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Showing posts from October, 2013

A Stranger to Myself

I’ve just returned from a quick trip to the US where I attended a family wedding. It’s difficult to explain, but I always find these trips unsettling. I really enjoy returning to the US and seeing family and friends. But often the comfort, the ease of communicating in English with people who know me reminds me of how hard I have to work to establish these things in France. And at the end of the day, French culture is not my culture, although I love learning about it and trying to integrate the best I can. My 'outsider' status in French culture has also made me aware of my 'insider' status in relation to American culture.  To give a concrete example: during my trip to the US I was on a road trip and a classic rock station was playing on the radio. About halfway through the trip, I realized that I had recognized every single song that had played, and could probably name most of them.  Before moving to France, I never would have stopped to question my rec

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