When in French : love in a second language / Lauren Collins.
Publisher: New York : Penguin Press, 2016Description: 243 pages ; 25 cmContent type:- text
- unmediated
- volume
- 1594206449
- 9781594206443
- Collins, Lauren (Journalist)
- French language -- Conversation and phrase books -- English
- French language -- Self-instruction
- French language -- Study and teaching -- English speakers
- Journalists -- United States -- Biography
- Travelers' writings, American -- France
- BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Literary
- BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Literary
- HUMOR / Topic / Marriage & Family
- HUMOR -- Topic -- Marriage & Family
- TRAVEL / Europe / France
- TRAVEL -- Europe -- France
- France -- Languages
- 448 23
- PN4874.C646 A3 2016
Item type | Current library | Home library | Collection | Shelving location | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Book | Cherry Hill Public Library | Cherry Hill Public Library | Biography | Biography Collection | B COLLINS,L. (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 33407004272751 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
A language barrier is no match for love. Lauren Collins discovered this firsthand when, in her early thirties, she moved to London and fell for a Frenchman named Olivier--a surprising turn of events for someone who didn't have a passport until she was in college. But what does it mean to love someone in a second language? Collins wonders, as her relationship with Olivier continues to grow entirely in English. Are there things she doesn't understand about Olivier, having never spoken to him in his native tongue? Does "I love you" even mean the same thing as "je t'aime"? When the couple, newly married, relocates to Francophone Geneva, Collins--fearful of one day becoming "a Borat of a mother" who doesn't understand her own kids--decides to answer her questions for herself by learning French.
When in French is a laugh-out-loud funny and surprising memoir about the lengths we go to for love, as well as an exploration across culture and history into how we learn languages--and what they say about who we are. Collins grapples with the complexities of the French language, enduring excruciating role-playing games with her classmates at a Swiss language school and accidently telling her mother-in-law that she's given birth to a coffee machine. In learning French, Collins must wrestle with the very nature of French identity and society--which, it turns out, is a far cry from life back home in North Carolina. Plumbing the mysterious depths of humanity's many forms of language, Collins describes with great style and wicked humor the frustrations, embarrassments, surprises, and, finally, joys of learning--and living in--French.
The past perfect : le plus-que-parfait -- The imperfect : l'imparfait -- The past : le passé composé -- The present : le présent -- The conditional : le conditionnel -- The subjunctive : le subjonctif -- The future : le futur.
When New Yorker staff writer Lauren Collins moves to Geneva, Switzerland, she decides to learn French--not just to be able to go about her day-to-day life, but in order to be closer to her French husband and his family. When in French is at once a hilarious and idiosyncratic memoir about the things we do for love, and an exploration across cultures and history into how we learn languages, and what they say about who we are.
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Reviews provided by Syndetics
Publishers Weekly Review
This smart memoir by New Yorker writer Collins is an extended essay on how the languages we speak shape who we are. Collins is an American living in London who speaks little French when she falls in love with a Frenchman who speaks excellent English. They marry and move to Francophone Geneva, where Collins decides to learn French after envisioning herself as a mother who can't understand half of what her own kids are saying. Throughout, Collins shares excerpts from works of history, philosophy, psychology, politics, and literature that show how pervasive language's influence is on every aspect of our lives. Political goofs result from mistranslation. Even the meaning of love might depend on how you express it: Does "Je t'aime" mean something different from "I love you"? The transitions can be clunky as Collins shifts between story telling and embarking on academic discussions, but her writing is often elegant and exact. Agent: Elyse Cheney, Elyse Cheney Literary. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.Booklist Review
For Collins, living in Geneva was like being in a silent movie. The North Carolina native, who moved to Switzerland with her French husband, was able to comprehend only a little French and to speak even less. Her quest to make herself understood by learning the language and, in the process, to understand her husband and his family better forms the basis of this reflective memoir. She shares her frustration with the formality of the language and of the French people, as well as her tribulations, as she strives to practice her skills in an environment where most people switch to English after her first fumbling attempts. In time, though, she comes to see the French formality as an expression of respect, which perhaps accounts for the slight distance she seems to maintain from the reader. Her account is enhanced by the frequent and always interesting asides, primarily concerning the peculiarities and history of both the English and French languages. Her efforts are eventually rewarded once she can communicate with her husband in his native tongue, moving from a silent movie to a rich speaking role.--Thoreson, Bridget Copyright 2016 BooklistThere are no comments on this title.