franglais.

                When you are learning another language, you may find yourself in a peculiar state: when you are incapable of speaking neither the language you are attempting to master and neither your own native tongue. I believe this is the state I am in currently, and find myself speaking a lot of franglais (francais + anglais, or English and French combined). I think, dream, pray, all in French. And I have to check myself often when corresponding with friends back home since becoming fluent in franglais, because as you can guess, the use of franglais is for a very specific audience. Not many people understand when you say “Il ne matter pas” or “Tiens, mange on this.” It makes for a fun time for your bilingual friends, but the off switch can be hard to find when speaking with professors and uni-lingual Anglophones. Please excuse any slip ups to those whom I have corresponded with from the U.S.

                I really do love this language. It is hard, and often I feel like I’m playing a glorified game of Mad Gab. It wears me out every day. But it is rewarding to see progress, to gradually be able to understand more and more of a church service, hold longer conversations with French people and to have errands run smoothly (or as smoothly as French bureaucracy will allow). It’s an irreplaceable experience. Truly.  However, although a beautiful language, I have discovered a couple gaps. In English, we have the words “like” and “love.” The French use “aimer” for both. I think the most difficult gap for me is that there isn’t exactly a translation for “home.” There are words for places in which you reside (chez-moi, la maison), and the closest translation is “foyer,” which is your family based “home.” But still is not used the same way we Anglophones use it. You would not say “there is no place like foyer.” 

But there are a lot of words I just really, really like. Here are some of them:

• Sonder. It means to search deeply, like what you do with scriptures. We don’t really have a word for it in English. “Study” is one translation, but it is deeper than that. 
• Epanouissement, which means “blooming.” It can be used when you talk about hobbies and things you enjoy. If you wanted to say you really like hiking, you could say what would literally translate to “I bloom when I’m hiking.” Similar to how we say we’re “in our element.” 
• Chauffard. The French word for driver is “chauffeur” and the word for idiot is “connard.” So the combination of the two, “chauffard” means someone who is a bad driver--or every driver in Europe.
• Une bebe sage. Literally “a wise baby,” and means a baby that is good and quiet. I can’t help but picture this bearded baby with walking stick and a face like Yoda.
• Toc. A quirk, or OCD tendency. (I’m pretty sure that’s how it was explained to me, but this one could be incorrect.)
• Mon petit choe. A term of endearment which literally means “my little cabbage.”
• Le doigt dans le nez. Similar to our phrase “Like shooting fish in a barrel,” this literally means “finger in the nose.” It means it’s easy, a piece of cake, could do it with my eyes closed. Idioms are the best, folks.

                I’m pretty sure we’re all familiar with the term called French kissing. And in many other countries of the world, the term also translates to “French kissing.” However, I’ve come in contact with French people who have no idea about this and are even confused by it. I assume the term came from the label of the French people as being very romantic and passionate, but I find it quite humorous that the French don’t know about it. Their words for “French kiss” allude to ice skating and shoveling, which really aren’t that romantic at all. But really, if you say anything with a French accent, it sounds romantic. At least that's what Hollywood has always told me.