When in French by Lauren Collins

When in French by Lauren Collins

A language barrier is no match for love. Lauren Collins discovered this firsthand when, in her early thirties, she moved to London and fell for a Frenchman named Olivier--a surprising turn of events for someone who didn't have a passport until she was in college. But what does it mean to love someone in a second language? Collins wonders, as her relationship with Olivier continues to grow entirely in English. Are there things she doesn't understand about Olivier, having never spoken to him in his native tongue? Does "I love you" even mean the same thing as "je t'aime"? When the couple, newly married, relocates to Francophone Geneva, Collins--fearful of one day becoming "a Borat of a mother" who doesn't understand her own kids--decides to answer her questions for herself by learning French.

When in French is a laugh-out-loud funny and surprising memoir about the lengths we go to for love, as well as an exploration across culture and history into how we learn languages--and what they say about who we are. Collins grapples with the complexities of the French language, enduring excruciating role-playing games with her classmates at a Swiss language school and accidently telling her mother-in-law that she's given birth to a coffee machine. In learning French, Collins must wrestle with the very nature of French identity and society--which, it turns out, is a far cry from life back home in North Carolina. Plumbing the mysterious depths of humanity's many forms of language, Collins describes with great style and wicked humor the frustrations, embarrassments, surprises, and, finally, joys of learning--and living in--French.

Lauren Collins has worked in IT for for two decades, as a senior engineer and as the head of technology operations. She spent the majority of her career in the stock market, where she was a key figure in the shift to electronic trading, concentrating on high-frequency and low-latency network infrastructures and transport procedures. She has a bachelor's degree in computer science and engineering from Northern Illinois University, a master's degree in network communications and telecommunications from DeVry University, and a master's degree in network engineering and management and computational finance from DePaul University. She is a life-long learner. Lauren has contributed chapters to additional technology books and writes for clinical informatics and healthcare technology magazines, among other things.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780143110736
ISBN 10	014311073X
Title	When in French
Author	Lauren Collins
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Penguin Putnam Inc
Year published	2017-11-07
Number of pages	256
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.