MANNERS AND OTHER MATTERS

The beach at Guilderton, Western Australia, February 2013 (photo LP ) I have spent a few days recently at my beachhouse studying my French lessons, but more specifically the “wonderful world” of French pronouns in all their various guises. Pronouns, both in English and French are fraught with difficulty and having an afternoon cooking yesterday, while simultaneously watching a cable cooking channel, I was annoyed by the number of presenters who used " we" when speaking to their television audience: "Now we take our eggs, break them into our bowl..."  We, the audience, are not there with the presenter; they are joined by a camera operator, lighting operator and others to assist in their presentation, none of whom are helping with the actual cooking process. By the time "We are now plating our meal..." was announced, I was so removed from the whole experience that irrespective of how delightful the menu appeared, I was distracted and uninter...

I'm leaving in a few days for a holiday in the UK and Europe.  I can't wait!  Having finished my end of financial year "necessities" a few hours ago, my mind is already moving towards the northern hemisphere, warmer weather, a very special friend...and language. I have been having some interesting conversations with fellow Aussies - family and others - about languages.  There is an increasingly strong policy move in Australia towards mandatory second language tuition in schools. We are very monolinguistic here.  Few opportunities to speak, or hear, a second language, day to day, make it a fairly natural situation. But it's very frustrating when travelling. I have been studying French informally now for a couple of years, and I love it - the mental stimulation, the ability to listen to the French news without subtitles, and "get" most of the stories; the recognition of dialogue in French movies while  trying to blank out the subtitles...and the speaking...