Oct
22
Viva la France
I recently attended a seminar for a European non-profit organization in Ljubljana, where I was working as a simultaneous interpreter… When I went out to have a well deserved cigarette, I was happened upon by an interesting young lady, who could’ve been a member of any of the nationalities represented at the seminar… I asked her something in Slovenian, and she nodded half-heartedly. Assuming she was a foreigner, I asked her something in English… Parles vouz francais?, she asked… Sorry, but the four languages I already speak to varying degrees is enough for me for now… If I were to take up another language it would probably be Mandarin or Portuguese (the Brazilian kind)…
The French have always been proud 
of their language, and who can really blame them? I’ll be the first to admit its harmonic notes and romantic connotations are quite appealing, but damn, how can any self respecting European professional NOT speak English? A few years ago, the French Culture Ministry even announced a ban on the use of the word “e-mail”, to stem the incursion of English words into the French lexicon, wanting to force everyone to use the word “courriel”, an artificial construct. But I digress.
The French have a long and lauded history, not least in relation to the US… A love and hate relationship if there has ever been one, without the assistance of the French, who entered the picture in 1778 (see this forum) the American patriots would most likely have never won the American Revolution against the British… meaning we Americans would still be drinking tea 5X a day and eating crumpets 
That’s not to say that the motives of the French were selfless, far from it… The American revolution in turn, ended up being the main inspiration for the French revolution… In 1803, the US completed the highly controversial Louisiana purchase, doubling the size of the country overnight. In modern day relations, one need only think back to the infamous ”Freedom Fries” incident, when as a sign of protest, the previously ”French” fries in Congress cafeterias were renamed to express the Republican’s displeasure at France’s opposition to the Iraqi war. It was one of the most ridiculous political PR stunts ever, making Americans the laughing stock of Europe… Ironically, the doofus behind that whole debacle, US Rep Bob Ney, was sentenced a few years later to 30 months in prison for defrauding the US…
As for Slovenia’s connection to France, many don’t realize that this country was actually part of the Napoleonic French Empire during the early 1800′s (as the Illyrian provinces, the name of the region under Roman rule). As for my own amoureuse with France, I’ve always wondered about my great great grandfather on my mother’s side, who was said to have come to Slovenia right around the beginning of the 18th century from Toulouse, in the south of France… Ogrin, his last name, is quite common in Slovenia, however I find it hard to believe it to be a Slavic name, and thus voilà, my very own Francophone connection… Love them or hate them, the French are apparently here to stay, just don’t expect them to speak English…
