Foreign Words
by Vassilis Alexakis
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Description
Crossing countries and continents, this narrative follows a son lost for words over the death of his father. Unable to write the phrase "My father is dead" in either his native Greek or his adopted French, he heads for Africa to undertake the learning of Sango. Traveling across both borders and time, he examines his past, his family history, and the colonial and political ties of his homelands. While at first he does not know why learning a new and uncommon language has become vital to him, show more he comes to discover that the new language enables him to easily write of his father's passing. But as he truly experiences Sango--meets its speakers, travels where it emerged and has struggled to survive--his intimacy with it grows, and he is once again unable to utter the telling phrase. Meditating on language, loss, and the power of words to express or constrain human emotion, this tale of speaking, living, and letting go is filled with delicate suspense, humor, and honesty. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This book will appeal to everyone who likes languages. Why are people learning languages? Is it right to learn only useful languages? Why not learn Bangui, a central African language? Highly enjoyable reading by an author between two worlds.
At the end you will be able to understand Bangui without having studied it!
At the end you will be able to understand Bangui without having studied it!
L'auteur veut se rapprocher de son père et étudie le sango.
Jan 26, 2025French
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Translingualism
191 works; 4 members
Author Information
16 Works 344 Members
Awards and Honors
Awards
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Gallimard, Folio (3971)
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Foreign Words
- Original publication date
- 2002
- People/Characters
- Nicolaides; Jean Fergusson; Paul-Marie Bourquin; Mathilde Bourquin; Georges; Alice
- Important places
- France; Greece; Central African Republic
- First words
- The first word I learned in Sango was baba, "papa."
- Quotations
- Whenever you begin to study a new language, you inevitably seem a bit foolish, you become a child again. Was I nostalgic for that time in my life when I didn't yet know how to speak? I had had no end of trouble getting the ha... (show all)ng of French, but the effort had not been devoid of charms. Some of the words I encountered were so delightful to me, and I would enthusiastically try to combine them in different ways to form sentences. The French language has become less amusing since it has become the tool with which I earn my so-called living. It's no longer a foreign language; I learned it so long ago that I have the impression that I've always know how to speak it. Maybe I wanted to learn a foreign language simply because I didn't know any.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Buku ti mbi awe.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 48
- Popularity
- 625,266
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.81)
- Languages
- English, French, Greek, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 1
