Thursday, September 22, 2011

Paris, World


Paris is an international city. After the US, France is known for having the highest number of immigrants of any other country. French is not the only Parisian language.
Example 1: 
I was reading at Starbucks during the weekend, battling to finish a book early for class, when I was asked if I was being bothered. A man from the table which was basically connected to mine said something very quickly in French, and, after I stuttered in the process of understanding and responding, he asked where I was from. As it turns out, he and his three friends (three of them are students in their twenties) are not as French as I thought they were. One was French-raised Croatian, one German, one Franco-American born in Pasadena, and one Russian. They all spoke French. They all spoke English. We all had a lovely chat for an hour. The man who inquired as to whether or not I was being bothered speaks eight languages.
Example 2:
Last night some of my friends (French and American) got together in Montmartre. Between the eight of us, we could speak English, French, Arabic, Berber, another Algerian dialect whose name I cannot remember, Turkish, ASL, Spanish, Hausa, and Zarma. 
I love people. I love languages. I love Paris.

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