I’ve got a confession to make. Well, I have many but I won’t bore you with them all.
Although I’ve been going to France and Germany for many years my grasp of languages other than English is well… not that good.
The confusion of words - it's not always what you think!
And I think it has something to do with me misusing the French word ‘baiser’ at a family meal. To my partner’s mother. I had wanted to say ‘The meal was so good I could kiss you’.
But I said something that meant something else VERY different. (John’s note – read very bad!)
In my defence I have two things to say.
My comprehension – at least of French – is better than my spoken French and it’s not that I can’t speak French or German (or Latvian for that matter) it is just that ‘I simply haven’t learnt yet’ as one of my more positive-minded friends would say.
Which makes me sound very busy. Which I’m not anymore but like the sound of anyway.
I also like the sound of words.
On a trip to New York I sat on the subway gazing at the adverts inside the carriage. And I learnt something. The Spanish word ‘embarazadas’ means ‘pregnant’. So much more gentle than ‘schwanger’, the German equivalent. Or even the French ‘encientes.’
I imagine a shy young woman looking at the floor and hesitantly announcing her joyous state. And me getting the message wrong and thinking she was embarrassed. Which she might be. In addition to being pregnant and not directly linked to it,
Some words are just a joy to listen to regardless of their meaning.
Words such as ‘quincaillerie’ meaning a hardware shop or ‘pamplemousse’ meaning ‘grapefruit’ and ananas ‘pineapple’. ‘Pomme de terre’ and their German cousins ‘Kartoffeln’ are potatoes. Of course, for many of their vegetables the Germans use the French words.
And many German words are very descriptive. How about ‘Krankenhaus’ and ‘Lazarett’ both meaning ‘hospital’?
I love the vision of people who are feeling ‘cranky’, as they say in America, because they are unwell all being put in a house until they are better. A bit like sending a fractious child to its room. ‘And don’t come down until you are in a better mood!’
And at the other end of the scale people being resurrected Lazarus-like from the Lazarett.
As for ‘Rathaus’. I think it’s an inspired choice for ‘town hall’ with all the political shenanigans that can go on there.
Such wonderfully sounding and descriptive words.
And there’s more…
Mother-in-law and father-in-law become ‘belle-mère’ and ‘beau-père’, proclaiming the aesthetic qualities of your spouse, the prodigy of a beautiful mother and a handsome father.
What about the sound of ‘Un ver de terre en verre vert’? Although who would find a use for such a sentence is beyond me at the moment.
And as many of you will know better than I, one doesn’t say the ‘Sun was setting’. Rather the sun was sleeping. (Le soleil se couchait).
And rivers don’t burst their banks. They get out of their beds. (La rivière sortit de son lit.)
And then there is the strange way in some nouns and titles of organisations have to be the other way around. For instance ‘walkie-talkie’ becomes ‘talkie-walkie’ NATO is OTAN in French and the United States (of America) becomes the Etats-Unis (d’Amérique).
Ah… Vive la difference!
(Article kindly written by Richard Maddox from the UK, a lover of history, words and sounds, and… who knows what else he’s hiding!)
As there are a number of Spanish speakers who read this blog, do you have expressions that are colourful, or where you have to pronounce a word carefully so as not to have the wrong meaning? What’s your word for potato or hospital?!
For another interesting article on languages you could check out:
Hola John.
And for Spaish, that’s about it.
As for the German language asking for a Rundfahtkarten always has me laughing all the way there and on the way back.
I’m embarassed to ask what it means – sounds hideous though!! I think I came across some of those in Mumbai!?
Great post! I love the lovely French sayings about the sun sleeping and the river getting out of bed.
I have grappled with the Vietnamese language for a few years. I struggle with the tones, so people hear “I am a snail person” when I try to say “I am Australian”. Sigh.
“I am a snail person!” – that is so funny! I call Australians something else!!!! Good luck with your Vietnamese.
When it comes to learning a new language I find that almost everyone has good intentions but very few people get beyond that stage.
Perhaps we would get beyond the intention phase if we had a really good website we could log into and practise our language skills .
I have tried to get something going at http://bonyoyage.ning.com/group/learnaforeignlanguage but it has a long way to go to make it more interactive.
Mark thanks for your comment, and especially interested in your interactive language course, which I am keen to check out properly when I have a minute.
Hello Mark
I’m sorry to say that my intentions are strong but, as you may have guessed from the article, the flesh is weak!
Mind you, my other half, who is French) does give me credit for understanding more than I express through my words!
For me I know it’s a confidence thing. I can dredge up all sorts of words to help my partner and our daughter to translate (faster than they can) at family meals and can buy things in shops and cafés.
I believe that given six months having to survive on my own in France my language skills would improve greatly.
Contributions to sponsor me – staying in John’s Paris apartment – will be greatly accepted!!!!
oh to have been a fly on the wall when you made that mistake…:)
Thanks Robin, I guess there are words you have to be very careful. The one in question in the article I never use now at all, because I know I will get it wrong!
No Robin, you REALLY don’t want to have been a fly or anyon the wall or a fly within 200 – or any other living thing – km! Time stood still. You could hear the clock ticking. The air was sucked out of the room.
Even a fly wouldn’t have survived.
Mind you the moment passed in seconds – although it wasn’t helped by me saying to my intended ‘What have I said? ‘What have I said? ‘ and getting the increasing irrated response ‘I’ll tell you LATER!’
It shows how scarred I am; this happened three decades ago!
Apologies – I’m typing on a French keyboard after a couple of glasses of wine.
What I meant to write was…
No Robin, you REALLY don’t want to have been a fly – or any or any other living – on the wall within 200 km!
Time stood still. You could hear the clock ticking. The air was sucked out of the room.
Even a fly wouldn’t have survived.
Mind you the moment passed in seconds in reality – although it wasn’t helped by me saying to my intended ‘What have I said?’ ‘What have I said?‘ and getting the increasing irrated response ‘I’ll tell you LATER!’
It shows how scarred I am; this happened three decades ago!
Loved the comment about “kranky” in German, this causes some strife with my German fiance at first, until I learned that he meant I was sick and not actually cranky (although maybe I was).
I have to say though that I love hearing French much better than German though, it has more of a flow and nice sounding words than German does.
Thanks Laurel for your “kranky” comment. Just don’t tell your German fiance that you prefer French! For me I adore the musical flow of French, and when you here it spoken properly (!?) the rhythms and melodies are glorious.
My French is rather rusty at the moment, but I did run into two Francophones here in Chiang Mai this week.
After saying “Je suis Canadian.” she turned away in disgust when she couldn’t understand another French word I said….I just laughed
Nancie, you did great, don’t worry about what the others think!
I learned a little bit of french when I was young, but now I can barely say two or three “proper” sentences. Even when I speak in english, sometimes I have to pause and think thoroughly my words since not all literal translations from spanish to english express the same intentions. Have made a few mistakes already!
Norbert thanks – I wonder if there are English words or phrases that always trip you up??
Hmmm… hmm, I’m not sure about a word or phrase in English. I find this language so commercial and so easy to manipulate that there are so many tripping phrases. But, I find the word menino (portuguese) really cute.
I speak English, French, German and Spanish fluently and in my mind I often have conversations (or rather solioquies) combing all in one sentence which makes for a great symphony of sound. Language is music in my ears that’s why I continue learning more.
I agree Inka – language is music – well most languages are music!? I found Japanese quite different in rhythms etc.
Oh, Inka how I wish that I had your language skills!
I really try hard when in France to speak understandable French, but know that I’m often making mistakes judging from the responses I get. However, I found that I could turn waiters from surly to friendly by apologizing for my poor French (in French, of course).
Cathy come on I’m sure you turned the waiters heads not just because of your attempt at speaking French!!??
I love the word pamplemousse. It really is pleasing to say.
Great post John. We are trying to hone our spanish skills in preparation for some stints in BsAs and Oaxaca later int the year.
YOu’re right NVR pamplemousse is lovely – another word I love in French is “hirondelle” which is the word for a swallow. Random!!
Ahh! I would be terrified to say the wrong thing! I think that’s the hinderance with most in learning languages. Have you ever noticed if you’re drinking, you’re suddenly fluent? I think too often we stop ourselves from speaking because we are uncomfortable or embarrased to make a mistake. And its scary!
Kelly thanks for your comment! But that is one of the reasons the French speak their own language so well, because they have wine with every meal!!!!
speak a bit of french & spanish and try to at least learn hello and thank you in the languages of places i’m visiting. problem is, generally my pronunciation is pretty good (i’m a good mimic) but that gets me in trouble as the person i’m talking with assumes i understand a lot more than i do! oops! say what?! great post
Thanks Lorna. Maybe learning a language could be a new project for you this New Year!!
I love words too! One of my favourites would have to be ‘star’ – ‘estrella’ in Spanish, ‘étoile’ in French, ‘stella’ in Italian…. luminous in all languages.
And one of my favourite quotes about words is by a grand author Laura Esquivel who wrote ‘Like Water for Chocolate’ (even the title is stunning!):
“Words cling to the very core of our memories and lie there in silence until a new desire reawakens them and recharges them with loving energy. That is one of the qualities of love that moves me most, their capacity for transmitting love. Like water, words are a wonderful conductor of energy. And the most powerful, transforming energy is the energy of love.”
Voilà! Bonne journée à tous, Sarah
Comme toujours tu peux faire briller les mots et les phrases. Tu m’as fait sourir! x
Thank you for your comments Sarah. You may not believe this but I once knew a girl called Stella Knight… mind you I was ten and couldn’t see what the joke was!
Great post! I can relate to this all too well As per your request John, I think your readers would appreciate my article today on similar jaunts thru the wonderful mine field of the French language: http://wp.me/p1dHNL-1SPQZc or for an even further explanation about the “baiser” dilemma: http://wp.me/s1dHNL-hey Cheers!
Thanks Corey for your post. I especially enjoyed your links as well! Look forward to hearing from you again!!
My pleasure John, so happy to find your blog. Just read your About Me and it’s very intriguing, can’t wait to learn more about what you do. Here’s to the start of a new…uh, WordPress-ship!
We ran into this a lot when we were in France but all we knew was English and Spanish… one of our french friends thought it was funny, so he told us to just speak Spanish and most people would understand us… Riiiggghht… haha. That lead to some very interesting conversations!!
You can only learn to speak a language by trying to speak it. I know how embarrassing it can be to say something wrong, but at least you are trying!
John has asked me to read and comment (as the autor of this post, who is currently out of the UK and in a rather cold and damp Paris!)
I just want to echo John in saying ‘thank you for the great comments’ and what is turning out to be an interesting discussion.
I’ve just finished a book about the Resitance and there is a story in it where the Germans are looking for a female agent with the codename of ‘herisson’ (hedgehog).
Aparently the Germans had difficulty in understanding the French accent and spent their time looking for a ‘Madame Harrison!’
Oh – and we can thank John for the photo that illustrates this post!
Very interesting…often happens with me also with non-English European languages! I either say the word wrong, or understand something completely different!