Comment parler des livres que l'on a pas lus :
I ran across this interview today and, while I have yet to read anything written by Tracy Chevalier (but have Girl with the Pearl Earring waiting patiently somewhere in my cross-continental library...), I found her manner of speaking and expression, both verbal and physical, absolutely endearing :
Tracy Chevalier discusses her new novel, "Burning Bright" en français
It feels strange to say this, being an American, and having been guilty of trying to hide any hint of américaine-ness in my own parlance, but it's somehow noteworthy for me to have found myself enchanted by her accent, her franglais, her non-Frenchness in French.
I used to be much harder on myself about assimilating in Paris. A blend of admiration of and lending of superiority to the French/European mode de vie, marinating in absorbed anti-American politics (it was pre and post-2003) had transformed me into a well-oiled francophile, right down to the cigarettes and tardiness. Nothing gave me more pleasure than a French person conferring the title of européenne upon my irrevocably bescarved shoulders, or the looks of impressed surprise when I divulged my nationality.
"But, you can't be American! You're not obese! You speak French! You're teeth aren't perfectly straight and bleached!" (All of these things have in fact been said to me, on more than one occasion, from seemingly open-minded people.)
The longer I live in and adopt this European culture, the dizzyingly rich French language, and the fascinating waves of political theories that rock its social core and stability, the more I get wise to the benefits of being from another culture, with another tongue embedded firmly in the back of my brain.
When a colleague invited me and my "délicieux accent" to lunch today, I candidly asked a friend if I really had a strong Anglo accent. "No, it's not strong, but one sometimes senses a charming hint of non-nativeness in your locution. Mais il ne faut surtout pas que tu te fasses des complexes là-dessus! It's you - and it never ceases to impress French people to hear a foreigner speak their language, which they consider to be of supreme difficulty and sophistication!"
When in France...
Tracy Chevalier discusses her new novel, "Burning Bright" en français
It feels strange to say this, being an American, and having been guilty of trying to hide any hint of américaine-ness in my own parlance, but it's somehow noteworthy for me to have found myself enchanted by her accent, her franglais, her non-Frenchness in French.
I used to be much harder on myself about assimilating in Paris. A blend of admiration of and lending of superiority to the French/European mode de vie, marinating in absorbed anti-American politics (it was pre and post-2003) had transformed me into a well-oiled francophile, right down to the cigarettes and tardiness. Nothing gave me more pleasure than a French person conferring the title of européenne upon my irrevocably bescarved shoulders, or the looks of impressed surprise when I divulged my nationality.
"But, you can't be American! You're not obese! You speak French! You're teeth aren't perfectly straight and bleached!" (All of these things have in fact been said to me, on more than one occasion, from seemingly open-minded people.)
The longer I live in and adopt this European culture, the dizzyingly rich French language, and the fascinating waves of political theories that rock its social core and stability, the more I get wise to the benefits of being from another culture, with another tongue embedded firmly in the back of my brain.
When a colleague invited me and my "délicieux accent" to lunch today, I candidly asked a friend if I really had a strong Anglo accent. "No, it's not strong, but one sometimes senses a charming hint of non-nativeness in your locution. Mais il ne faut surtout pas que tu te fasses des complexes là-dessus! It's you - and it never ceases to impress French people to hear a foreigner speak their language, which they consider to be of supreme difficulty and sophistication!"
When in France...
Comments
delphine
“To have another language is to possess a second soul.”
Charlemagne
I'm losing the accent... slowly but surely and compounded with my French last name, it's all downhill from here.