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 served as an IT professional for almost 20 years, both as a senior engineer and as director of technology operations. Spending most of her career in the stock market, she played an integral role in the transition to electronic trading, focusing on high frequency and low latency network infrastructures and transport methodologies. She studied computer science and engineering at Northern Illinois University, network communications and telecommunications at DeVry University, network engineering and management and computational finance at DePaul University, and continues to be a life-long learner. Lauren has written several articles for publications, contributed chapters to other technology books, and also writes for clinical informatics and healthcare technology publications.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781594206443 |
| ISBN 10 | 1594206449 |
| Title | When in French |
| Author | Lauren Collins |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Penguin Press |
| Year published | 2016-09-13 |
| Number of pages | 256 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |