Anna Wierzbicka is a Polish-Australian linguist who has extensively researched intercultural linguistics, semantics and pragmatics. I have been reading many of her books and articles for my PhD research because she is interested in how language reflects ways of living and thinking, and more specifically, how the lexicon or words of a language can provide valuable clues to understanding culture.

Linguistic relativity, better known as the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, has been debated for quite a while by certain researchers who argue that human thought and language are completely separate and independent. Steven Pinker, author of The Language Instinct, is probably the most popular denier. However, Pinker was attempting to describe human thought and cognition on the basis of English alone.  Wierzbicka, among others, has rightly criticized Pinker for his views on the link between language and thought. Here are a few quotes from the introduction to her book, Understanding Cultures through their Key Words:

“To people with an intimate knowledge of two (or more) different languages and cultures, it is usually self-evident that language and patterns of thought are interlinked… Monolingual popular opinion, as well as the opinion of some cognitive scientists with little interest in languages and cultures, can be quite emphatic in their denial of the existence of such links and differences.”

“The grip of people’s native language on their thinking habits is so strong that they are no more aware of the conventions to which they are party than they are of the air they breathe; and when others try to draw attention to these conventions they may even go on with a seemingly unshakable self-assurance to deny their existence.”

“The conviction that one can understand human cognition, and human psychology in general, on the basis of English alone seems shortsighted, if not downright ethnocentric.”

The strong version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis – that language constrains thought and prevents users of a language from thinking about certain concepts – is indeed wrong. The weak version of the hypothesis, which Guy Deutscher attempted to explain in his popular article Does Your Language Shape How You Think? and his book, Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages, is generally accepted by most linguists. Deutscher, however, insists on stating that language creates thought when in fact it may be more accurate to say that culture influences thought, which is then expressed through language. Personally, I believe that language reflects and describes ways of living and thinking, but it does not necessarily shape or determine how you live or think.

This is precisely John McWhorter’s criticism of Deutscher’s book, though I do have to disagree with his assertion that color perception as evidence of linguistic relativity is “dull.” If someone does not think cultural elaboration through the lexicon, such as the famous words for snow example, is interesting or relevant, then why does that person bother researching languages and cultures in the first place? Besides, as Wierzbicka explains, “once the principle of cultural elaboration has been established as valid on the basis of ‘boring’ examples, it can then be applied to areas whose patterning is less obvious to the naked eye.”

Here’s an interesting experiment you can try with color perception. It will be very easy to choose which square is a different color in the image below.

However, it will probably be a tiny bit harder to find which square is different in the second image. (If you’ve seen these circles before, beware that I did change the location of the different square!)

Yet the Himba of northern Namibia have the exact opposite problem. They are able to detect the different square quite easily in the second image, but took longer for the first image, because their culture, and therefore language, has a different way of categorizing shades of colors. Not every human being thinks in terms of  ROYGBIV. Because English speakers do not normally classify colors based on slightly different shades (or at least what we perceive as slightly different shades) of green in the second image, it is harder for English speakers to see it at first glance, but the absence of that word does not mean that English speakers cannot see it at all or do not have the ability to form the concept in their minds.

My native language does not have a word for Schadenfreude but I certainly know what it is and can understand the concept. The fact that German has one word for this concept and English does not simply means that the concept is perhaps more salient for users of German, but it does not mean that users of other languages cannot conceive of what it is. There are countless “untranslatable” words such as saudade, hyggelig, or litost that express the values and thoughts of the people who use these words. They provide insights into the life of the society and culture to which the language belongs. We cannot even begin to understand a different culture if we do not know the words because it is through language that culture and ways of living and thinking are expressed.

Another book by Wierzbicka I recommend, Translating Lives: Living with Two Languages and Cultures, includes the experiences of twelve Australians who speak more than one language. Their stories and their lives show how language, culture and identity cannot be separated and what it is like to live with, and between, multiple languages and cultures. For anyone who is a speaker of another language, the idea that you are a different person and that you interact with other human beings in a different way when using different languages seems a bit obvious. But most monolinguals are not aware that their worldview is shaped by their native, and only, culture and language. They tend to assume that the every human being thinks in the same way but simply uses different words for concepts, objects, ideas, etc. Even if they know a few words in another language, they believe that translations found in dictionaries are sufficient. Dictionaries may list freedom as the translation for French liberté, but are they really the same thing? How about truth and Russian pravda? Anger and Italian rabbia?

To quote Sapir: “The fact of the matter is that the ‘real world’ is to a large extent unconsciously built up on the language habits of the group. No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached.”

When I speak French, I am fully aware that I am not the same person as when I speak English. I do not interact with other French speakers in the same manner as I do with English speakers while I’m speaking English. There are certain concepts that I find easier to express in French, and yet others that do not have a strong enough emphasis or connotation for me if I use French rather than English. When I hear the word milk in English, I have a different concept of what it is compared to when I hear lait in French. I’ve explored some of these cultural differences before (Cultural Differences in Photos & Culturally Relevant Photos), but they are not limited to separate languages. There are, of course, differences among dialects of the same language. Whenever Australians say the word thongs, I picture a very different article of clothing than they do!

That is not to say that all words in a language are culture-specific. If they were, cultural differences couldn’t really be explored. Linguistic relativity is actually combined with linguistic universality. Wierzbicka is also the lead researcher on Natural Semantic Metalanguage, an approach to cultural analysis that is based on the idea that there are, in fact, a few universal meanings expressed by words (semantic primes) shared by all human languages and that using these primes can help eliminate cross-cultural miscommunication. Listen to/read her interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation for more information.

I’d love to hear your opinions on this! Do you believe that how we speak shapes how we think OR that how we think shapes how we speak? Or are language and thought so interlinked that we cannot separate them?

© Jennifer Wagner for Jennie n'est plus en France, 2012. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Who is linking?
Post categories: Learning French, Learning Other Languages, PhD Research

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

My second book published by Dover Publications, Great French Short Stories of the Twentieth Century: A Dual-Language Book, is now available!

The original French stories are on the left page and literal English translations are on the right page. There are 15 stories representing authors and settings from France and other French-speaking areas such as Quebec, Guadeloupe, Mauritius and Senegal. This book is designed for intermediate/advanced learners of French to increase their vocabulary and learn more about the literature of the Francophone world.

For beginners of French or those interested in traveling to a French-speaking country, my Say it in French phrasebook (+ Food and Wine supplement and 2,500 English-French dictionary) is also available.

To celebrate the release of my second book, I’m doing another giveaway! If you would like a FREE autographed copy of either my Say it in French phrasebook OR my Great French Short Stories dual-language book, all you need to do is:

• send me an e-mail at ielanguages (at) gmail (dot) com or comment on this blog post,
• let me know which book you would like,
• and what country you are located in (I will send it from either the US or Australia depending on where you are located)

BY SUNDAY, JANUARY 15, AT 9:00 AM EASTERN STANDARD TIME (NEW YORK TIME)

I will choose two winners at random; one for each book. Giveaway is open to residents of planet Earth. One entry per book per human being.

Good luck!

UPDATE: Congratulations to the four winners! The books have been sent to you!

© Jennifer Wagner for Jennie n'est plus en France, 2012. | Permalink | 43 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Who is linking?
Post categories: Learning French

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Some of these are obviously rather comédique rather than folklorique. Enjoy!

23 décembre by Beau Dommage

La valse de Noël by Fernand Gignac

La toune de Noël by Crampe en Masse

C’est Noël, il neige dans ma tête by Paul et Paul

Le père noel s’t'un québecois by Les Cowboys Fringants

© Jennifer Wagner for Jennie n'est plus en France, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us | Who is linking?
Post categories: Learning French

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

More Christmas songs in French! Most of these videos have lyrics so you can learn the words and all of them are French versions of English songs you probably already know. Don’t forget the five songs I posted two years ago: French Christmas Songs

La Promenade en Traîneau (Sleigh ride)

Le Petit Renne au nez rouge (Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer)

Le Père Noël arrive ce soir (Santa Claus is comin’ to town)

Les anges dans nos campagnes (Angels we have heard on high)

C’est l’hiver (Let it snow)

Quebecois French and Australian Christmas songs to come!

© Jennifer Wagner for Jennie n'est plus en France, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us | Who is linking?
Post categories: Learning French

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Thanks to corpus linguistics, the differences between written and spoken French are easier to describe and analyze. Since I am particularly interested in how textbooks treat both types of French, I was happy to see research comparing corpus linguistics data to textbook representations of the subject pronouns by Waugh and Fonseca-Greber at the University of Arizona. Their data confirms that textbooks teach the written form of French, but that the spoken form is still largely ignored.

The pronouns that they analyzed were tu, nous, vous, ils, and on. In written French, the pronouns mean:

• tu : you (singular and familiar)
• nous : we
• vous : you (plural and formal)
• ils : they
• on : one / you / they (indefinite)

However, their data shows that these labels are inadequate for spoken French. In their corpus of 194,000 words, nous meaning we was only used 1% of the time, on was used much more often to mean we (76.3%) than in the indefinite sense, and there was almost a 50/50 split of both tu and ils being used in the indefinite sense rather than just meaning you and they, while vous was also used in the indefinite sense in a few cases. Statistically, vous used in the indefinite sense is not very significant (only 1.3%), but it does prove that this use of the pronoun is possible in spoken French. The most interesting to me was comparing on and tu used as indefinites, as tu was used more than twice as often as on!

Therefore, in spoken French, the subject pronouns are:

• tu : you (singular and familiar) AND one / you (indefinite)
• nous : very rarely we
• vous : you (plural and formal) AND very rarely one / you (indefinite)
• ils : they AND one / they (indefinite)
• on : we AND sometimes one / you / they (indefinite)

In a few ways, learning the spoken pronouns is easier. Both tu and ils in the indefinite sense correspond to the English usage of you and they in the indefinite. On is not used as often in the indefinite sense much like one is not used all that often in English. And since nous is rarely used, the verb conjugation of first person plural is also rarely needed.

I remember many of my textbooks emphasizing that you cannot use tu in the indefinite and that it is incorrect and bad French. But many times what is considered wrong in written French is not, in fact, incorrect in spoken French. It’s simply the notion of appropriateness within the context, and textbooks need to make this distinction clear AND teach both forms. However, textbooks still seem to be written according to intuition and not corpus data.

Linguistics is concerned with how people actually use language, as opposed to how people should use language. Linguistics is descriptive, not prescriptive, and the teaching of languages should be as well.

Waugh and Fonseca-Geber’s article “Authentic Materials for Everyday Spoken French: Corpus linguistics vs. French textbooks” is available for free if you’d like to see examples and the full statistics.

© Jennifer Wagner for Jennie n'est plus en France, 2011. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Who is linking?
Post categories: Learning French

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

L’Académie française has once again called for more “defense” of the French language against incorrect use of the language, especially with regards to Anglicisms. I do not agree with l’Académie’s prescriptivist ideas on vocabulary use and trying to force the formal (often written) language onto the spoken form. It is one thing to determine if a sentence is grammatically correct concerning function words, verb conjugations, word order, etc. but it is completely different to proclaim that certain content words are incorrect since vocabulary choice is highly dependent on the topic, context, medium (speech/writing) and audience. As long as the meaning of the words are similar (such as formal vs. informal variants), there is no correct or incorrect use of a word over another. It is merely what is appropriate or not to that particular situation. Saying “Hey, what’s up?” to the president is not incorrect – because that would imply that it would never be used at all by native speakers, when in fact it is used quite often – but it is inappropriate to use an informal variant in a formal situation.

Telegraph has a recent article on L’Académie’s fight against English words in French. Their website includes a new page called “Dire, Ne pas dire” which includes les fautes, les tics de langage et les ridicules qui s’observent le plus fréquemment dans le français contemporain. Jean-Matthieu Pasqualini of the Académie said “We want to restore courage to all those in France and outside France who endeavour to defend and enrich the language. Let French remain a great language of communication and culture.” But what does he mean by enrich? Claiming that some words in contemporary French (that aren’t even Anglicisms) are absurd or wrong doesn’t exactly seem like a good start.

France’s culture ministry also has a new website for people to propose French words in place of the borrowed English words at wikilf.culture.fr which states “il ne s’agit nullement de déclarer la guerre aux mots étrangers, anglais en particulier, qui sont passés dans la langue courante – pas question de toucher au week-end et au sandwich – mais d’anticiper l’utilité d’un terme étranger qui pourrait s’installer en français.” (Telegraph’s translation: “This is in no way about declaring war on foreign terms, English in particular, that have entered into common usage like sandwich or weekend. It is about anticipating the usefulness of a foreign term that could be settling into the French language.”) While I’m happy to see that they acknowledge the natural state of constant evolution and change that occurs in all human languages, the fact that they are trying to propose French translations for Anglicisms that have yet to become so entrenched in the language seems a bit suspect. There is nothing wrong with wanting to use the French translations, of course, but why is it considered ok to use sandwich and week-end but not casting or email? Just because sandwich and week-end have been used in French for longer, that somehow makes them more acceptable?

I know I have expressed my annoyance at the use of English words in French in the past, but I am not frustrated because of the existence of the borrowings, which are natural and normal in any language. I am frustrated that language learning materials do not include the borrowings or other aspects of contemporary French vocabulary. They only tend to include the standardized form of the language, or what people should say (dictated by l’Académie) instead of what people actually say, which is not useful for students who need to comprehend the various dialects and styles and which leaves them with an inaccurate and stereotypical portrayal of the French language.

Another reason that resistance to borrowings is a bit unreasonable is that certain words in English are actually borrowings from old French, which then have later been re-borrowed back into French in the newer Anglicized form. Toast in English comes from old French toster, whereas modern French stopped using toster in favor of pain grillé, but has also borrowed toast from modern English. So is le toast really an Anglicism if it was originally French?

Are you French or English, Mr. Toast?

When it comes to Anglicisms, many people like to point out that Quebecois French has more English borrowings than French in France (which isn’t true) to justify their prejudiced view that Quebecois French isn’t “real” French. That’s just as ridiculous as saying American English isn’t real English or Mexican Spanish isn’t real Spanish simply because it is not spoken in the “mother country” where the language originated. I do not understand the colonialistic attitudes about language use, just as I do not understand why some people make a connection between the older form of a language and a supposed superiority of the variety that is closest to the old form. A dialect that is more conservative with change is somehow more desirable than the others, yet many people believe that the mother country dialect is also the most conservative which is not true. Quebecois French contains many aspects of Old French that speakers in France no longer use, which some wrongly assume are Anglicisms when in fact they are Old French.

In Quebecois, Belgian and Swiss French the three meals of the day are le déjeuner, le dîner, and le souper whereas most areas of France nowadays use le petit déjeuner, le déjeuner and le dîner.* Quebec French did not borrow le souper from English supper; English borrowed it from Old French soper which turned into souper in modern French. In France, le souper is another meal even later than dinner and is usually associated with rural areas or an older generation. The words dinner and supper in English have also changed meaning somewhat over time. In my dialect of English, dinner and supper are synonyms for the evening meal, but in other forms of English, dinner is the midday meal (instead of lunch) and supper is the evening meal (instead of dinner) so the older French, current Quebec and English meals were parallels at one time: déjeuner = breakfast (dé + jeûne: undo or break fast), dîner = dinner and souper = supper.

Wordreference.com has a thread on the names of the meals where native speakers contribute what they say in their region. Looking at posts #2 and #6, you can see how far the idea of bon usage and correct French (i.e. what l’Académie says is correct) has spread. I quote from the forum:

De manière correcte et quelles que soient les régions de France :
on déjeune à midi
on dîne ou on soupe le soir (plus utilisé en milieu rural)

and the post that made me nearly cry, which refers to the above post:

Tout-à-fait d’accord. Mais chez nous (sud-est), on continue à parler de “dîner” à midi. Chez moi, quand j’étais petite, on se simplifiait encore plus la vie : dîner, midi et soir . Le “déjeuner” c’était le petit déj’. Quand je suis sortie dans le monde, j’ai été très étonnée qu’on l’appelle “petit” !

Maintenant, grâce aux médias, la langue s’uniformise et on respecte de plus en plus le bon usage français.

I wonder if the millions of people in France who don’t use déjeuner and dîner in the same manner as the first poster know that they do not speak “correct” French. As for the second poster, I feel sorry that she thinks that her native dialect is not correct while at the same time praising the effects of standardization, which lead to her dialect being considered incorrect in the first place.

These are issues of geographic variation, but using one word instead of the other is not incorrect. Compare the use of pop vs. soda vs. coke in the US. I’m from Michigan so I say pop, but I don’t consider the use of soda or coke to be wrong or incorrect. They are simply different ways of saying the same thing depending on where you are from or where you are currently located. All dialects of a language should be seen as equals but the standardized form used in most writing, and which is generally based on the upper classes, is often considered the only correct variety. There is a place for the standardized form, especially for communication purposes and even teaching students how to produce language, but the other varieties are also just as valid as human languages and should not be reduced to incorrect deviations of the prestige form.

* Even more confusing is the spoken/informal use of déjeuner to mean “to eat breakfast” even in areas where the three meals are le petit déjeuner, le déjeuner and le dîner!

© Jennifer Wagner for Jennie n'est plus en France, 2011. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Who is linking?
Post categories: Learning French

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

My Say it in French phrasebook (Dover Publications) is now available through Amazon.com for $5.95!

I have recently updated the Listening Resources podcast to include Swedish mp3s. Transcripts, English translations, and an RSS feed are also available. Check out the Swedish Listening Resources page for the first eight mp3s. (The mp3 player is not Flash-based so you can listen to them on iPhones/iPods/iPads too.)

I plan on adding more languages and dialects so let me know if you’d like to contribute!

© Jennifer Wagner for Jennie n'est plus en France, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us | Who is linking?
Post categories: Learning French, Learning Other Languages

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of the European Day of Languages and Eurostat has provided statistics about the most studied languages in the 27 member states of the European Union plus Iceland, Norway, Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey (though stats for Portugal are missing).

“In the EU27 in 2009, 82% of pupils at primary and lower secondary level and 95% of those in upper secondary level general programmes were studying English as a foreign language. The second most commonly studied foreign language at primary and lower secondary level was French (16% of pupils), followed by German (9%) and Spanish (6%), while at upper secondary level it was German (27%), followed by French (26%) and Spanish (19%).”

Take a look at the table in the PDF file. I was a bit surprised to see Spanish as the 2nd most studied language in Norway and Sweden, as well as Danish in Iceland, but the rest weren’t all that surprising (Russian in the Baltics and Bulgaria, German in Eastern Europe, French in Romania, etc.)

I’ve already posted about enrollment data for Australia, where Japanese and Italian take the lead (though Indonesian and French practically tie for third place). The ACTFL has a recent report for American public schools where Spanish, French and German are still the main three languages. The MLA has the same information available for universities and colleges, where Spanish, French and German are still the top three as well even with the large increase in Arabic and Chinese enrollments. American Sign Language and Italian are nearly tied for 4th place.

© Jennifer Wagner for Jennie n'est plus en France, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Who is linking?
Post categories: Learning French, Learning Other Languages

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Even though I am living in an Anglophone country again, I still find ways to immerse myself in languages. Besides e-mail and Skype to keep in contact with friends, I am still using French quite a bit since my PhD research is on the teaching of variation in French. I’ve also been able to find other French-speaking expats in my area as well as find out about French Club activities through the local universities. I’ve subscribed to Quickflix for foreign DVD rentals (no streaming yet in Australia like with Netflix in the States), and SBS’s On Demand feature is quite handy for streaming foreign films that were recently broadcast. SBS is a free TV & radio channel so I don’t actually have to spend money to listen to languages even when I’m not connected to the internet.

One thing I do miss about living in a Francophone country are newly-released French-language films. If you remember the Omar m’a tuer case that I posted about earlier this year, the film about it was released in France this June.

Another film that I would love to see is French Immersion, by the creators of Bon Cop, Bad Cop. This is a Canadian film though, so it probably won’t even be released in France.

Any other new (i.e. not yet on DVD) French-language films that I’m missing out on?

© Jennifer Wagner for Jennie n'est plus en France, 2011. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Who is linking?
Post categories: Learning French

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Time flies when you’re having fun! It’s been nearly two weeks since I last posted and my only excuse is that I love working on my PhD so much that I spend all my time with my books and articles instead of my computer. I’m barely keeping up with updating the site and responding to e-mails, but I did receive a very nice e-mail yesterday that I wanted to share.

My review of some language learning websites that I posted 18 months ago in which I said “I just wanted to learn some vocabulary (and how to pronounce the words) online since my main focus on learning languages in the beginning stages is to simply understand what people are saying, and to be able to say a few phrases to get around while traveling. I don’t worry so much about forming grammatically correct sentences or having long conversations just yet.” inspired Robert to create a company and website to do just that.

Pronunciator launched on September 1st and it contains basic vocabulary, verbs, phrases, and conversation in 60 languages. There are 421 units of multiple lessons and 3 million pages for you to explore, all completely free. (Not all of the content is up yet, but it’s coming.) In addition to the audio flashcards, there are listening and reading exercises plus playback and vocal recognition modes where you can compare your pronunciation to the native speaker. Check out the site and thank Robert for putting so much work into it and helping others to learn languages for free!

© Jennifer Wagner for Jennie n'est plus en France, 2011. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Who is linking?
Post categories: Learning French, Learning Other Languages

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

One of the many reasons why I love Australia: an official Multicultural Policy

From the government’s Multicultural Policy released in February of this year:

“Australia is a multicultural nation. In all, since 1945, seven million people have migrated to Australia. Today, one in four of Australia’s 22 million people were born overseas, 44 per cent were born overseas or have a parent who was and four million speak a language other than English. We speak over 260 languages and identify with more than 270 ancestries. Australia is and will remain a multicultural society.”

Multiculturalism in Australia produced the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), which offers television and radio programs in 68 languages. Luckily they have a free to air channel (as well as an FM channel) so I don’t have to pay extra to watch France 2 news every morning. They also have several podcasts available through iTunes (which is how I discovered them while still living in France.)

Australia is also the most multilingual of the English-speaking countries, and was the first to create a multilingual language policy. The most commonly spoken foreign languages are Italian, Greek, Cantonese, Arabic, Mandarin and Vietnamese. Most bilinguals or multilinguals in Australia are either Aborigines or immigrants who speak English as a second language. The majority of native English speakers do not speak another language, similar to the situation in the US and UK.

Though some states and territories do require the study of a foreign language at primary/secondary level, by the final years of secondary school, only about 10% continue their studies (Years 6-8 have the highest percentage of students). The main languages studied are (followed by enrollment figures for 2006):

1. Japanese 332,943
2. Italian 322,023
3. Indonesian 209,939
4. French 207,235
5. German 126,920
6. Chinese (Mandarin) 81,358
7. Arabic 25,449
8. Spanish 20,518
9. Greek 18,584
10. Vietnamese 11,014
11. Other 45,567

The situation at the tertiary level is a bit sad. Unlike the US, no Australian university requires the study of a foreign language and many language departments have been incorporated into schools of other disciplines. For example, my particular school is called Communication, International Studies and Languages. Only 10% of first-year university students are taking a foreign language, and less than a quarter continue language studies through the third and final year of a Bachelor’s degree. Thirty-one languages are taught at universities, though 12 are taught in only one jurisdiction while 8 are taught in all states (Chinese, French, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin and Spanish).

For more information on languages in Australian schools, download the PDF of Second Languages and Australian Schooling from the Australian Council for Educational Research.

Multiculturalism Links:

Multicultural Australia (government site)

Australian Multicultural Foundation

Making Multicultural Australia

© Jennifer Wagner for Jennie n'est plus en France, 2011. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Who is linking?
Post categories: Australia, Learning French, Learning Other Languages

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Easy Languages is currently offering their first giveaway: two weeks of French courses in Brussels, Belgium, including accommodation in a residence, valued at €795.00 or approximately $1,100.00 (USD) / £700.00 (GBP). This prize does not include airfare or any ground transportation.

If you are a US or UK resident over the age of 18 who wants to learn French for free in the capital of the European Union, simply leave a comment on their Language Traveler blog post by 11:59pm EST, Monday August 29, 2011.

One winner will be chosen randomly on September 2, 2011, and announced via their Facebook and Twitter.

Good luck! Bonne chance !

Grand Place / Grote Markt

The Atomium

Manneken Pis

Take a day trip to Bruges / Brugge

View more photos of Belgium at the Gallery.

No purchase or payment of any kind is necessary to enter or win giveaways. A purchase won’t improve an individual’s chance of winning. Please be sure to read eligibility and official rules.

© Jennifer Wagner for Jennie n'est plus en France, 2011. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Who is linking?
Post categories: Learning French

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

I have finally finished scanning the 1868 book Comparative Grammar of French, Italian, Spanish & Portuguese Languages by Edwin A. Notley that I first mentioned in April. It is 412 pages total and available to download in PDF format.

The original 19 x 13 cm book is set up with two columns on the left page for French and Italian and two columns on the right page for Spanish and Portuguese. If you want to print a section, I would advise experimenting with multiple page or booklet printing first. I tried to clean up the pages the best that I could considering the age of the book, and some of the pages are not as straight as I would like them to be, but I wanted to share this book sooner rather than later.

You can download the file from one of the following links. The file size is about 69.1 MB, so please be patient.

• File Factory
• Deposit Files
• ielanguages.com

Disclaimer: This book is in the public domain in the US since it was published before 1922. Please check your country’s copyright laws before downloading if you are not in the US.

© Jennifer Wagner for Jennie n'est plus en France, 2011. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Who is linking?
Post categories: Learning French, Learning Other Languages

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

The area where I live in France is called Savoy and it used to be a part of the Italian Kingdom of Sardinia. In 1860 it was annexed to France and split into two départements: Savoie and Haute-Savoie. Together they are known as the Pays de Savoie in French and they make up 2 of the 8 départements of the Rhône-Alpes region.

Chambéry is the capital of Savoie, which also includes Albertville, the site of the 1992 Winter Olympics. Annecy is the capital of Haute-Savoie, which includes Chamonix and Evian-les-Bains. I have spent nearly 5 years here even though I do not like mountains (I prefer flat land, lakes and forests – I’m from Michigan!) but I do like the close proximity to Switzerland and Italy, as well as Lyon.

I will be leaving France in less than three weeks and I realized that I had never posted about the variation of French spoken in this area. Here are a few features of the Savoie dialect of French, which shares some similarities with Swiss French. If you ever travel to/study in Savoie, you might hear:

Il faut y faire instead of Il faut le faire – y often replaces the direct object pronouns le, la, and les

ou bien is a common saying at the end of a sentence, similar to hein which is like a tag question in English, though used much more often in French

la panosse is used for mop instead of la serpillière

Since this is the French Alps, many other expressions are related to snow and cheese:

Most people already know about Tartiflette, the potato and cheese baked dish made with Reblochon. However, another cheese is very popular, Tomme, which has produced a pejorative expression for an apathetic woman: une grosse Tomme

la trafole and the adjective trafolée refer to fresh snow that already has ski tracks in it

terrainer means that the snow is melting and the ground is showing: Ça terraine.

For more vocabulary, check out the website (entirely in French) Termes régionaux de Suisse romande et de Savoie

In addition, the local minority language, which extends beyond Savoie to Neuchâtel, Mâcon and Grenoble, is called Arpitan and its official website is arpitania.eu

© Jennifer Wagner for Jennie n'est plus en France, 2011. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Who is linking?
Post categories: Annecy, Chambéry & France, Learning French

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Lexiophiles’ Language Lovers 2011 competition is now open for voting. This year the four categories are:

- Language Learning Blogs

- Language Professionals Blogs

- Language Facebook Pages

- Language Twitterers

Since I won 3rd place overall last year (in the Top 100 Language Blogs) and 2nd place in the Top 100 Language Learning Blogs, my blog was automatically nominated again for this year’s competition. If you’d like to vote for me, click here and choose Jennie in France. Thank you!

Voting ends May 29th at 11:59 PM (French/German time) or 5:59 PM EST.

Sorry the blog/site hasn’t been updated much lately. I’ve been a little overwhelmed with the funeral, finishing my translation work before my upcoming annual trip, and the big move to Australia in a few months.

© Jennifer Wagner for Jennie n'est plus en France, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Who is linking?
Post categories: Learning French, Learning Other Languages

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

My father-in-law, André, passed away yesterday. He was a very kind man and a devoted husband, father and grandfather. A few months ago, he helped contribute to the French Listening Resources mp3s by answering a few questions on French cuisine, traveling around the world and France’s national holiday. I hope that his words, spoken with his slight Provençal accent, help French learners understand the beautiful language and culture that he was so proud of.

Mon beau-père, André, s’est éteint hier. C’était un homme très gentil et un mari, père et grand-père dévoué. Il y a quelques mois, il a contribué à French Listening Resources en répondant aux questions sur la cuisine française, le tour du monde, et la fête nationale française. J’espère que ses mots, parlés avec son léger accent provençal, aident les apprenants de français à comprendre la belle langue et la culture dont il était tellement fier.

He was diagnosed in early 2006 with stage IV lung cancer, which has a five-year survival rate of 1 to 5%. And he did survive longer than five years, which I like to think is proof of his unfailing commitment to take care of his family. During that time, his granddaughter Mélina was born and he was able to spend nearly three wonderful years with her. I met him in October 2006, shortly after my arrival in France, and even though his doctor thought that he would have passed away by then, he was full of life and happiness. That is how I will always remember him.

Au début 2006, on lui a diagnostiqué un cancer du poumon au stade IV, qui a un taux de survie de cinq ans de 1 à 5%. Et il a survécu pendant plus de cinq ans, ce qui (j’aime bien penser) est la preuve de son dévouement intarissable à sa famille. Pendant ce temps-là, sa petite-fille Mélina était née et il a pu passer trois années merveilleuses avec elle. Je l’ai connu en october 2006, peu après mon arrivée en France, et même si le médecin avait dit qu’il s’en serait déjà allé à cette époque, il était plein de vie et de bonheur. Je m’en souviendrai toujours de lui comme ça.

André with his granddaughter, Mélina, in 2008
André avec sa petite-fille, Mélina, en 2008

Thank you André for creating such a great family and letting me be a part of it. Thank you for teaching me and so many others the French language. You will never be forgotten.

Merci André d’avoir fondé une famille exceptionnelle et de m’avoir permis d’en faire partie. Merci de m’avoir appris à moi et à tant d’autres la langue française. On t’oubliera jamais.

© Jennifer Wagner for Jennie n'est plus en France, 2011. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Who is linking?
Post categories: Learning French

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

The 2nd edition of French Language Tutorial is now available! This is a major update from the first edition, available in either PDF format or as a coil-bound paperback.

Changes from the first edition:

• Much more vocabulary and sample sentences, such as asking for help, giving advice, expressing opinions, likes & dislikes, etc.
• New order of topics with cross-references (clickable within the PDF) for easier review of previous vocabulary
• Conjugations in present, past (imperfect) and future tenses for irregular verbs throughout the book, with IPA for pronunciation
• Each page has its own mp3 to make listening and reading along easier
• Mp3s have been re-recorded by three native speakers (including a female voice)
• Alphabetical index for vocabulary and grammar topics

The 2nd edition of FLT is on sale for a special introductory price of $14.95 (PDF) or $29.95 (paperback) while I finish editing and uploading the new mp3s.

As a thank you to everyone who bought the first edition, I have sent out a discount code so that you can download the 2nd edition for FREE if you previously bought the PDF. If you bought the paperback, please forward me your Lulu receipt and I will reply with the discount code for 50% off the 2nd edition.

Visit the store for more information or click Buy Now to order online. If you’d like to see a preview of the book, including the new table of contents, go to the Lulu Marketplace page and click Preview under the cover photo.

French Language Tutorial (2nd ed.) e-book

PDF format / 226 pages

Immediate download through E-Junkie

$14.95

French Language Tutorial (2nd ed.) paperback

coil-bound / 228 pages

Shipped worldwide by lulu.com

$29.95

Remember: the website tutorial no longer matches the book, so make sure to download the new mp3s when they are available at www.ielanguages.com/flt/ I will be uploading them this week as fast as I can!

© Jennifer Wagner for Jennie n'est plus en France, 2011. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Who is linking?
Post categories: Learning French, Website

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

My new favorite book.

Published in 1868!

400 pages of comparative goodness.

Verb conjugations (we really should bring back thou hadst and the T-V distinction in English!)

There’s even vocabulary at the end, though the words are not grouped thematically like they are in The Loom of Language.

I’ve also ordered A Comparative Practical Grammar of French, Italian and Spanish by Oliver Heatwole (1949) as well as Comprendre les langues romaines: Du français à l’espagnol, au portugais, à l’italien & au roumain by Paul Teyssier (2004), but I haven’t yet found a book like this for the Germanic languages. As soon as I can determine if Notley’s book is in the public domain (there was a reprint in 1977 by an American publisher), I will start scanning and/or re-typing it to share it online.

© Jennifer Wagner for Jennie n'est plus en France, 2011. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Who is linking?
Post categories: Learning French, Learning Other Languages

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Guess who’s a published author now? It’s on Amazon so that makes it official, right? One of my jobs last year was revising and updating Dover Publications’ Say it in French phrasebook. The original was written in the 50′s and included a section on telegrams and cablegrams, so there was a lot I needed to change and add. I didn’t even know what a cablegram was! Essentially I rewrote most of the book to include modern language that tourists but also regular learners of French in the 21st century would need.

I will post again before September 15 when the book is available and explain the many, many changes I made but I just wanted to finally tell everyone about it because I’ve been keeping this secret for over a year. You can already pre-order it on Amazon. The price is only $5.95.

There are more secrets I am keeping for the moment related to my current job and my future in France, but I’m just waiting for things to be official before I announce anything else!

© Jennifer Wagner for Jennie n'est plus en France, 2011. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Who is linking?
Post categories: Learning French

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Swearing is another cultural concept that is difficult to master when learning a language. Exact translations among swear words are hard to come by since a lot of the meaning depends on the situation and tone of voice. What is considered vulgar in one language may not be in another. In French, merde is usually translated as sh*t in English, but it can also mean good luck or break a leg when talking to actors, and kids don’t get in trouble for saying it. American kids would be grounded or get detention for saying the s word. So should we really say that it means sh*t in English? It certainly doesn’t have the same impact in both languages.

In fact, swearing in French is much less obscene than in English – which is perhaps more detrimental to French students learning English than vice versa. There are many more degrees of vulgarity to English swear words and when we should use them or not, which is something that was unknown to my French students.  Since censorship on television doesn’t exist in France, the idea that certain words are bleeped out on American TV is a bit odd to them. Of course, censorship of nudity is also odd to them – Janet Jackson fiasco, anyone? – but that’s another story!

Photo credit: AdsitAdventures

I tend to classify swear words in English by the situations where they would be censored or not and if children will get in trouble for saying them (but again, that can depend on the school and parents.) In my dialect of English, this is how I would describe the following phrases expressing indifference:

• It doesn’t matter. – most neutral phrase, can be used in any situation
• I don’t care. – still not swearing, but can be considered rude
• I don’t give a damn. – cannot be said by children or teenagers at school; but allowed on network TV
• I don’t give a sh*t. – cannot be said at school or on network TV; but allowed in movies that teenagers can watch
• I don’t give a f*ck. – can only be said in movies or cable TV geared towards adults (17 and older)

Now in French, it is difficult to give exact translations for each phrase so let’s group them according to vulgarity:

• Neutral: N’importe lequel. / Peu importe. / Ça m’est égal.
• Informal: Je m’en fiche. / Je m’en balance. / Je m’en moque.
• Vulgar: Je m’en fous.
• Most vulgar: J’en ai rien à foutre.

There can be some overlap with these phrases as well, depending on who you ask. David says Je m’en fiche and Je m’en fous are essentially the same thing to him and he doesn’t feel that one is particularly more vulgar than the other. And for less vulgar synonyms that replace foutre, such as J’en ai rien à cirer, where should we place them in the spectrum? Are they still considered vulgar or merely informal?

The verbe foutre itself presents the same problem as merde. Originally it had a very vulgar meaning, but nowadays it is used so often and with various banal meanings, that it is no longer as shock-worthy as it used to be. Can you imagine if English f*ck could also be used informally – without getting in trouble for saying it or being censored on TV – to mean to put/stick/shove/throw something or to do something?

Où t’as foutu les clés ? Where did you put the keys?

Qu’est-ce qu’il fout là-bas ? What is he doing over there?

More examples of foutre and the adjective foutu and their approximate English translations:

• foutre en l’air – to ruin; to beat up; to kill
• foutre (de la gueule) de quelqu’un – to make fun of someone
• foutre dedans – to blow it; to stick one’s foot in it
• foutre la trouille à quelqu’un – to scare the crap out of someone
• se foutre par terre – to fall flat on one’s face; to embarrass oneself
• foutre la paix à quelqu’un – to leave someone alone
• foutre une baffe à quelqu’un – to slap someone in the face
• foutu de faire quelque chose – to be capable of doing something
• argent foutu – money down the drain
• bien foutu – well built (muscular body)
• café boullu, café foutu – boiled coffee, ruined coffee
• foutu – screwed; finished; done for
• mal foutu – sick
• je-m’en-foutisme – apathy

© Jennifer Wagner for Jennie n'est plus en France, 2011. | Permalink | 38 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Who is linking?
Post categories: Learning French

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh