It's not good to come to France after going to Portugal. The first thing that jumps off the page is the completely different attitude towards the English language. In Lisbon everyone spoke English, and seemed to enjoy speaking English. Every night on the small television set, the size of a toaster oven, Melanie and I usually found a TV show in English with Portuguese subtitles. One night the previous Batman movie was on, another it was Californication. In Portugal they have no problem putting English words on museum exhibits, menus, signs, etc. English does not repulse them as it seems to do with the French.
The French seem to hate English. On television, every English speaking show is dubbed in French, and the credits are even re-written in French. This includes such shows as The Simpsons, Malcom in the Middle and ER. Nothing is in English, nobody seems to speak English, even if they speak English. Even the woman at the International counter of the train ticket office spoke very little English. Most of my train reservations where made by pointing at her screen and praying that I had guessed the right French word for "Thursday". I really hope I do end up in Arles.
I don't mean to bang on the French, They are not mean, and have been nice to me when I have bought things. They are just very, very much in love with their language, pathologically so. It does come across sometimes as a little bit of a superiority complex. The rest of the world seems to have embraced English as the second language of choice and the language of travelers. And of course as an American I hardly have the right to lecture anybody on intolerance. But I'll do it anyway, cause it's fun.
C'est la vie
No comments:
Post a Comment