Anne Borgella
According to Google, French is considered to be the language of love because it is the language in which people are more likely to use a romantic expression. However, as a native French speaker, I do not consider French to be the language of love. For myself there is no musicality in French, unless I am reading a poem. Do I consider French as a love language? For me this question has many levels. First, If I am listening to someone speaking French, I am certainly not able to detect the musicality that makes it the language of love. It may be because I speak Haitian Creole, which is a language that has the majority of its roots in French. Therefore, I tend to associate both language with each other, my creole accent makes it difficult for me to see the romantic aspect of French. There is definitely no musicality in the Haitian creole language, I sometimes recall people telling me that when they hear people speaking creole it sounds like they are constantly fighting.
On the other hand, of course if I am listening to one of Edith Piaf’s songs for example “la vie en rose”, I would have another opinion. Let’s see this verse for example:
Quand il me prend dans ses bras
Il me parle tout bas
Je vois la vie en rose
Il me dit des mots d’amour
Des mots de tous les jours
Et ça me fait quelque chose
Il est entré dans mon cœur
Une part de bonheur
Dont je connais la cause
English translation:
When he takes me in his arms
And speaks softly to me,
I see life in rosy hues.
He tells me words of love,
Words of every day,
And in them I become something.
He has entered my heart,
A part of happiness
Whereof I understand the reason.
Reading the English version of this song, I can clearly see why French is perceived by many as a love language. It seems that there are no English words that can give justice to those amorous French words. In Haiti, French is really considered as the language of love. No self-respecting Haitian middle-class woman would allow herself to be courted in creole. Even now after spending nine years in the United States and Canada, I would not feel comfortable if a Haitian man were to speak to me in creole. If they did, I would instinctively take it as a sign that this person is part of the low-income class or did not have access to education.
The previous reasoning is mostly due to social conditioning. Someone that speaks French is considered to be educated and part of high society. It is like I mentioned in my last blog part of the unwritten rule “You will never approach a girl in Kreyol unless it is your sister, and this is, of course, in the absence of your parents.” I no longer live in Haiti, and still I think that I would feel uncomfortable if a Haitian man comes and speaks to me in creole. This is my sad reality, a girl who does not consider French as the language of love but still would not accept a Haitian man to speak to her in creole.
C’est un peu triste en effet ton blog Anne.
Quelle terrible association entre le Créole et la classe des gens qui le parlent! Pour ma part, je pense que peu importe le langage parlé, si les mots sortent de la bouche de la personne qui t’aime, ce sera romantique et amoureux <3 <3
T’as raison Andreanne. L’amour, c’est la poésie dans n’importe quelle langue.
C’est triste, aussi très surprenant! Tes posts continuent à me surprendre, Anne, je ne pensais pas que le créole était aussi mal vu par les haïtiens. Je me pose la question, si l’homme qui te fait la cour (en français) devient éventuellement ton partenaire, le père de tes enfants par exemple, est-ce que rendu à ce stade ce serait acceptable de parler créole entre vous?
– Lucía Ringuelet
Bonjou Anne,
I remember at some point in class you had mentioned that growing up, Kreyol was forbidden in your house, which makes your comments on courtship less surprising. Mais, quand meme, c’est tellement triste.
I think that any language can be a language of love, if love is being expressed in it.
This also makes me think of when I hear my Tunisian roommate talk to his friends in Arabic. There have been times where I’ve thought it sounds like they’re fighting. In these moments, I pause to remember that this is something that my Tunisian roommate, my French roommate, and I had discussed not long after I moved in with them– turns out, he and his friends aren’t fighting at all! I think maybe a better way to think of Arabic and Kreyol is to think of them as very passionate-sounding (and think about it- passion…love…) languages rather than ones where it sounds like people are fighting. I feel that some of the sounds in both languages lend to this, as well as cultural aspects, which are nothing to be ashamed of.
My two cents would be to keep speaking and listening to others speak Kreyol– don’t let it die out (as it did in my family a couple of generations back) and to find pride in yourself, the languages you speak and your identity.
Hi Anne
In China, I think we have heard the saying of French being the ‘most beautiful language’ and ‘French people being the most romantic people’. When I watched the French movie, Le Papillion, I was attracted by the melody of L’hymne a L’amour by Edith Piaf that the little girl hums. In Chinese we even have a very romantic translation of the French word ‘Chanson’—香颂（Xiang Song）,which has a similar pronunciation and makes people feel the romance of love. I think even in other languages we can also find many expressions, poems and songs glorifying love, there should be some social and historical reasons that people tend to connect French with love.
Fangzhe