Fish family and the French language
Published Saturday, November 27, 2004 by off2paris | E-mail this post
I've mentioned to most of you that I'm taking our fish family with us. Wish us luck.
The aquarium is set up on my desk, and lots of people are curious about it. One guy asked me if it was some kind of zen thing.
Another thing that's "not done" I guess. Nearly everyone has a real office at the two companies I've been to in Paris, but nobody's office is very personalized. The executives with whom I'm working spend a lot of time there at Cartesis, regularly working until 7, which is not standard in France. You'd think if you're going to spend that much time in your office, you'd make it a little more personal.
I can't wait for the fish to begin their year abroad.
I saw a japanese guy on the subway the other day with a subway map in his hand, looking from the map to the sign on the wall that indicated what station we were in. He looked back and forth, back and forth, and it occurred to me that he was doing what I did when I was in Japan. He was comparing characters, because he didn't read letters. When I got on and off trains in Japan, I had to compare the shapes of the Kanji characters to see if I was getting on the right train. or off at the right stop. (I raised my finger to the map and raised my eyebrows -- a suggestion that I'd be happy to show him where he was. He tilted the map toward me, and I showed him -- good thing, too. It was the stop he was looking for!
Makes me feel lucky to have a background of Latin and Spanish on top of my English. As hard as it seems to learn French, it has to be harder for people who use a totally different character set. It also makes me think how lucky I am to be a native English speaker. Any other language, and I'd have a lot more trouble getting help from random strangers.
--Aimee
The aquarium is set up on my desk, and lots of people are curious about it. One guy asked me if it was some kind of zen thing.
Another thing that's "not done" I guess. Nearly everyone has a real office at the two companies I've been to in Paris, but nobody's office is very personalized. The executives with whom I'm working spend a lot of time there at Cartesis, regularly working until 7, which is not standard in France. You'd think if you're going to spend that much time in your office, you'd make it a little more personal.
I can't wait for the fish to begin their year abroad.
I saw a japanese guy on the subway the other day with a subway map in his hand, looking from the map to the sign on the wall that indicated what station we were in. He looked back and forth, back and forth, and it occurred to me that he was doing what I did when I was in Japan. He was comparing characters, because he didn't read letters. When I got on and off trains in Japan, I had to compare the shapes of the Kanji characters to see if I was getting on the right train. or off at the right stop. (I raised my finger to the map and raised my eyebrows -- a suggestion that I'd be happy to show him where he was. He tilted the map toward me, and I showed him -- good thing, too. It was the stop he was looking for!
Makes me feel lucky to have a background of Latin and Spanish on top of my English. As hard as it seems to learn French, it has to be harder for people who use a totally different character set. It also makes me think how lucky I am to be a native English speaker. Any other language, and I'd have a lot more trouble getting help from random strangers.
--Aimee
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