Franglais

I love Franglais. It makes me laugh my ass off.

Let me explain. I’m in a program with 161 other foreign exchange students. The majority are American or Canadian and speak English. Even the Japanese and most of the Mexican kids speak English. So you get Franglais.

So I was mange-ing this sandwiche when this guy …

My goddamn valise is a piece of merde!

So convenient, so hilarious.

Why French?

For all of you who think I’m crazy or stupid for studying French, whether it’s because it’s hard, dying, less useful than Spanish, not as beautiful as Italian or whatever …

I always knew it was the best language to insert into one’s literature. It’s the one you see most frequently, often without a translational aside. And it has so many parallels with English because of how the languages blended during the Hundred Year’s War.

And here’s beautiful proof from Johns Hopkins University that languages, even dying ones, are important for writers: