Agathoune!

When learning a foreign language, there comes a fluency tipping point where you suddenly stop mentally translating words from your native tongue and just use the foreign word instead.  For an English speaker, “a fork is a fork”; for a French speaker “une fourchette est une fourchette”.  When I am having a conversation in French (or am just in a groovy French-feeling mood), if you show me a cup of coffee, I’ll immediately think of “un café” without any hesitation, because that’s simply what the object is once you have truly acquired fluency in another language. 

This is around the time when you start to think and dream in that language as well, which is actually a pretty strange experience in itself, especially the first few times you catch yourself accidentally mumbling French words as you reflect on daily events!  Stopping the mental translation opens marvelous doors of understanding and insights into how other people truly feel and think in their native tongues.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that you can never truly understand a foreign culture unless you also speak their language to the point where you naturally think in it.

French is an incredibly beautiful, rich language and there are some key words and concepts that are completely untranslatable into English.  This post is to share some of these special words and try to catch a few fleeting insights into the French psyche.

Too Much of a Good Thing...

La Gourmandise - Many of my American friends find it very difficult to resist a homemade French pastry.  They may be surprised to find that there is a concept in French known as “la gourmandise” describing this sensation, representing an overwhelming feeling of desire, lust and excess, such as “ok, my stomach is about to burst and I really shouldn’t keep eating, but that cake is just a pure slice of unctuous chocolate covered in an overflowing raspberry topping with the plate decorated in little zests of orange peels… I really shouldn’t…. maybe just a bite…. oh my God! … ok stop me now… too late!”.  Considering all of the incredible dishes served in France, anyone living here an extended amount of time has experienced “la gourmandise” on many different occasions.  Although the word usually refers to food delicacies, it can also be used metaphorically for just about anything you can do that goes over the top of “reasonable” excess (I’ll leave you to imagine different situations where “gourmandise” can be applied…).

Le Terroir - Historically, France has always been an agricultural nation and was a latecomer to the industrial revolution.  The French love of land, roots, traditions (especially culinary ones) and wisdom handed down from generations all melded together represents the concept of “le terroir”.  The term is extremely difficult to describe, but it is almost always linked to something that originates from manual toil of the local natural environment (usually harvested from the land), which is then refined into a product of incredible quality imbibed with a love of tradition, that can only be experienced and never fully defined.  So the next time you purchase some home-bottled wine and savory culinary specialties with the label “produit du terroir”, try to think about the generations of tradition and history that went into making this memorable delicacy and appreciate every last drop.

"Produits du Terroir" or Just Cheese?

One more thing - “le terroir” should definitely not be confused with “La Terreur” (Reign of Terror), which was an extremely bloody time of the French Revolution when the guillotine was running non-stop, chopping off the heads of all enemies of the people (so be careful of spelling and pronunciation).

Coquine or Just Cleaning the House?

Coquin / Coquine - This is one of my favorite French adjectives/nouns because it is incredibly subtle and can get you into big trouble if you use it incorrectly!  When used with very young children “c’est un coquin” (this boy is a “coquin”) is an expression meaning that “he’s a very clever child that uses unexpected ruses and seductive charm to get attention”.  It’s kind of a half compliment because the kid usually manages to circumvent adult authority by doing something very cute to get his way…   When this adjective is used for adults, it is a reference to someone who emanates an aggressive, outgoing sexuality, but in a coy, seductive sort of way.  Remember that if your French girlfriend is wearing a sexy dress and you are meeting her parents for the first time, “elle est vraiment coquine, ta fille” (your daughter is really “coquine”) is not a phrase to say.  So as I said before, be very careful how you use this one!!

Dépayser (adjective/verb) - The other day I was having a conversation in English with a friend and I was trying to describe visiting a French mountain village and the concept of feeling completely disconnected from your usual urban surroundings.  Well, after stuttering a bit, I regressed into franglais and slipped in the French adjective “dépaysé”, which basically sums up the sensation of complete disorientation from your usual daily environment that I was trying to describe.  It’s a very good adjective for all of us French expats who wake up every day deep in the heart of France and are still amazed by the differences with our native homelands.

Although this post might point you in the right direction, to truly appreciate the full meaning of these words you’ll need to immerse yourself in the language until you finally start dreaming of “les gourmandises du terroir” or a very “coquine” French maid…  bonne nuit!

Links

To better understand “le terroir”, take a look at the photos from another age on the site of photographer Patrick Blan.  My mouth is already watering…

You can also order “produits du terroir” online from a handy-dandy website www.lesproduitduterroir.com

If you’re a chocolate addict, check out this video of a French chef making a warm, oozing “fondant au chocolat”.  Not as hard as you think!

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube DirektFondant au Chocolat

Feel free to add other nontranslatable words to the comments section!!

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August 14th, 2010 | Tags: chocoholic, chocolate addict, coquin, coquine, dépayser, dreaming in French, excess, femme de ménage, Fondant au chocolat, france blog, french blog, french dreams, french fluency, french maid, French pastries, gastronomy, la gourmandise, La Terreur, le terroir, learning foreign language, mental translations, produits du terroir, unctuous, untranslatable French | Category: La France, La Langue Internationale, Le Nouveau Roman, Le Pot au Feu, Traditions | Leave a comment

Pig Latin City

When I was growing up, once I knew how to spell, my parents had the ingenious idea to teach me Pig Latin.  For those of you who don’t know what Pig Latin is, it’s a way of creating a sort of “secret language” by transforming English words into seemingly gibberish sounds unless you know the formula for creating the words.  In the case of Pig Latin, the rule is to take the first letter of the word, move it to the end and then add “ay”.  For example, the word “dog” would be said “og-day” (2 syllables).  The phrase “I went to the park” would be said phonetically ”Iyay entway otay ethay arkpay” (the “A” sound at the end is a long A, pronounced the same as in “way” or “say”).

Growing up in rural New Hampshire, there was frequently not much to do, so my brother and I soon became experts at speaking Pig Latin.  We would speak it so quickly that our parents could no longer understand what we were talking about and it became a fun sort of code language.  To this day, I still enjoy rattling off phrases in Pig Latin, but unfortunately it’s only my brother who can actually understand me (and we live 4000 miles away from each other, so there’s not much use disguising our conversations over the phone)!

Verlan - The Language of "La Cité"

The French language also contains many coded ways of speaking.  As someone who loves to learn slang, I was fascinated to discover that the origin of many funky slang words is actually the result of inverting the syllables of existing French words.  This special language is known as “Verlan” which is how the word “L’envers” (which means “backwards” or “in reverse”) is pronounced when the two syllables are inverted!  In fact, many of the inverted words in Verlan are already regular slang to begin with, so in many ways Verlan is actually “slang made from slang”. Verlan is also used frequently in more lower-class neighborhoods, especially by inner city immigrants, many of whom are still learning French and who may not even know what the word originally was.

There are so many wacky phrases in Verlan, that I’ll start with a few simple examples.  The word “femme” (woman) is pronounced “meuf” in Verlan, as in “où est ta meuf?” (where’s your woman?).  The words mère and père are transformed into “reum” and “reup” (remember this is a phonetic translation - Verlan isn’t really written).  Keep in mind that saying a word in Verlan is frequently considered slightly derogatory, so you should never refer to your girlfriend as ”ma meuf” in front of her parents!

For your learning pleasure, I’ve compiled a table of some common expressions in Verlan.  These words do occasionally slip into conversations, even with elite French speakers, so it’s good to have some background knowledge.  As a foreigner, they are also a lot of fun to occasionally throw into your French phrases to show your language “culture” (if you want to call it that)…

Because Verlan slang words can be generated from nearly any word in French, it’s fun to try to create them; in fact, one of my personal goals is to insert a new Verlan word into the French language.  I’ve tried on many occasions to create original Verlan words and slip them into my conversations, but nothing more than confused silence greeted me as a response.  My French friends all said I should just give it up - apparently the words I create just don’t ”sound” right.  Nobody wants “c’est aivre” (c’est vrai), “pine-co” (copine) or ”aimp” (pain).  In the end I’ll probably just end up talking to myself and translating French into Pig Latin… à ientôtbay!

Links

Online Pig Latin Translator- This site translates any phrase into Pig Latin.  Loads of fun!

Les Années Verlan- An intellectual article about Verlan by Alain Rey.  If you can make it through this article, then you’re probably too cultivated to speak Verlan!!

WikiPedia’s Take on Verlan - Details, origins, etc. - easy reading after Alain Rey’s article (and in English)

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July 25th, 2009 | Tags: aimf, backwards French, Carrouf, féca, france blog, french blog, French slang, igpay atinlay, keuf, l'envers, meuf, opstay, Pig Latin, relou, reuf, reum, reup, reus, teuf, translating slang, verlan, zarbi, zyva | Category: La Langue Internationale, Le Nouveau Roman | Comments (6)

I have frequently noticed that when you learn to speak another language, you tend to understand the structure, spelling and grammar rules of the foreign language better than your own native language.  This is not to say that you can actually write or speak the foreign language better than your native language!  It simply means you tend to understand why verbs are conjugated a certain way or a phrase is crafted with a special structure because you have intensely studied the rules governing that language. 

Bernard is Watching You!

I can attest that with my limited six months of formal English grammar education in the eight grade (remember that I was a product of the American public school system, so I consider myself lucky!), I honestly have no idea how to correctly conjugate the English language, speaking or writing pretty much by instinct and basically using what I have learned from reading novels, magazines, etc.  In fact, I am always a bit nervous that my blog articles have gaping holes in their grammar or that my colloquial writing style is just too informal.  At least I know the difference between “their”, “there” and “they’re”, which I am sad to say many Americans have a hard time with.

Native French speakers are no exception.  Despite their strict French language education, I am always amazed to see the number of grammatical, pronunciation or word usage errors that have slipped into the daily interactions with my French friends.  A good example of this is the verb “réaliser”.  I can’t tell you how many French people I hear saying “j’ai realisé” (as in “I realized” something).  I want to remind all my French friends that the correct verb is actually “se rendre compte”.  Remember that the verb ”réaliser” is used to describe the completion of a project or goal, not to become aware of an idea!!

Below is a list of frequent errors I’ve compiled to help my French friends … improve their French.  I hope they won’t take this lesson badly to be corrected by “un amérloque” (slang for an American), but remember it is every French citizen’s civic duty to speak the language as purely as possible!!

For non-French speakers or beginners, this section may be a bit difficult to understand, so hold onto your beret!

Links

Merci Professeur! - For those of you interested in obscure rules governing the French language, here is a link to several short language videos of Bernard Cerquiglini.  This guy is my hero!

The Proof is in the Pudding

Here are a few fun links and references to help make my case…

Censé ou sensé - This one is tricky because when it’s spoken they both sounds the same.  So ask yourself which one you are thinking of when you speak?

Après que - It really does take the indicatif!

Ce qui est important, vois-tu, c’est de dire “excuse-moi” et pas “je m’excuse”. Tu ne peux pas t’excuser tout seul, linguistiquement ce n’est pas correct - Philibert from the film “Ensemble, c’est tout”

Réaliser - The verb “réaliser” used in the sense of the English verb ”to realize” (as to become aware of something) is widely considered an “anglicisme”.  Below is a copy of a page from the ”Dictionnaire sélectif et commenté des difficultés de la version anglaise” (Jean Rey - Éditions Ophrys).  Although using “réaliser” in this way is now tolerated, it still isn’t correct usage (click on the image to zoom)…

The truth behind "réaliser"

Please don’t hesitate to add any additional expressions as comments - they’re more than welcome!

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May 30th, 2009 | Tags: après que, Bernard Cerquiglini, common French language errors, fautes de grammaire, france blog, french blog, il faut que je, je m'excuse, je suis cencé, je suis sensé, la mauvaise langue, le homard, les haricots, malgré que, Merci Professeur, réaliser, se rappeler de, se rendre compte, si j'aurais, their, there, they're, un entretien, un interview | Category: La Langue Internationale, Le Nouveau Roman | Comments (6)

La Vache qui Rit!

Every language has its quirks, and French is no exception.  Who would have expected such a beautiful language to be so obsessed with cows!  Perhaps it’s due to France’s historical attachment to the land and agricultural traditions, but everywhere you look there are so many subtle variations of the word “la vache” (cow) in French, that it’s very useful to have a few expressions handy for the odd occasion…

Vache Vocabulary and Culture

Les Vaches du Cantal - Who You Looking At?

Conversation Starters

La Vache qui Rit - Everyone’s favorite iconic French cow, this is a brand of cheese popular in much of the world.  Individually wrapped, easily spreadable and able to stay unrefrigerated for a long time, “la vache qui rit” is the perfect, bite-size cheese for picnics and on the beach.  It also comes in a multi-flavor cube form knows as “apéricubes”²  with trivia questions inside the wrapper ideal for breaking the ice!

La Clarine - This is the clanking bell around the cow’s neck.  Sometimes high in the alps you can hear the ”clarines des vaches” carried by the wind like a distant spirit.  Enchantingly beautiful…

Ruminer - This is the French verb ”to chew one’s cud”.  It also is used in a metaphorical sense, meaning to think things over.

Transhumance - A special event in mountain villages when the cows are herded from lower altitudes to upper altitudes for their summer grazings (or vice-versa).  This is when the streets are filled not only with cows, but also sheep, goats and other animals who graze in the mountains during the good weather.

Le Pet des Vaches - Cow farts, need I say more?

Links

Vaches Photo Expo - An inspirational slideshow by professional photographer Bruno Compagnon.  Beautiful French cows in all of their glory!!

Vaches de France - A listing of the major breeds of cows found in France.

La Vache qui Rit - The official website of “La Vache qui Rit”.  You can register for your own personal login on the site and even play cow-themed sudoku and memory games online!  This is when you need to ask if modern branding has gone a bit too far.

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1. the French also refer to a person who is easily exploited as “un pigeon” (a pigeon) [↩]
2. ”apéri” cubes refers to the French before dinner drink “l’aperitif” [↩]

April 20th, 2009 | Tags: Bruno Compagnon, clarines, cow photos, france blog, french blog, il peut comme un vache qui pisse, la vache, la vache qui rit, les sept vaches grasses, pets des vaches, photos vaches, ruminer, sacré vache, transhumance, une vache espagnole, vachement, vacherie, vacherie superieure | Category: La Langue Internationale, Le Nouveau Roman, Traditions | Comments (2)