vendredi 28 janvier 2011
Here is a story I told my dear friend Marina, but finding it so funny and touching, so I decided to share it with you all. It's about the experience and language difficulties encountered by a young woman during her year in Paris. And what is called "les faux pas": in every language, idiomatic phrases abound, which do not translate word for word into another person's language. If you say to a foreigner "What's up?" They will look up, not realizing you are asking them how they are. While living abroad (then here in Paris), one of my friend at least makes the attempt to speak to the Natives, but it doesn't always work out the way she would like. She has made a few interesting mistakes with her French over the last year and she thought it would be good to take me on a stroll down her memory lane in order to learn from her mistakes.
One evening after arriving here she was told that she had a lot of hair on the back of her shirt. She tried to respond with a little humor, but it didn't quite work. What she said was, "Je suis une chienne." What she meant was, "I am a dog." What she really said was, "I am a bitch." So, when she was told about her mistake she changed it to "D'accord, je suis une chatte." What she meant was, "Ok then, I am a cat." What she really said was, "OK, I am a pussy," (and not the feline kind...double oops!!)
Down the road, her French began to improve, but only slowly. She tried telling someone that she was joking by saying "Je te blague." That didn't work at all except for the fact that she got a few howls for weeks on that one. It doesn't really mean anything, but as she learned it is certainly not proper French. Even though "blague" means joke, she should have said "Je plaisantais." Voila, now she knows.
In French they say, I "have" cold instead of I "am" cold. Unfortunately, she forgot that little fact once and in doing so she inadvertantly said she was frigid. She learned then too that if she had said I "am" hot as opposed to I "have" heat then she would have been telling the person that she was hot to trot down the road of love (or at least lust).
Then there was Easter. Here in France instead of the Bunny, we have an Easter Bell too. When she told two ten-year-olds that the Bell hid some candy for them they matter-of-factly replied that they no longer believed in the Bell and refused to look for the candy. When she told them she was the Bell (all in French remember, which by the way is "je suis la cloche") she was told that she had just informed the children that she is stupid. Ah well, c'est la vie! At least the kids started looking for the candy.
She also shared how when she started learning French she asked her friend if he wanted "a" pipe instead of "his" pipe. In doing so, she had asked if he wanted a blow job...She failed to mention that she asked him this at a dinner party they were hosting with his friends. I could feel her pain and embarassment but it's so funny to hear her story and that makes unforgettable and joyful memories now.
So, here is the rule of thumb, just don't take yourself too seriously when you make a mistake. At least you will learn not to repeat it again and in the meantime you can have a good laugh.
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a great story!!! I've learned a lot of things))) thank you for publishing it!(Natalia)