Knowledge is frustration

According to one theory, a language tends to reflect the concerns of the people who use it through the diversity of its vocabulary. A famous example, that I am sure you have heard of because my readers are all so cool and clever, is the Eskimo language, which over the centuries, and given the icy environment the native speakers live in, has gathered more than a hundred words for snow and all the subtle variations in texture, color and taste these people came to recognize in it (for example, a large patch of yellow, melting, salty snow at the base of your igloo is called the Husky-pack-gonna-get-shit snow). Believe me, don't play a game of 'Spot the difference' with them if plain white pictures are involved.

Well, if that theory is true, how can you still believe that French people are romantic and Paris is the city of love? French has no word for 'boyfriend' or 'girlfriend'. French has no word for 'date'. French has not word for 'spooning'. French has no word for 'santorum', but well, so did English only a year ago.

Thankfully, this theory is complete bullshit, including the Eskimo language hoax, but I am sure you knew that because my readers are so cool and clever (at least, you can show off to the few other billions that do not read this blog). Hey, after all, for all I know, Americans have only one word for SUV. More relevant is the frequency at which words are used. I have heard 'I' and 'dollar' are the most frequent words in English when people talk -- but interestingly, when they google, the word 'sex' comes first. My two-penny explanation: people talk about what they know, they look for what they don't.

Ok, so the lousy theory is out, but the frustration remains. The lack of a French word for 'boy-/girlfriend' is actually a continuous source of confusion and headaches, because since 15 years or so, people are simply using copin(e) ('friend') instead (before that, we were using petit(e) ami(e), 'little intimate friend' -- cute and much less ambiguous). Yes, it's absurd. Just imagine what mental processes parents have to go through everytime their kids mention that their 'friend will come and stay overnight'. In France, be sure to always invite more than two friends at the same time, the plural will disambiguate the situation -- mostly (we are still in France, remember?).

Studying foreign languages is frustrating at times, because you retrospectivelly realize all the features your mother language is missing. There are plenty of English words, idioms or expressions that I am now used to, and that I struggle to translate when I have to switch back to French, either because their French counterparts don't exist, I never knew them, or I simply forgot. Like 'toddler', 'townhouse', or 'averaging out' -- random examples taken from the recent past. Living here in the US for several years now, and although my English is far from perfect as you can notice, there are times when I speak French, I just cannot come with the French translation of what I have in mind. And to the fellow French I am speaking with, it is just weird that what comes to my mind is in English in the first place. Some even think I am an arrogant, showing-off jerk , when I stumble and pitifully ask, "Oh, how do you say that in French? I forgot."

It's even weirder, though, when that's Americans that do not understand why sometimes French comes out first. Today at lunch, a guy asked me if courses I had at the university back in France were taught in English. I told him, no, they were in French (if they always should is another topic). He looked surprised, and told me, 'Oh, really? But what about the books? Do they translate them as well?'

Well, I have news: French people can write books, too.