Enter our competition for a chance to win a copy of When in French by Lauren Collins.
“‘Talking to you in English’, he said, ‘is like touching you with gloves’”
After meeting in London, North Carolinian Lauren Collins and Frenchman Olivier fall in love. As their relationship grows, Lauren discovers there are aspects of Olivier’s life she cannot understand having never spoken to him in his native tongue. And when the couple move from Britain to Geneva, Lauren finds herself incapable of communicating with local shopowners, let alone her in-laws.
Enter our competition for a chance to win a copy of When in French by Lauren Collins.
“‘Talking to you in English’, he said, ‘is like touching you with gloves’”
After meeting in London, North Carolinian Lauren Collins and Frenchman Olivier fall in love. As their relationship grows, Lauren discovers there are aspects of Olivier’s life she cannot understand having never spoken to him in his native tongue. And when the couple move from Britain to Geneva, Lauren finds herself incapable of communicating with local shopowners, let alone her in-laws.
Determined to change that, Lauren decides to learn French and embarks on a linguistic journey where she encounters awkward translation challenges and moments of dialectical triumphs.
As a staff writer for the New Yorker, Lauren reflects on her love affair with language in a witty and thoughtful memoir. It highlights the way language, particularly our mother tongue, shapes our lives, from the way we think to the way we fall in love. This book is a fascinating read that will entertain any linguist curious to see what happens when two languages and cultures collide.
We have four copies of When in French to give away. Click here to enter
The closing date for entries is 11 April 2017.
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