Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Descent into Franglais

Photo courtesy of Google Images.
Is it possible that I'm actually getting worse at French and English?

I've gotta be honest here. folks. I'm not entirely sure.

The aim of study abroad, at least in my case, is to truly immerse oneself in a culture and in a language. That's why I chose a program in which I could take classes all in French, at a French university, alongside French students.

However, though our classes may be in French, there are still plenty of opportunities to speak English. We speak English most of the time when it's just the Americans, and many of the other international students living in our residence are actually more comfortable speaking English than French (for example, our friend Max who is from Germany but goes to school in the Netherlands prefers to speak English with us. I promised him I would include him in this blog post, so... Here ya go Max.) And then there are the countless number of French people who want to practice their English with us because we're American - something we've found to be pretty inescapable.

Don't get me wrong, though; I'm still speaking more French than ever before, and with less and less anxiety as time goes on. During my first few weeks in France I was terrified anytime I had to make an interaction with a French person. Now I can (usually) speak with the cashiers at the grocery store without completely embarrassing myself. Progress, right? Plus, my comprehension has definitely improved. Sitting through ten hours of classes in French per week will do that.

What all this means is basically that I'm constantly switching back and forth between the two languages, often within the same conversation or even sentence. The result is a phenomenon we like to call franglais (or franglish if you prefer) in which random words from one language will start showing up in the other, especially when there's not a word in that language that directly translates.

Let me give you an example. In France, when meeting a friend or bumping into someone you know in public, you will "faire la bise," which is a customary greeting consisting of two cheek kisses (left then right here, but it varies by region. The number of kisses also varies.) My friend Andrea, who has by now appeared many times in this blog, has an adorable habit of telling us a story in English and then just slipping in that she "faired la bise" with someone. This phrase is, obviously, not English, but nor is it really French, because it's more like a mix of the two. And thus, franglais is born.

Lately it has seemed that we are speaking more franglais than French or English. Every other sentence I throw in a random french word (Do you want to go to la bibliotheque after les cours? What are you eating for dinner ce soir?) sometimes without even realizing it. I'm even starting to make more mistakes in English. And this is not something that happens to me. Ask anyone.

So the answer to the question at the beginning of this post (is it possible that I'm actually getting worse at French and English?) is both yes and no. Am I really getting worse at French? No. Even though I don't feel like it sometimes, I'm improving everyday. Am I really getting worse at English? Maybe. But I'm sure that once I'm back in the States my grammar nazi status with return.

But honestly, it's not a question of whether I'm getting worse at both. It's a question of whether I'm improving my franglais.

And the answer is yes.




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