Translation Frustration

Today was my first day of school. I didn't have French today and Fashion doesn't start until April, so I only went to my Paris by Site and Photography classes. Paris by Site is going to be half in the classroom, half on-site. It is all about Parisian history, dating from BC times to modern-day Paris. I'm really excited about it- there's nothing like learning about something that you're currently experiencing. Tomorrow, I will have my first day of French, which I'm not entirely thrilled about. I love speaking French, but being tested on it is a different story.

Apparently today starts a two-week holiday for French students (French people LOVE vacances and have plenty of them). Diane et Geoffroy are staying at their grandparents' maison for vacation, and Audoin et Inès are attending a six hour / day English intensive. They are both pretty good at English already, but want to get better at it. I offered to help them with their homework; the language barrier makes things a little tricky. For example, Audoin had to translate a page from an English novel. One of the phrases was "A summer passed in a nausea of light". I know how to literally translate that to French, but it doesn't carry the same meaning, since the phrase is a bit idiomatic. It's difficult to translate and still preserve the writer's intentions.

For dinner, we had some baked loaf of mozzarella, tomatoes, and bread. We talked about well-known cartoons, and apparently French Spongebob doesn't have a last name. It's just Bob L'Eponge. They thought the last name SquarePants is weird and funny, which it kind of is. Somehow we got on the topic of phrases with the word "cow" in them and how both French and English have them. Inès asked me what it meant "to have a cow" and I had a really hard time explaining that one, since I didn't know the word for tantrum. I said "when you are angry and something doesn't work the way you want, you...uhh... get upset". Since that's a pretty weak definition of "to have a cow", I finally pulled out my dictionary and looked up the word for tantrum, since I was about to throw one out of a state of confusion.

Inès and Audoin had to watch BBC's One Minute World News and report on it for their homework, so they asked me to watch it with them and translate words / phrases they didn't understand. One Minute World News turned into Twenty Minute World News, since my French vocabulaire doesn't contain phrases like "Sudanese captives" or "Chaotic Serbian ice thawing". Even if it's frustrating at times, I love helping them with their English homework, because it's just as much of an exercise for me as it is for them.

Affecteusement,

Katie

P.S. some of you may have noticed that I've deactivated my facebook (Gasp!). No, I didn't die. The director of our program, Jim, put it perfectly: The more time I spend on facebook, the less time I spend engaged in Paris and all it has to offer. I anticipate that I'll be logging on once a week or so to post pictures and such, but I don't want the temptation of it being there to reel me in 24/7.  So fear not, my loyal facebook friends. I shall return.