There is something incredibly elegant, sophisticated, and romantic about French culture and life in general. The language is no exception. If it possible for a language in its rawest state to be poetic, the French language accomplishes that.
Some of the most exquisite literature ever written was written in French. Marcel Proust was a genius at taking the simplest and most mundane every day things, and through his careful crafting of the written word, he turned those things into memories that are known the world over.
We swoon over French food because of its elegance and simplicity. No one can deny that French food, fashions, architecture, art and more are all laden with the most incredible elegance and sophistication. For some people, the language is an extension of all of this, and because of that, they grow to love the language in a way that is difficult to articulate. I feel very much that way.
My introduction to the French language began at a very early age. My grandfather was living in Paris, as he had been since just after World War II, and my very pregnant mother took my sister and me to Paris for a summer to visit our grandfather. He had a fabulous apartment on the Left Bank, and a housekeeper who didn't speak a word of English. My grandfather's housekeeper was my first French teacher.
One of my most vivid memories involved watching the housekeeper as she did the laundry on top of the stove, boiling it in a huge pot that reminded me of a garbage can. I would sit on a kitchen counter, and she would take food out of the refrigerator, telling me what it was and asking me to repeat what she said. That summer, I only learned a few words, but I was introduced to the French culture, and I fell in love with that culture and I've been in love with it ever since then.
By the time I reached 5th grade, French was part of the curriculum, and I was fortunate enough to be able to really start learning the language at about age 10. I learned that the French language can hardly be separated from the French culture. The two are as inseparable as American English and our culture are. I continued to study French all the way through high school, and when I first went away to college, I did so as a French major.
There is something so logical about every aspect of the French language. Nothing is complicated and everything relates to everything else so neatly and perfectly. The study of any language involves a lot of memorization, but with French, it is so effortless.
When my grandfather died in 1971, I went to Paris again, but this time, to be present for the opening of a gallery show that featured many of his paintings. By this time, I was old enough to appreciate the language, the culture, the cuisine, and the life. My hotel room was a suite because I had to share it with my younger sister and brother. Every morning, we'd get a continental breakfast consisting of croissants, cafe au lait, chocolat chaud and a copy of Le Monde, one of the daily newspapers.
I took advantage of the opportunity to speak French to everyone I encountered. I spoke to the maids, the concierge, whoever worked at the hotel, and I spoke to them in French, and I did so effortlessly. I had never had the opportunity to really use what I had been learning in school for all these years, at least not until this visit to Paris. I never imagined that I'd be able to turn what I had learned in school into fluent speech.
My visit was only a brief one, but the opportunity to speak to real French people in French, and to do so with such fluency that they didn't know that I was an American until just before I left gave me confidence to study further, to try to write in French and to speak it whenever and wherever I could. From then on, I was inspired to learn everything I could. I took honors and Advanced Placement classes, wrote term papers in French, read literature just as one does in an English literature class.
My efforts paid off when I was inducted into the National French Honor Society called Phi Delta Pi. In college, I had the opportunity to participate in dinners and other activities that were sponsored by the French Department or by Phi Delta Pi. We spoke no English during these activities. I have a sense of pride about what I learned back then, even now.
It's been many years since I studied French as a college student. I was able to read important primary sources when I studied Musicology, because French was that natural to me. I can't explain why my connection with French feels every so natural or why it continues to have the significance it does. My love for the French language back then, and even now, is every bit as intense or important as the love I have for writing. I haven't had the opportunity to use my knowledge for anything in many more years.
There is something incredibly elegant about French civilization. The more one learns about it, the more one wants to connect to that culture and immerse themselves in it. The art, the literature, the music, the fashion and the cuisine are all part of what makes France the uniquely wonderful and amazing place that it is. It is a place I will never stop loving.
Even though some thirty years have passed since I was a French major in college, my love for the language, the culture, the cuisine, the literature, the art, the music and everything else has never waned. I am certain that it never will. I am a Francophile and my love for the language and the culture lies in the deepest depths of my being, in my core.