Living Life in Another Language: Two Perspectives on French Language Immersion

--"Wait, you went to France but didn’t study abroad in Paris?"

Touring Rennes and learning about "pans de bois" architecture

            Generally, when you consider studying abroad in France your mind automatically jumps to Paris. PSA: there are more cities in France besides Paris. Take Rennes for example, there are close to 210,000 people who live within the Rennes city limits. It also happens to be the capital of Brittany (a region in the Northwestern part of France). So what is life in France like if you’re not in Paris?

            I think I can best explain my experiences by running through a typical week during my studies. First thing’s first, you’re picked up by strangers that you automatically call your family, and from that moment, on they are your primary resource when it comes to everything Rennes. But don’t let this scare you, in my case my host family is amazing. I have never met people so friendly and so welcoming. My family consists of a mother, a father, and a daughter (clearly nothing too crazy). At my house I have my own bedroom, fully equipped with a study area and armoire for my clothes and obviously a bed, as well as my own bathroom (that was a big bonus). Now comes the first meal, and I’ll be completely honest it was super awkward, not to mention I was ¾ of the way asleep after having been awake 32 hours straight. After the first dinner, I called my mom and freaked out that the entire month would be this awkward and that I would be forced to hide in my room when I wasn’t with my friends. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The next morning, I realized that I understood what they were saying and I could communicate back. I also realized that the night before I was too tired to comprehend English let alone French, so it is very safe to say that breakfast the next morning was a major improvement. After breaking the ice, I guess you could say, we talked to each other for hours about countless things: traveling, education in the US, food, basically everything and anything.

            After spending an entire day in France, I can say that I went to bed with a sore tongue. I had never considered this before but the French use different muscles in the mouth compared to English when speaking. After having spoken French for a day, my mouth truly was tired and I could feel it. It was a new experience for me, I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever had a sore mouth from talking until now.

            Living in another language can be both scary and exciting. Scary because at first you’re self-conscious of making mistakes, but exciting because once you realize you came to France to practice French then realize it doesn’t matter how many mistakes you make as long as you improve.

Our classes at Rennes University were solely in French; that meant that from 9-5 we were speaking 100% in French. It was mentally exhausting and by the end of the day I couldn’t imagine speaking anymore French. There were days when I would call my mom so that I could speak English once again to someone and just give myself a rest from French. But, while it was exhausting, it was one of the most rewarding things I have done. Each day I improved my French and each day I became more and more confident in my abilities to speak the language; and for this reason alone, I believe everyone should try to take the opportunity to immerse themselves in a country that speaks their non-native tongue.

 
--Taylor Treas
 

La Place du Champ-Jacquet, Rennes

As our trip to Rennes is wrapping up, I feel like I am finally used to French culture, but that isn’t to say that it hasn’t come with many, many surprises. The biggest surprise that probably shouldn’t have been a surprise at all was how much we have to speak in French. We’ve all taken French for many years, and are perfectly capable of communicating, but we have all encountered a few gaps in our knowledge. One of the first nights with my host mother I was trying to explain to her that my mom and me often make breaded chicken together. Not knowing the word for “breaded” or “breadcrumbs” I explained it to her as “chicken with little pieces of bread,” not so surprisingly, she had no idea what I was saying. We all quickly learned the importance of a French-English dictionary and the idea of circumlocution.

Speaking with my host mom in French has been just as helpful as the French classes we have been taking here. That’s not to say I still don’t get a little embarrassed when I use the wrong verb tense at the dinner table, but my host mom always very politely corrects me. I’ve learned the best way to improve my French is just to try my best. We have all even gotten to a point where we are mixing up our languages; even when its only Rhodes students together, I often hear someone proclaim “Oh look at that chat! Its so mignon!” I think we can successfully say we have been immersed into the French language. Even though we all have those days where we do not want to get up and speak a foreign language before 8 am, we do it, and our language skills are definitely better off.

--Emily Harrison

 

New Life in a New City: First Impressions of Linguistic Immersion and Cultural Adjustment

Meghan Brulé
Alonzo Lagrange

After being here in Rennes for two weeks now, we looked back at some our first impressions concerning the language, the people, and the city itself and find that despite all of the adjustment and culture shock, Rennes is a very beautiful and special place. It can be jarring living somewhere foreign, even if for just a month, especially when you may not fully grasp the language the way the locals do. The normal background chatter you encounter everyday has a different volume, people are speaking at different speeds and with different inflections, and it can quickly become very overwhelming. We have found here that one of the most intimidating parts about French is that it is a language that capitalizes on flow and command. When you falter on any of these aspects, it is usually a clear give away that you are a foreigner. On one hand, if you ask someone to speak a little slower, they tend to simply break up their sentences into easier to understand phrases rather than speaking each individual word with emphasis as we would in English. On the other hand, people will sometimes just switch to English if they know any, which can at times be frustrating when trying to learn.

With our host families, we have also noticed that listening to children or teenagers speak French so fluently to their parents and friends can be quite daunting, but at the same time absolutely fascinating because they pull it off so effortlessly. A few of us have said that when we are around French speaking kids in our host families, we often feel more like children than they are because we're still very much in the early stages of grasping familial language and having speed the way they already do. It is awkward to have to sometimes ask a child to repeat what he or she said, or ask the parents for clarification. In fact, it is sometimes even harder speak and listen to them because they murmur and enmesh their words due to their fluency. To make us feel a little better though, there have been multiple times that our host families have said they feel the same way about English speakers!

Outside the home, we also found out quickly that people in Rennes are very nice and accommodating. Everywhere we have gone, we have spoken French as much as possible, and most of the restaurants, bars, and shops have been patient and sometimes even offered to clarify the meaning of something in English if necessary. Like many Americans, we had heard the unfortunate American stereotype that French people might be "rude" to American tourists. We have found that at the worst, people might seem reserved or indifferent, but usually, this is not the case. The general air is very comforting and it’s not very hard to interact with people in Rennes. Even our first taxi ride into the city was pleasant and our driver very talkative.

Needless to say, Rennes is absolutely beautiful. The structure of the streets in the historic center is not based on a grid, but rather streets just wind here and there in curving motions that simply feel natural. Unfortunately, this does sometimes make it very easy to get lost, but most of the people are friendly enough to help point you in the right direction if you know how to ask. Additionally, there is a plethora of absolutely dazzling sights just around the city center, ranging from medieval construction of French houses and restaurants to enormous parks, like our favorite, le Parc du Thabor.

Rose Garden, Parc du Thabor 

We find that the one-line metro system is extremely efficient, and that most of the system seems to run based on being efficient and quick when it comes to public transportation. In addition, there are many events, music festivals held in the streets, and a beautiful market that happens every Saturday called the Marché des Lices. The first Saturday we were here a bunch of us bumped into each other with our host families there because it is a must for locals to frequent. No matter what time of day it is, Rennes always feels like it has a very vibrant and postive energy and I think it shows through everything that goes on here. The sun around here does not set until about 11:00 at night, which is a major adjustment, but we don’t think this is necessarily a downside simply because it means you can look around this beautiful city for just that much longer. 

Centre Ville on a busy day 

Finally, we think one of the most surprising parts of coming to Rennes has been the feeling of familiarity we have found in looking at the French graffiti and street art, which though are in foreign language feel strangely familiar. It is amazing how something so random, can still make you feeling connected to home.

Street Art in the Portes Mordelaises, centre ville, Rennes

18 bis rue de Châtillon

Ozakh Ahmed


During our time here in Rennes, Netflix released the fourth season of Orange is the New Black. As much as I wanted to shut myself in my room and binge watch all the episodes, I knew that I needed to balance that with spending time with my host mother. My solution was to relax on the couch in the sitting room and begin the series with Maman in the next room preparing dinner. She was naturally curious as to what I was watching and I was surprised that she never heard of the show. I told her about its provocative story line of women’s prisons, revolutionary introduction of NSFW topics into mainstream media, and how interesting it is to analyze the content, the actors, and the writers. As it turns out, I am currently living a short 10 minute drive away from the largest women’s penitentiary in Europe and the only women’s penitentiary in France. In fact, just a few days before this conversation, my host mom recorded a news special on the lives of mothers in that prison. She also had an article in Mlle Adele: Magazine feminin saved titled, “Des femmes derriere les barreaux,” or “Women Behind Bars.” The world moves in mysterious ways.

Constructed in 1867 and put to use in 1878, the hexagonal building seems to resemble a castle rather than a prison. 228 prisoners occupy the space, 70 less thanmax capacity. The women imprisoned here are serving an average of 20 years or more for serious crimes and are an average of 45 years old. Perhaps it is the lack of overpopulation that makes the prison seem fairly tame compared to prisons we see depicted in the news and in fictional portrayals on TV series or movie screens. According to Yves Bidet, the prison director, the women rarely engage in physical violence. The prison is clean, calm, and humane unlike it’s brother prison Vezin-le-Coquet for men (Mlle Adele).

  

In the documentary I watched, entitled Maman est en prison: l’absente, I noticed that many of the living spaces resembled college dorms. The women featured in the film with crimes ranging from murder to theft, were able to decorate their cells with tapestries, pictures, and outside items. The maternity ward was brightly painted green and pink and was quite a cheerful place to raise the children born in the prison. One mother, with one 18 month old and another baby on the way, was quite content raising her children there. Her and her daughter were at liberty to spend weekends with her husband in a designated apartment. He is also welcome to visit his family during visitation hours. It is quite common for the women to receive visitors. In fact, 60% regularly meet with family and friends. At other times, the prison offers them sporting activities, social and cultural education courses, and both a hair and beauty salon.

The descriptions of the prison described here pose an interesting opposition to descriptions of women’s prisons in the United States where there are countless organizations dedicated to improving the seemingly horrible lives of inmates of all genders and situations. I most often come across organizations dedicated to aiding pregnant and parenting inmates with their rights and wellbeing. In terms of this women’s prison, it would seem that France puts an emphasis on the rehabilitation aspect of prison rather than punishment. Perhaps this system took Michel Foucault to heart when he said, “There is no glory in punishing.” Rather, this prison works to shift the inmates away from crime and towards a more socially and culturally conscious way of living, which is an interesting model of restorative justice.