes lightning fast.

Because while the origins of these words might be the same … that started a few thousand years ago … over time our civilisations and our literature has enriched these with more precise meanings, uses and connotations. Today’s words are built on yesterday’s foundations. They may come from the same roots, the same concepts but they’ve evolved into different species.

What is a little curious is that like with fractions in math, these words also have common denominators. And to find out just what those might be, you need only to open the newspaper. Because, from their ancient origins to their current contexts, they’re as alive as ever. Living history, so to speak.

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From the New Yorker, April 4, 2011, by Adam Gopnik

The abstract tells the story – You need to subscribe to read the entire article – but it’s well worth it!

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Typical? Maybe not quite … But here’s a link to an interesting and well written article in the New York Times.  Just in case you’re in the market for a pied-à-terre …

An apartment in Paris.

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In the presence of The Honorable Yasuo Saito, Ambassador of Japan to France,

On behalf of the entire community of the American Hospital of Paris and in association with the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in France and the American Chamber of Commerce in France,

We would like to invite you to attend an informative gathering which will take place at the American Hospital of Paris

In the wake of the recent tragic events in Japan, and in consideration of its own deep and historic ties with the Japanese community, AmCham France and the American Hospital of Paris wishes to offer a hand of friendship, sympathy, and solidarity to the Japanese people.

The earthquake, the tsunami, and the resulting situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant have all given rise to much discussion worldwide. How does one deal with the severe physical and psychological consequences on the survivors and their families? What are the relative risks of radiation? Two physicians will make brief presentations dealing clearly and concisely with these medical and scientific questions.

During the meeting, guests will have an opportunity to contribute to a special fund which will provide assistance directly to a hospital in the affected area of Japan. If you cannot attend but would still like to help, please contact the American Hospital of Paris so that they can provide you with details.

As a symbol of hope and confidence in the future of Japan, we will plant a Japanese cherry tree on the grounds of the American Hospital in honor of the Japanese people.

Please confirm your participation to:

American Hospital of Paris
C.V. Starr Center for International Medical Exchange
55, boulevard du Chateau
92200 Neuilly sur Seine
RSVP : japan-solidarity@ahparis.org
Tel: 01 46 41 25 49

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Savannah: Then and Now

by Catherine Rendon

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In “My Fair Lady,” Higgins says: The French don’t care what they do actually, as long as they pronounce it properly. ….

We are sensitive to accents … sensitive to voices …. sensitive to pronunciation … Does anyone speak accentless? I suppose robots do … and then what have you got? A ro–bo–toc–voi–c-e … thank you very much …. ! We’re so much better off with a Southern accent, a NY accent, a French accent, a Scottish accent … and all of these are generally not served alone: there is always a specific vocabulary, often a specific grammar that goes with them.

To Savannah folk: Be on your guard to keep and cultivate your beautiful accents. A lot of people around the world (even in towns beginning with the letter “A” are … so jealous of your voices!

My advice? Be yourself. Use your own voice. Speak clearly … not too fast, please … Express yourself with your personality!

This being said, your accent is secondary to your pronunciation.  The English and Americans tend to like the novelty and sonority of a French accent in English … and vice-versa: Most French like you to keep your charming American or British accent …. if you manage to pronounce fauteuil (armchair) or champignons (mushrooms)  or ratatouille or Limoges correctly … or at least make a sincere effort to do so!

But, mesdames, messieurs, mes amis français, mes amies françaises, j’ai ceci à vous dire: vos voix, vos accents,  sont tellement agréables à l’oreille anglophone, tellement séduisants … You must  be careful – SO, only if you prefer NOT to be SO charming, then work on a perfect Oxford or Cambridge or London accent or a perfect ‘New York’ voice … or a delicious, mint-julep, Vivian Leigh southern drawl … so … whether you are from Paris or Montpellier or Neuilly or Asnières or Vincennes or Chantilly … please don’t trade your own accent for another … just pronounce the “s” at the end of plurals and at the third person and we will love you for that … too.

[audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/ex17043b1.mp3|titles=Be careful.]

Be careful.

On the other hand … pronounce the “S” please !!!

[audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/ex18109d1.mp3|titles=Do you know what I’m saying??]

Do you know what I’m saying?If you’re interested in language learning … subscribe to the Paris Savannah Connection newsletter!

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