This Is Dedicated to The Hip Hop

Regarding the title of this entry, you may be asking yourself one of many questions. Is this a post about hip hop? Or possibly you picked up on the grammar error in the title. The hip hop what- style? genre? singers?

Although it sounds like something one of my students would have written, the title of this post is actually taken from some graffiti I saw on the street right here in France (see picture below). Yes, this graffiti was written in English and it’s not an isolated case. I picked this particular one because of the article error (use of the word ‘the’), but also because it’s a good introduction to a topic which is very current in France: the presence, and predominance of English.

Whoever wrote this graffiti was probably influenced by pop culture imported from the US. Foreigners who come to France are often shocked by the amount of English heard and seen in popular culture. French radio and cinema have actually put into place quotas for French films, so the market here will not be completely overrun by American music and films. My local video store is a great example. I would say there are equal percentages of French and American movies available for rental. There are films from other countries, of course, but none equal in number to the American films.

 

As an English teacher, I also get to see the place of the language in the educational system. English is a requirement, for every student, everywhere. Students sometimes begin in elementary school, sometimes in middle school, but by high school you can guarantee that any French student has English class. This does not mean that all French people speak English, but it does demonstrate the institutionalization of English and its recognition as an important language.

                                                                                                

So English has a strong hold in culture, has a solid position in the educational system, but the most fascinating, and sometimes frustrating phenomenon about English that I want to talk about is its insertion and evolution in French language.

I started learning French when I was 15, and remember clearly and distinctly certain ‘faux amis’ (false friends) that I was taught to avoid like the plague. False friends are words that are not translatable between English and French. This is tricky because there are many shared words between French and English, but also many exceptions. Some simple examples:

completely = complètement

organization = organisation

but

currently = actuellement

actually = en fait

and so on and so forth.

Imagine my horror when one day I heard one of the words I had always worked so hard to avoid saying, from the mouth of a French person. The word was ‘challenge’ which I had learned was ‘défi’ in correct French. I found myself ridiculously trying to correct the French person who said this word.

In the case of ‘challenge,’ in French it has the same meaning as in English. But what’s even more baffling is that there are also many English words that are borrowed and the meaning is distorted or completely different. Two examples:

C’est le beans = it’s a mess, it’s chaos

fashion victim = someone who really likes clothes and shopping

Keep in mind that if you were to hear these words spoken in France you probably wouldn’t understand them. French people pronounce most borrowed words from English with a French accent, which makes them almost unrecognizable.

More and more stores, agencies, companies make advertisements in English, you see more and more English expressions in magazines and newspapers. In short, English is in fashion in French. Nevermind if the meaning isn’t quite the same as in English, or if there are grammar mistakes (as in the graffiti example).

So English, in addition to its place as a ‘global language’ important in business and travel, and its dominance in culture, is also in France quite simply ‘chic’ and fashionable to use. English words that were previously not used slowly creep into the everyday, spoken language. I think of these words as Frenchified versions of English, to the point where they become something new and  distinctly French.

And so, this post is dedicated not to the hip hop, but to the use of English. Its overuse, misuse, and modification in no way indicate French people’s command or mastery of English, or their awareness of Anglo-Saxon culture. They’ve embraced it as a necessary evil, as a cultural model, and as a fashion statement. As for me, I stand by what I learned in high school. I’ll keep saying ‘défi’ and stay far far away from ‘challenge’.