October 10th - parlez-vous français?

10/10/2007 by Brigid.

Having not yet identified an alternative French class, yesterday I swallowed my pride and joined up with John’s intermediate group. I think I’ll stick with it. Two from last week’s lesson had apparently gone AWOL, so we were 7 including me: 5 Brits, one Dutch and one German. All were of a sufficiently good standard for the lesson to be conducted entirely in French, although both the Dutch and German students speak English. The lesson was split into four, more or less equal, sessions: an informal, but informative, discussion around general linguistic and etiquette problems, a few grammar exercises, a game designed to get the students talking to each other, and prep for next week’s lesson. All very convivial, though, from past experience, any exercise designed to get English speakers to converse in a foreign language is bound to produce the odd comedy moment.

For non-Francophiles, the following exchange concerns the garden of an old house near Magnoac which is being restored:

M (German): “J’habite près de Magnoac. J’ai une vielle maison que je suis en train de restaurer. Il y a un … une … pond …dans la jardin …”
K (Brit): “Pont? You have a bridge in your garden?”
M: “Non, non. J’ai un … pond …water …”
K: “Oui, oui. Pont. Bridge.”
B : “Est-ce que vous avez un étang dans votre jardin?”
M: (Bewildered silence)
K: (Excited bridge-shaped gesticulations) “Yes. Pont. Bridge over water.”
M: “Non. Pas PONT. POND. Little sea.” (Makes circular hand gesture)
B: “Oui. Vous avez un étang. A POND.”
M: (Relieved) “Ah, oui. Un étang. C’est ça. J’ai un étang dans ma jardin.”
K: (Still trying to help) “Little sea? Un lac?”
B: “Non. M a dit qu’il a un POND. Le mot pour POND est étang.”
K: (Persevering) “Lac? Comme une petite mer?”
B: (Exasperated) “POND. The French word for POND is ÉTANG. M has a pond in his garden!”
K: “Oh … Are you sure?”

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