When in French - Love in a Second Language
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| Verlag | Penguin US |
| Auflage | 2017 |
| Seiten | 256 |
| Format | 13,9 x 20,9 x 1,7 cm |
| Gewicht | 207 g |
| Artikeltyp | Englisches Buch |
| ISBN-10 | 014311073X |
| EAN | 9780143110736 |
| Bestell-Nr | 14311073EA |
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 wha t 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.