The French are known for having a lovely language. When I took French in high school, I remember people asking me to say something just so they could listen to the beautiful sounds (and remember this is high school—my French was anything but beautiful). The French also have a wonderfully extensive, colorful vocabulary. In fact, I always find it rather ironic when the French/English movie translations bring an entire section of English text into just a few words of French since there are certainly more elegant, eloquent ways to translate the material. Translation, of course, should involve translating the meaning of each word but also, more importantly perhaps, the general meaning of the communicator. What does it say about us if Americans require so much verbosity to grasp a concept while the French can understand quite quickly? While it may say that we, too, enjoy using a colorful vocabulary, it certainly doesn't say much for efficiency!
Take, for example, an American flight. Anyone who has flown in the U.S. could most likely recite the FAA smoking regulations by heart, lengthy though they are:
We are pleased to offer you today a non-smoking flight. Smoking is not permitted in the cabin, aisles or lavatories. Interfering with, tampering with or disabling smoke detectors is a violation of Federal Law.
It sounds familiar, right? The question is whether anyone ever noticed how they then translate the extensive regulations for French-speaking passengers on transatlantic flights:
Ce vol est non fumeur. (Literally: This flight is non smoking).
That’s it- just 5 words and the French understand the policy whereas the Americans require 34 words and may even then spend a minute trying to find a loophole in the vernacular. I laugh out loud nearly every time I hear it.
Another illustration is how childre receive instruction. I tend to do a lot of explaining when I am talking to my children—partly to stave off the rebuttals, partly to help them discover there is logic and reason behind rules (at least in theory). When they want to run across the park barefoot, I try to explain there may be glass that could cut their foot. When they want to stand behind the swing set, I explain how quickly they would get knocked over. When they want to eat the pretty berries, I remind them about tummy aches.
French Moms seem to be much less descriptive. When a little boy recently tried to ride his bike in the sandbox, his Mom simply said “Non.” The child stopped – I was impressed. On another occasion, a little girl was “borrowing” someone’s bike. Her mother said “Non”, and she gave it back. It`s not that my own children refuse to obey if I don`t explain (well OK, maybe a little), but rather that I`m confused by this acceptance of policy by both French children and adults. If you don`t ever question the status quo, how can you improve upon it?
In addition, it occurred to me that economy with words was once considered a great attribute, so why have Americans turned verbosity into necessity and, more importantly, who is right? Does the babbling mother have a point or did Nancy Reagan’s “Just say no” campaign have a broader purpose? In other words, do you miss an opportunity to help your children think for themselves if you don’t offer explanations- or, are we raising a new generation of travelers who will need a 100-word airline safety speech?
As with most things, it seems that balance is best. Yes, I do want to help my children start to reason for themselves, but sometimes No is just No. Perhaps Nancy Reagan had it right after all.
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