To Speak a Language Is Not to Be Native

Today being my second Friday in Paris, I want to take the time to reflect on a few of the things I've found remarkable here. The first thing is a very high love for food. To give you a particularly unique example, I was eating a bit of yogurt for dessert and my hostess cautioned me that I should put sugar in it because it was natural. I couldn't pass up the prospect of a bit of real sugar in my yogurt. But the thing is, the French don't do things halfway. She commented to me that she normally wants to put more sugar than I did... And my tiny cup was already over-flowing.

Another thing is the French oxymoron of common politeness. For the Frenchman, it is polite not to talk to or make eye-contact with other people in the metro. However, you do say hello and goodbye whenever you are receiving a service from someone. In the States, either one might get you targeted as an outsider, depending on the context. One thing is for sure, you won't hear a French equivalent to, "Y'all come back now, ya hear?"

I hear so many foreigners here, though, that sometimes it's easy to forget where I am. In parts of Paris, there are so many English speakers, that you have to look around to remember you aren't in New York or DC. It's the ambiance of history and heritage that sets Paris apart.

I am learning that there is more to adapting to the culture here than speaking the language. Even if I could speak in perfect sentences with expert liasons and puckered lips, there us more to being Parisian. It's in the way you dress, the speed with which you walk down the street, and the carriage of your head that makes one Parisian.

Maybe these things can be taught. Maybe you are born into this heritage the same way growing up in the Deep South gives me a certain knowledge of fried chicken and thicker-than-summer-heat accents. But I'm here to observe at the very least. Perhaps you'll hear me say I never want to go back to the way I used to live. At this point, who knows? I'd give my last bit of common sense just to hear a country music song playing over the Cracker Barrel speakers right about now.