First of all, the coolest thing about using WiFi in France is that The Internet knows that I'm in France. My Google searches automatically scan through Google.fr instead of Google.com. My login screens for Facebook and Blogger are all in French. It makes me smile.
In the last two days I've discovered that I'm not immediately recognized as an American wherever I go. I think this is a good thing. Although I have a lot more pride in my country ever since our president was elected, the behavior of a good deal of the American tourists I've encountered is enough for me to mutter, "Je ne parle pas anglais," when they barge up and ask "WHERE IS THE _____" without even saying "Excuse me," or "Do you speak English?" I would really rather not be grouped in with them.
But anyway. Yesterday at dinner my host mom brought up the fact that apparently I don't have an American accent when I speak French. I wouldn't know, obviously (the only thing I can recognize accent-wise is that I can understand Africans speaking French better than anyone else - I think they speak slower)...but she said that I don't really have much of an accent at all and the little accent I do have doesn't sound American. Go figure. At any rate, it made me feel good.
Then today, when I got to MacDo and ordered my hot chocolate (at the ever-so-classy McCafé - it came in a tall glass with a long spoon and whipped cream sprinkled with cocoa powder, and even the tray is all fancy looking!) I had a little bit of a stumble in communication with the woman at the counter (who, by the way, was MUCH nicer than McNugget Woman from the other day) and she asked what my native language is, and her first guess was Spanish.
I guess this strikes me as particularly interesting because it seems quite the contrary of what the rest of my classmates are experiencing. I know many of them have mentioned being greeted in English immediately upon entering an establishment or ordering food. I believe part of the reason for that is because some French people like to practice English when they have a chance - but I wonder why it's different with me; if it has to do with who I learned French from, or something. Hmm.
I don't have much more to say that's really interesting. Last night I watched 3 episodes of "La plus belle vie," which is a soap opera-type show that my host mom loves. Usually it's really intense and dramatic, but last night it was hilarious! I like spending my evenings reading and watching TV in French.
This afternoon we went to the Musée des Lettres et Manuscrits, and we got to learn how to write calligraphy they way they did in the Middle Ages, and then seal our papers up with sealing wax. It kind of felt like elementary school, but it was really fun!
Not much more to say...I still love it here, and I can't believe I've been in France for 3 weeks already!
Hemingway Hunt
9 months ago
"the coolest thing about using WiFi in France is that The Internet knows that I'm in France"
ReplyDeleteah yes! I loved that. Stumbling across that rally, very cool.
Have you visited the louvre yet?
I'm reading!
Dani
"(the only thing I can recognize accent-wise is that I can understand Africans speaking French better than anyone else - I think they speak slower)"
ReplyDeleteI don't necessarily think that African's speak more slowly, but they do open their mouth a little wider and often fully articulate the syllables that go otherwise unarticulated (i.e. the French take on "impossible" sounds something like "ehnpuhsseeb" to American ears, whereas a Senegalese might say "Impossible" with all of the correct nasalisations, etc. Furthermore, Africans have a tendency of changing the accented syllable of a phrase from the ultimate (which the French insist is necessary) to whichever syllable/word contains the most important information. For example, where a French person might say, "Il n'est pas franÇAIS" to stress that he isn't French, a Côte D'Ivoirien(ne) might say "il n'est PAS français"
That's just a theory, of course. Any thoughts?
Other than that, glad to hear that you're enjoying the langue de Molière in its ville principale.
Chris M
i love reading your blogs :)
ReplyDeleteHi Maya! This is Bethany...I was bored and found your blog and have been reading about your Paris trip...I am so jealous! It makes me miss taking French class and going to Germany and how different it is in Europe. Now I want to go back there. :(
ReplyDeleteBut with the language and accent thing...it was weird when I went to Germany because the English teacher there spoke English with a British accent instead of American and it was just really weird because it was like a combination of German AND British accents...lol.
And I remember one time I was buying a ticket for the u-bahn and a German guy came up and asked me in English how to buy a ticket. It was weird because he was actually from there and was asking me, a tourist, how to buy a ticket in English, when I hadn't even spoken so I don't even know why he assumed I spoke English.
I think my host family probably thought I was really rude, now that I look back on it. I always wanted to sleep a lot because I was always tired, and was shy and would just go in my room by myself because I felt really awkward living with complete strangers, and they would always have to try to come get me to come out and do things...they probably wondered why I never wanted to do anything with them or asked to go places. I have been thinking about them a lot lately and wish I could contact them, but I have pretty much no way of finding them now :(