I want to preface something straight away: I don't consider myself a particularly funny person. I think I have my moments of hilarity like most people, but I also know that it's not quite everyone's cup of tea. Either I make noises, I wiggle around or I say something crass and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. What I'm trying to say is, my sense of humor isn't something that I pride myself on.
However, one of my biggest obstacles in learning French has been to figure out how to be funny. It's a simple fact that French speakers and English speakers don't have the same sense of humor, which makes trying to crack a joke in a roomful of strangers that you met six minutes ago that much more challenging. A good indication of this would be going to the cinema to see an American movie in original version (with French subtitles) and being the only person in a crowded theatre enjoying a good hearty laugh at the jokes. Most of the time, my sarcasm doesn't translate or I've made a careless grammar mistake which often leads to the squinty-eyed head tilt followed by the all too familiar "....heu?" But I'll be damned if I don't at least try now and again.
Exasperated, I tell the other person, "I'm actually funny in English, you know. I swear." To which they nod and smile awkwardly before turning to the person next to them for human interaction above the level of basic miming.
On those rare occasions that I do cause an entire room to lol, it's been on account of a language faux-pas that I wasn't even aware of making. Case in point: the time I told everyone to correct me when I make mistakes, which translated to "spank me when I've been a naughty girl." I'm pretty sure that one actually caused tears to fall, people. Though they might've been my own...
It's something that, when I go back to being around English speakers, I'm so grateful for. Even if they're people I don't know very well, I find myself much more relaxed and willing to contribute to the conversation. At a soirée full of French people, I have enough trouble trying to say something at all, let alone something funny. It sounds like something you've seen in every high school plot-based movie that ever existed, but honestly, I get incredibly nervous and stressed before going to a soirée where I know I'm the only foreigner in a group of people who have known each other for years. Something I'm not proud of: I actually had a near anxiety attack last summer when a friend invited me to a gathering at his place -- I paced around outside his apartment building for fifteen minutes with my heart-racing before giving up and going home. I told you I wasn't proud.
As result of all of this, I have the distinct feeling that I'm actually a different person to French people -- I'm the sweaty, quiet, foreign girl in the corner who blames her bad grammar on alcohol and who will shock the pants off you now and again by saying something extraordinarily vulgar. I think my French friends see me in a very different way than my American ones, and this is something that has never sat well with me.
In conclusion (e.g., how most of my my blog posts end): I really need to improve my French. Merde.
xx
No comments:
Post a Comment