French-English Fusion

So this week, I had 1/3 of my lessons cancelled. At least the teachers warned me not to turn up this time...
However I kept myself entertained during the days by working on improving my French. I am getting far too into looking up new words, updating my mahoosive vocabulary table, and translating various online news articles. There's rather a hoo-har going on at the moment in France regarding marriage for same-sex couples (not just wanting the ceremony to be called 'marriage', but the same rights i.e. with regard to adoption of children), and I don't think they've yet sorted out who won the UMP political party leadership election (despite it happening several weeks ago), so there's plenty for me to keep up to date with!

The French band 'Revolver' - main three members.

My social life is still going strong too, I am glad to say. On Wednesday, I went to a concert by a band called 'Revolver' with some friends from the youth hostel. It was AWESOME! Too good a night to describe here with my comparatively limp and lifeless words. The band members are French, but they sing in English. I appreciated being able to understand the lyrics. At one point I was asked why I looked sad by a French friend, because they had no idea what the lead singer was going on about, whereas I was deep in my thoughts.

And so begins a teeny-tiny outburst of exasperation regarding the current fusion of French and English culture that I have been increasingly noticing over the course of the last week.

1. Take, for starters, the lack of English lyric comprehension on the part of the French audience. I have found it increasingly bizarre that the French are not highly pissed off at the amount of English language music in circulation over here. Radio stations, shopping centres, even the canteen at the collège, play music with English lyrics. Sylvan was singing a song the other day in English, and I asked him if he understood what he was saying: "Non", was the reply.

After listening to Carine's selection of Thai and Japanese pop music in her car as we whizzed around the French countryside (namely lots of flat, open spaces for crops and the occasional scattering of houses), I admit that I began to appreciate how you can enjoy the melody and overall effect of a song without fully understanding what someone is singing about. Nonetheless, I still think the Union Jack fashion craze (see below) over here at the moment takes it a bit too far.

I know it's a quality flag, but... really, France?

2. So, for our main course, take a glance at a recent episode of 'Le Juste Prix' (AKA 'The Price is Right'). As a prize, they gave away a living room suite decorated with HUGE Union Jack flags. Add to this the presence of T-shirts etc with big, bold Union Jack flags on them in at least 3/4 of clothes shops. It doesn't even end there; kids at school have pencil cases and satchels with the British flag all over them. Can you imagine British schoolchildren with the French flag emblazoned on their chests, happily carrying their school books in bags patterned with blue, white and red stripes?

3. With our selection of local wines and cheeses, please consult the inappropriate use of English by clothing manufacturers. In most clothing shops, you can find a T-shirt with something scrawled in English on it. These scribbles aren't even always spelled correctly. I got incredibly frustrated finding spelling and grammatical mistakes on a pyjama set decorated with cookie making instructions - not to mention the designer's ability to miss out step 6 between steps '5' and '7'. It's not like France uses a different numerical system here. And to top it all off, why bother going to the effort of writing 'Soutien-gorge'* on the product packaging, when you immediately follow it with 'Super Push-Up'?
*bra

Miss France for 2013, from the Bourgogne region. 

4. And to cap it all off with a morsel of dessert, I present the Anglicisation of the French language. Words and rules I learnt at school are swept aside as French people ask each other if they would like to 'luncher' (go and have lunch). It is now acceptable to say 'un challenge' (it sounds horrific with a proper French drawl) instead of 'un défi', which I had carefully memorised in class all those years ago. The verb 'to realise' is no longer only expressed as 'se rendre compte de' but also as 'réaliser', despite being expressly told by teachers (back in the day) that 'réaliser' refers to directing a film, for example. The nationwide beauty pageant which was on TV at the weekend is called 'Miss France', as opposed to 'Mademoiselle France'. There was a banner at Orléans Christmas market (where I successfully went today after a Language Assistant training day) saying 'Made in Orléans'. Just why?

To bring this blog post to a close, recent days have highlighted for me the extent of the fusion of Anglo-French culture which is currently à la mode. The music, the clothing, the words, the Union Jack merchandise... All this combined with my improvements in speaking the language, from time to time I forget which country I am actually in. I am certainly not saying that this fusion is a bad thing, and I know that we equally use French expressions and vocabulary, but at the very least I find it confusing that I am becoming increasingly incapable of differentiating between English and French!

P.S. to try and render this blog post less whingy, and more amusing, please see below for a Light-hearted Digestif:
On Thursday, I had dinner with a couple from church and thoroughly enjoyed chatting extensively in French. Their four year old daughter had problems saying my name, so for the purposes of the evening I was re-named 'Choozy'.
On Friday, IT SNOWED! I love hearing the crunch of fresh snow beneath my feet. However, I do not like having only trainers as semi-appropriate footwear, and consequently having to teach with wet shoes, socks and feet, and then slipping and sliding my way back to the house because it was just a little bit of snow which melted into slush quickly.
On Saturday, Carine and I saw 'Un Plan Parfait' at the cinema. Absolutely brilliant, and I can't wait to buy it on DVD. We also went clothes shopping, and I bought two nice tops because I've decided that now (not least because I now have a set monthly income) is the time for me to stop wearing jeans and jumpers every day and to try and make a bit of effort concerning my appearance. Better late than never, eh?
I'm also currently in a state of personal pride at my efforts over the weekend at trying French cheese which smells like feet, and not gagging. I also put up a very good show at trying all the different wines I was offered; this was perhaps the reason my French was flowing so smoothly...