“la parole exportée”

In a similar vein to my previous post, I’d like to share my experience in the Netherlands a few months ago.

I had a problem with my car in a small town close to the German border (not in Amsterdam). I called my insurance company in France and about 20 minutes later, I got a phone call from the tow truck driver, who was looking for me. I tried to read the name of the street, but… although I’m a linguist, I hadn’t the faintest idea of how to pronounce it in Dutch. Until then, it hadn’t occurred to me that there might be a language problem. I know the Dutch speak three or four languages, but as I answered, I realized he spoke perfect English, and I couldn’t speak a word of Dutch, not even tell the name of the street in a recognizable manner.

He found me in the end, despite my funny pronunciation, and fixed the car. Before leaving, he told me that he was learning French, but wasn’t quite up to speaking it yet. He had a girlfriend in France, so he wanted to speak the language.

Of course.

So this is a guy who is a tow truck driver by profession, and speaks Dutch and English, is learning French, and since we were so close to Germany, I bet he knows some German too.

How’s that for multilingualism? I’ve still to find the French tow truck driver who speaks English, to begin with, let alone Dutch or Italian, or even German! Correct me if I’m wrong.

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It’s probably just a coincidence, but the blog name ‘Certain Ideas of Europe‘ (on the Economist.com website) brings to mind the ‘certain idea of France’ that has informed so much of France’s foreign policy in the past decades.

But the post I found, a fairly old one for this day and age, since it was written in January, has this heading: ‘Five months left to learn French‘. It’s interesting and funny, as I’m reading it just after France started its 6-month turn at leading the European Union. I have written somewhere that this made for a very lively Spring season in the conference interpretation community. My bet is that the Fall season is going to be busy too, and I am already predicting an incredibly crazy month of December, with -as is always the case, but probably even more so with this Presidency- the outgoing country desperately trying to finish off jobs, putting together last-minute agreements, in the hope of leaving a remarkable legacy. Hmmm.

The post concludes with a quote from the French European Affairs Minister, saying:

“Also, a European presidency in which we will be using French to communicate, a great deal.”

Ha. Indeed. As a professional translator, I can only applaud. More business. This is one of the favorite themes of this Presidency. We’ll see. However, what I found really funny, were the comments. Same old stories. Same old rivalry. Same old tally of who in Europe wants to speak English, not French. (What about German? Spanish?) Same old accounting of how much French the English language has absorbed over the centuries (and vice versa?). Same old squabbling: ‘French is a dead language.’ No, it’s not.’ ‘Yes it is.’ One could have argued: ‘What about British English?’

Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Do we care?

photo credit: mario_groleau

Our Canadian cousins are celebrating today the 400th anniversary of the birth (July 3, 1608) of Quebec City, founded by a Frenchman by the name of Samuel Champlain.

Champlain’s birthplace was Brouage, in Western France. As happened to many such places over the centuries, Brouage, once a thriving salt-trading port, is now an inland historic city that I visited some years ago.

Image via Wikipedia

As one of the minisites of the Quebec City website puts it:

400 years means:

146 000 days

3.5 million hours

210.4 million minutes during which millions of people have existed.

It also means 146,000 days during which thousands, then millions of people have fought to preserve their combined French and Canadian identities. Canadian French has retained some 18th-century French, but when you listen to people from Quebec, there isn’t such a big divide. The source of fun are most often straight translations from American English. I still remember a sign at Niagara Falls that made the translation of “Mind the step” look like “Take care of the step.”

One interesting piece of information I caught when listening to this program on the French national radio was that the present Quebec accent is similar to that of native French speakers of the 18th century. Now that is wonderful, and gives an idea of how languages change over time. The simple thought of Louis XIV, the Sun King, speaking like a present-day Canadian should be a lesson for those on this side of the Atlantic, who think that France has the monopoly over “good” French and that French Canadians have a funny accent!

I hate to brag, but I like encouragement like everyone else, and this selection of quotes from e-mails that arrived in my inbox last week, really made my day…

‘…So anyway, thank you so much for all your very hard work. I thought you did a wonderful job altogether. It was a pleasure to work with you and I will be sure to keep your contact details for the next time. I’ll also pass on your details to anyone who may need help in Paris with interpreting needs.’

‘…Par ailleurs, je tiens à vous remercier de nous avoir rejoint ce 17 juin, votre prestation a été bien appréciée par nos collaborateurs anglophones.’

‘…All that stuff about translators isn’t really for you. We have been very happy with your work over the years.’

For many years now, I’ve got into the habit of keeping congratulatory comments in a corner of my office. All clients (including me) often forget to thank their service providers. These sweet messages are my insurance against rainy days, when everything seems to go badly, and a little encouragement like this is much better (even for your health) than a cocktail!

photo credit: debaird