Languages And Autumn

Learning A Language

Filters of all kind are used on the internet nowadays to discover who you are and what you may want and I've definitely been identified as an English ex-pat. One consequence is that I'm constantly being made offers to place my private pension abroad (already done) and to learn languages. As it happens I already speak reasonable French but some of the offers make me laugh. This man learned a language in a week, I'm told, and this other man speaks 11 languages; learn his secrets! It's of interest to me because friend Steve and I are about to restart our English conversation classes here in Mollans.

Fortunately I know enough (more than enough) not to pursue any of these offers. Having studied French to university level, taught in French for a year at a French secondary school and now lived full-time in France for 10 years, I find I am still learning the language. And I don't think I'm a particularly unintelligent student. So how do these apparent geniuses manage it?

The answer, of course, is that they don't; they can't possibly do so. What is possible after a week? Being able to say hello, goodbye, the weather is fine, my name is…..not much more. Which poses the question: what does being able to speak a language really mean?

If we are talking about anywhere near perfection then the majority of native speakers of the language would fail so we can rule that one out. Given the last few decades of teaching, we can also rule out understanding and use of grammar. Spelling? The most obvious howlers abound on the internet and even in supposedly reputable journals. So what are we left with?

I think it is the ability to communicate, with a reasonable degree of subtlety, what we think, want, or mean to say for most, but by no means all, practical purposes. That much, given considerable immertion in the language, should be achievable within a year, maybe a bit less. But……...the problem with communication is that it is necessarily two-way; you may be able to communicate to someone else but can you understand what comes back? Here we're into accents, dialects, idioms and Heaven knows what else. Learning that in a week? Learning that for eleven languages? I simply don't believe it is possible. I think it probably takes best part of a lifetime for even one language.

Autumn

Autumn is definitely here now. The very hot and dry summer weather continued until a week ago but a couple of storms have put paid to it and at the moment we have much more comfortable temperatures and skies varyng between overcast and sunny. The change shows in the shops and markets and in activities around the village. Much of the fruit I love has now disappeared. The last strawberries went about a month ago and apricots have followed them. There are still peaches, nectarines and melons to be found though and figs have made an appearance; I'm making the most of them until they disappear too, probably around the end of the month. Around the village grape harvesters and trailers are everywhere as the grapes are stripped from the vines for what should be a bumper year, given the amount of sunshine we have had. The next stage will be several varieties of mushrooms in the shops and invitations to wineries to celebrate the new vintages. Autumn here can be great as the village gets back to normal after the hordes of summer visitors, welcome as they are, return from whence they came. So there is still much to enjoy.

Education, Don't Knows And Burkinis

Conundrums And The Truth

Everybody at some time or another wants to know the truth, the trouble being that nobody really knows it. Everybody also forms judgements, probably several times every day, and most want these judgements to be reasonably well informed. And, of course, these two are closely connected. So how can we best go about them?

When my mind wanders into conundrums like these and the weather is as warm, as it is now, I commonly take to my balcony late in the evening with a glass of calvados to hand, contemplate the darkening scenery across the river and think. The balcony is actually a no-go area at the moment due to a colony of hornets feeding on the grapes above but evening contemplation and calvados remain.

We live in an age when information has never been more immediate or in such plentiful supply and yet, perhaps, never so useless. The printed press, the internet, TV and radio deluge us with information 24 hours per day but always, it seems, either with a strong political bias or bland acceptance of what participants are saying in their own interest. At root is the apparently wilful failure to distinguish between what is actually said and done and comment on it. We need our dubito as never before.

The only answer I can see to this problem is to teach people to think, really think deeply, for themselves. Unfortunately, educational systems quite generally seem hell-bent on the opposite. I have just viewed a French cartoon of a teacher with a diary almost filled with holidays and days of strike. Teachers in France, as those in the UK that I know, are all pissed off. It takes determined mismanagement to piss off people dedicated to doing what they are supposed to be doing. An advert for teachers in the UK that has been running in the on TV says “work with the most creative and innovative people around: children”. True. What it doesn't say is “turn them into box ticking robots” or “and learn to become a first-class administrative clerk”. But that would be far nearer the truth. Education has become a political football that never gets near its true goal.

“Don't Knows” Win At Last

Before any election anywhere in the democratic world there are always polls suggesting how people will vote, with always a percentage of “don't knows”. The “don't knows” never win an election but seem to have won the UK EU referendum. It's probably a worldwide first. The UK population voted, apparently, for Brexit means Brexit, but nobody knows what that means. The government that has inherited this mandate has been asked if that means a trade deal with the EU and it has said that it doesn't know. It has been asked what curbs this might mean on immigration and it has said that it doesn't know. It has been asked what this means for the rights of EU citizens in the UK or in the EU and it has said that it doesn't know. Asked if it knows today's date it might just know but that is about as far as it goes. So the “don't knows” who won are now being governed by the government which doesn't know. There's a kind of logic to that but, to be frank, even Alice in Wonderland made more sense to me than that.

Burkinis Again

The French government has got its knickers in a twist over Burkinis. The ban imposed in some municipalities has been overruled by a high court. It turns out that this garb was designed by an Australian to actually liberate muslim women rather than confine them, in line witn France's well-known liberty, equality and fraternity principles. However, amusing comparisons with wet suits, diving gear and other comparable clothing aside, it does apparently conflict with France's principle of not allowing open public display of religious affiliation. But…….nuns and priests in traditional clothing, on view just about everywhere in France?

As ever this looks to be a case of France having strict principles and rules that get overlooked when they prove inconvenient. This, in reality, is the real principle in France: something is always true except when it isn't. I have a limited acquaintance with political animals but those I have known have a clear understanding of “no go” areas. They know that anything to do with human relationships is something that government is bad at and a potential minefield: don't go there, prevaricate. Clothing is something similar. I remember the dictatorship that briefly took over Greece in the 1960s banned mini-skirts only to be confronted with the fact that they were part of the uniform of the national guard. But that was a case of generals rather than politicians making the ruling. Politicians should know better than to get involved in such matters. It seems that French politicians have fallen for this sucker punch and they really should know better.