Grammar Is a Sweet, Gentle Song

I'll preface this by saying I was reading the original French version, since some of these reviews are for the English translation.

This is a sweet, lyrical story which aims to "re-teach" us the magic and joy of language. The underlying message is fairly clearly aimed at the dry way in which French grammar is taught in French schools, and I have to say the "charabia" or gobbledygook quoted from French education ministry documents reminded me horribly of the grammar book we use in my French diploma class. Just trying to decipher the first few words, I feel my eyes glazing over, my brain turning to porridge and my stomach filling with lead. No wonder my standard of French grammar hasn't improved much over the past few years - it's not me, show more it's the bloody grammar book! Oh, for a factory of words such as Jeanne has to play with!

So, in summary, a very pleasant, interesting and easy to read book. Not quite up there with Le petit prince in terms of literary perfection, but still a lovely read. show less

This is an utterly charming little book about the joys of language. Jeanne and her brother, Thomas, are on a sea cruise during their Easter holidays when their ship is wrecked and they wash up on an island. They are so shocked by the disaster they underwent that they have "lost their words" -- fortunately, this island is filled with words that will help them recover. I enjoyed this book immensely. If you enjoy fables or Le petit prince, or if you love to play with language, then you will probably like this book.

Many thanks to IrishHolger for pointing out that an English version exists (I did not realize there was one): Grammar is a Sweet Gentle Song: http://www.amazon.ca/Grammar-Is-Sweet-Gentle-Song/dp/0807615315

What is the purpose of the Académie française in the 21st century? How can it rejuvenate its image to make it seem like a positive force for the French language, rather than a reactionary, prescriptivist, anti-American relic? This book, which has been translated into English as Grammar is a Sweet, Gentle Song, shows how one Académie member would answer the question: Language needs people to care for it, not in the way that museum curators preserve holy relics, but as nurses love and protect their delicate patients.

The plot is an airy fantasy: a brother and sister are shipwrecked on a desert island and lose their ability to speak, and must learn to "respeak" with the help of a kindly old man called Monsieur Henri. On their adventure, show more they meet an old woman who revives dying words in the dictionary; visit the village of words, where adjectives and nouns get married; and tour the sentence factory, whose machinery transforms meaning into grammar. There's also a villain whose laboratory takes the souls out of words through cold scientific analysis and brutal pedagogy (shades of The Golden Compass's "Gobblers"), but Orsenna cannot stand to look at such cruelty, so our heroine is promptly rescued.

It's clearly kid stuff; and when Monsieur Henri says, "If you don't love grammar by the end of the week, I'll smash my guitar," it's obviously Orsenna addressing his readers. Despite his saccharine Little Prince allegories, you can see that his heart is in the right place - and he speaks to an issue that is of clear professional importance and personal interest to me. (Just last week, I was complaining that I want language teaching to be treated as an art, while heartless bureaucrats are trying to make a science of it.)

As I was reading, I amused myself by considering the challenges of an English-language translation. Like any book on language, this book includes a few scenes that would really have to be re-envisioned to make the same impact on an English-speaking audience. In the village of words, for instance, the article's job is to announce the grammatical gender of the noun that employs it. In the evil lab, teachers are forced to read from publications of the French Ministry of Education (Orsenna's foray into politics). The secret back room in the factory hides the workshop where Saint-Exupery, Proust, and La Fontaine are secretly still writing. What would be the English and/or American equivalents? I'm curious to look at the existing translation; I suspect that the translator may have left it more or less French.

Original post on "All The Things I've Lost" show less

This is a short fantasy in which two children are shipwrecked on an island off the United States. The girl, Jeanne is the major focus as she is introduced to living letters and words which are combined grammatically to form words and sentences. Jeanne is struck speechless after the shipwreck and she must build back her confidence in language thorugh various experiences on the island. It's a nice story for younger persons, and is not really didactic.

LOVE this book. I didn't stop smiling the entire time I was reading it. What a sweet story.

I didn't know this book had been translated! What a feat. Must pick it up sometime.

Une jolie fable pleine de fantaisie, de rêve et de poésie pour dire la beauté et la richesse de la langue française. On y apprend par exemple que le verbe Aimer est bien malade d'être souvent si mal employé.