funny my path was the reverse, I got into art history and discovered my French (from working on a farm in Corsica one summer and later watching a lot of Chabrol movies) was ~just~ good enough to go burrowing around on Gallica to try to figure out what was going on in seventeenth century engravings, and I was on my way
Oui oui! French is my native language but English overtook it long ago. My vocabulary is rusty and I can't conjugate worth shit, but I still retain the native accent to fool people otherwise.
fabulous post. . after 20+ years of speaking and living mainly in Spanish I still sometimes get wait staff answering me in English even if I have a Spanish book open in front of me/was speaking to my other half in Spanish a nanosecond before. You can't win at this game....
This is my absolute favorite of your blog posts. (I also enjoyed your not-in-French book!)
Thank you, I think it's mine as well!
Love this line: “What you were communicating was secondary to the precision with which you said it and the scarf you wore while saying it. “
funny my path was the reverse, I got into art history and discovered my French (from working on a farm in Corsica one summer and later watching a lot of Chabrol movies) was ~just~ good enough to go burrowing around on Gallica to try to figure out what was going on in seventeenth century engravings, and I was on my way
Oh, definitely can relate to the French anxiety. Today I am envious of Jodie Foster's: https://twitter.com/PhMarliere/status/1757118974553174279
Oh, she would DEFINITELY be allowed to teach the content courses. Life is unfair.
Another American woman impressive in speaking and singing in French https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4OVXYwXbBA
I love this. Thank you for sharing it!
Oui oui! French is my native language but English overtook it long ago. My vocabulary is rusty and I can't conjugate worth shit, but I still retain the native accent to fool people otherwise.
fabulous post. . after 20+ years of speaking and living mainly in Spanish I still sometimes get wait staff answering me in English even if I have a Spanish book open in front of me/was speaking to my other half in Spanish a nanosecond before. You can't win at this game....