November | 2011 | The Perpetual Passenger

My Favorite English Frenchisms

November 18, 2011 · by Nikki

When I first came to Paris in March to meet my new co-workers, I was really impressed with how well everyone spoke English. After being here for several months now, there are some quirks that happen when crossing from French to English that I find particularly endearing/amusing/hysterical. Here’s a list:

Pseudo-inappropriate use of the word “shiny.” Example: “Wow–the sun is out today! It’s so shiny outside!” This one makes me smile every time.
Addition of the “H” sound to words beginning with a vowel. Example: “Edgy” becomes “hedgy,” “oven” becomes “hoven” or “ear” becomes “hear.” This one usually leaves me scratching my head for a moment or two while I try to figure out what the person really meant to say.
Pronunciation of the “K” sound in words beginning with “KN.” Example: “I need to wash the kah-nife,” or “My stomach is in kah-nots.” I kick into English Correction Mode when I hear this one.
Occasional swapping of the “S” sound for a “TH” sound. Example: “I feel sick” becomes “I feel thick.” See how I said this was hysterical?
Occasional swapping of silent or “F” sounding “GH” for a “TH” sound. Example: “I was laughing” becomes “I was lauthing”, or “This is really good dough” becomes “This is really good doth.” Another head-scratcher. Lots of times these words result in a “Huh?” from me.
Pseudo-inappropriate (though sometimes applicable) use of the word “funny” as a substitute for “fun.” Example: “It’s not funny being sick.” Uh, no, it isn’t a comedy, you’re right. 🙂 Or, “I saw my best friend this weekend and it was really funny.” At this point I’m sitting there waiting for a story about some drunken mishap that will result in me laughing until I cry, but my blank stare is usually just met with a smile.
Inappropriate use of plural nouns or adjectives. Example: “I need to get my hairs cut. They are too long.” Or “I just scored 84 millions!” How can you not laugh at this? 🙂

Oh and, Dear French Friends: please keep in mind that I have created this list as something I can refer back to to remember that we all make mistakes. This way, when I begin speaking more French and have you all rolling on the floor laughing (or lauthing) with my egregious errors and pronunciation faux pas I can maintain some self-respect. 🙂

Spotted: Politeness in Paris

November 16, 2011 · by Nikki

Parisians are known all over the world for their less-than-courteous ways. I was once told “One of the best things about France is Paris. One of the worst things about Paris are the Parisians.”

In fact, a study was done among non-Parisian French residents to understand their feelings on the capital-dwellers. The results showed that 68% actually have a good opinion of Parisians, BUT… also find them significantly more arrogant, aggressive, chauvinistic, snobbish, and self-centered than other French. If you can read French, check out the study, here.

During my time in Paris I’ve certainly witnessed my fair share of rudeness and bad attitudes, but I tend to write it off. For one, these people are living in the most visited city on earth, meaning that they are constantly dealing with tourists haphazardly wielding cameras and maps, asking them questions in foreign languages, clogging up their national monuments and perhaps would-be favorite restaurants that are now avoided due to crowding. And since I am already walking around with an apology at the ready to excuse me for my non-French fluency, the Parisians I encounter seem to take mercy (or pity) on me.

So although I haven’t been the victim of any outright acts of vehemence (knock on wood), I do appreciate when I notice the contrary: people being nice. And yesterday as I was preparing for my fourth trip to London in as many months, I was bestowed with the gift of politeness by not one, but an entire group of people.

It was a very early Tuesday morning for me, and I started my day by waiting in line at Gare du Nord train station to pick up my tickets for London. Having arrived early I was second in line, so my stress level remained low because I knew I’d be helped promptly. Or so I thought.

After more than half an hour in line (and half an hour closer to my train’s departure time), a security agent told all of us in the queue what I assume to be a new location to wait in a new line. Of course with my lack of French I was the last to catch on to his instructions, and therefore was the last to be standing in the new line. Starting to get panicky, I began going through my bag to find any and all documentation I might need to present to the ticket agent so that I could get what I needed and head to my train as fast as possible. At this point, I still needed to go through customs and security before boarding, and time was running out. Before I had time to realize exactly how close I was to potentially missing my train, I heard a rumble of conversation in front of me. Looking up, I see the entire line of people looking at me and waving me to the front of the line.

Regaining my spot as second in line, the man who was first turned to me and made a joke about travel-related stress. In French. The confused look on my face prompted him to ask “English?” and we began talking. He asked the usual questions – where are you from, where are you going, do you speak ANY French – and then proceeded to offer his help should I have any difficulty retrieving my tickets in English. Though I declined his offer, I couldn’t help but be struck by how a potentially nerve-wracking situation had turned into one of the best examples of kindness I had experienced in a long time.

The thought crossed my mind that maybe the man in front of me wasn’t Parisian. It’s very possible, of course, given that we were all in a train station heading to who-knows-where. But I think that at least one of those people in that long line at the ticket window was a local, and I’m happy enough with that. 🙂

I’ve Got Friends (That Were Once) In Low Places…

November 10, 2011 · by Nikki

Last night I attended a soiree organized by an online magazine dedicated to building a community of people who have some connection to France/the French in their lives (more to come on this in a future post).

In addition to meeting some really cool Australians, Americans and French people who are currently living in Paris, I got something really amazing out of this little shindig: Encouragement.

About to reach the six-month-mark of living here in Paris and still having only basic (though improving!) French, I often get down on myself for not having made more progress. I even wrote about it, here. And although I would argue that, among all the places in France to live, Paris is the easiest place to get by if you have only an elementary understanding of French, I expected more from myself on the language front by now.

When I arrived at last night’s event, I was unsure if I’d even be able to communicate with anyone, and was nervous that people would look down their noses at me for being a French resident who still speaks almost entirely in English. But on the contrary, I was met with a barrage of understanding and motivation! A lot of these people had come to France with little to no French training, and are now either speaking fluently or enough to communicate well in nearly every situation. And the kicker? It took them all about a year-and-a-half to get there.

“Six months?!” One woman said. “You’ve got to give yourself more time. There’s no way you could expect to be speaking a lot of French in only six months.”

“At around six months I thought I was speaking great French because I didn’t know it well enough to know the mistakes I was making. At one year I actually was more frustrated because I could hear my mistakes. Eventually you just have to stop caring and stop feeling embarrassed and it gets easier.”

I woke up this morning with a renewed sense of determination to tackle this language, and I’m grateful for the words of wisdom these fellow expats were able to share. Finding out that I’m not failing as hard as I thought I was: not a bad way to spend a Wednesday evening, eh? 🙂

Why Living in Paris Requires English Grammatical Expertise

November 9, 2011 · by Nikki

As the resident native English speaker at my office, I regularly have conversations like this one:

“Hey, Nikki…?”

“Yes…?”

“Do I say ‘lit?’ Or is it ‘litten?'”

“Um. Excuse me?”

“You know. Is ‘lit’ an irregular verb?”

“What are you trying to say? What’s the sentence you want to form?”

“No. I just want to know if it’s irregular.”

“It’s not litten. It’s lit.”

Though I have, as almost all American students have at one point or another in their high school careers, studied grammar–and currently think myself to be an excellent (though not perfect) user of it–I no longer recall exactly which verbs are irregular and which are regular. Do I use verbs correctly? Of course! But can I list for you even five irregular verbs in the English language without consulting my trusty friend Google or beginning to conjugate a lengthy list of verbs in my mind? No.

Because English is my mother tongue (Oh no! Starting a sentence with ‘because’ is a huge grammatical no-no! But don’t worry, I’m finishing the sentence with an independent clause. Ahh! Starting a sentence with ‘but’ is a definite no-no! But it’s okay, seeing as how this is an informal blog, and none of you are here to actually read about English grammar.), these rules are no longer rules to me. I live and abide by them. They are burned into the depths of my mind. Sort of like the rule that says you’re not supposed to steal. I don’t think about it. I just don’t steal. So now my knowledge of the ins and outs of English is being tested and I must say… Mrs. Smith probably wouldn’t be very proud.

And I’m only telling you about the verbal interrogations I receive.

On the flip-side, I look forward to the days when I will be asking for the past participle form of some seldom-used French verb to my friends. Revenge is best served verbally, no? 🙂