Embedded Files
As a collaborative project between students at Lycée Margueritte in Verdun, France and Appomattox Regional Governor's School Students in Petersburg, Virginia we wanted to highlight the role that language played during WWI and still plays in Franco/American relationships today. Throughout the site you will notice the intermingling and marriage of French and English. One this page students have put together a number of translations so primary sources can be enjoyed in both English and French.
Can you speak Fanglish?
Can you speak Fanglish?
This article comes from "Le Figaro", a national newspaper. It was published on April 13th, 1917. It's about the communication problems between English-speaking soldiers and the French people living in rural places. To remedy the problem, they made up a new language, which may be called "Franglish", a mix of French and English words. This added to some good pantomimes could do the trick.
In the article, the journalist interviewed some French people in Picardy, Northern France. He asked them how they coped when having to deal with an English-speaking soldier. The essential word seems to be "understood?", which a person who has never learnt English is just unable to pronounce right. That is why it has been replaced by something like "compree?" and when the other person has "no compree", they try to explain with their hands. That is how people got by. It must have been so funny.
If we chose to work on this document, it's because we thought that it was interesting for us, French students, and for American students as well. Now we know that people had made up a new language that helped them to understand (or should we say, "compree") each other during these hard times...
Lycée Margueritte Students Verdun, France
Vivats
Vivats
During World War 1, the American soldiers were seen as the saviors of France. We can imagine that without them, France would have lost the war. US intervention was nationally welcomed and all the French gained hope again on hearing the news “Les soldats américains sont en France” (The American soldiers are in France)
In this article, we can really feel the hope of the French soldiers and all of the French population to win the war and win against Germany. At the beginning, we can read “the great news”, it’s probably to invite the reader to read all the article.
Then, there is a paragraph about the landing, where the journalist tells us how the landing happened. He sounds very optimistic. In fact, he writes words like “hurrah” or “vivats” to show the enthusiasm of the population. We can also read details about this event to assure his readers that the thing really happened. He values the Americans by showing their qualities like “good smile” or “straight, solid, strong jaw and wide nose”. What is meant here is that these soldiers were fit for the job.
In his last sentence, the journalist reminds his readers of the battles of the “Marne” and “Verdun” because France won these two battles. The aim is to show that with the Americans' help, France can win more battles.
He turned out to be right as both nations won the war together one year after this event.
Finally, I think that we can say that this article reflects the hope of the soldiers during this great and very deadly war thanks to the optimistic vocabulary all through the text.
Lycée Margueritte Students Verdun, France
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