Fun Book Lightens The Load For English-Speakers Learning French And French-Speakers Learning English

Online, January 5, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Anyone who says that learning another language is easy is talking through his hat, largely because an expression such as "talking through his hat" is likely to be rendered totally differently in German, French, Italian, Spanish and other languages from how it is in English.

"Learning another language will always be hard, but it needn't be painful. In fact, it can even be quite enjoyable," says author Philip Yaffe. "The trick is to focus on the fun aspects of the challenge, so that the difficult aspects recede by comparison."

Philip Yaffe is a former writer with The Wall Street Journal and international marketing communication consultant. Living in Brussels, Belgium, he is fluent in French and has working knowledge of Dutch, German, and Spanish. Having started his four-decade career in Tanzania (East Africa), he was once also fluent in Swahili.

"Unless you grow up multi-lingual as a child, learning languages later in life will always be a daunting task. Not because the older we get, the less flexible our mind, but because of the increasing inflexibility of our mindset," he says.

"In short, the more aware we come of how difficult language learning is, the more difficult it becomes -- simply because we expect it to be."

His new book, What'd You Say? Que Dites Vous? is designed to dispel this paralyzing mindset, both for English-speakers learning French and French-speakers learning English. It presents certain key aspects of English and French in the form of intellectual games that clearly point up the similarities and differences between the two languages.

"Sometimes these similarities and differences are blatantly obvious. For example: The English expression talks about a bull in a china shop; the equivalent expression in French talks about an elephant in a china shop," Mr. Yaffe says.

"Sometimes the differences are more profound, betraying a fundamental aspect of the culture of the people who speak the language. For example: The English adage advices 'don't judge a book by its cover.' The French equivalent counsels 'l'habit ne fait pas le moine' (the habit doesn't make the monk).

"Reveling in discovering these similarities and differences can do wonders for making language learning less of a burden and more of a joy," Mr. Yaffe asserts.

To this end, What'd You Say? Que Dites Vous? is divided into four sections, with language-learning games that can be played either individually or in groups.

The games in section 1 are devoted homophones. These are words with different spellings but the same pronunciation, such as (English): one, won; here, hear; there, their; meet, meat. (French): poids, pois, don, dont; dessein, dessin; faim, fin; foi, foie, fois, etc.

Section 2 is about proverbs and common expressions, i.e. bulls and elephants, books and monks.

Section 3 deal with "false friends" (faux amis). These are words that look like they should have the same meaning in the two languages, but actually mean something quite different.

"It is very important to recognize these false friends (faux amis) in order to avoid silly mistakes," Mr. Yaffe says. "For example, physicien in French doesn't mean doctor (medecin), but physicist. Actual in English doesn't mean current or at the moment, but real or true (reel, veritable)."

The final section of the book is a bit more philosophical.

"A major difficulty in learning another language is the strong feeling that it is considerably more complicated than one's own. This is a particular problem for native English speakers, because objectively many other languages are more complicated. But don't be misled. Many characteristics of French are in fact easier than their equivalents in English," Mr. Yaffe asserts.

Section 4 explores a number of these simplifications. "By rejoicing in French's simplicities rather than focusing on its complexities, learning the language can become more rapid and more enjoyable than you might have imagined. This doesn't mean that learning French will suddenly become easy. Mastering another language is never easy, French or otherwise. But it can be made considerably less difficult," he concludes.

Biographical Information

Philip A. Yaffe was born in Boston in 1942 and grew up in Los Angeles. In 1965 he graduated in mathematics from UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles), where he was also editor-in-chief of the Daily Bruin, the daily student newspaper.

Mr. Yaffe has more than 40 years of experience in journalism and marketing communication. At various points in his career, he has been a teacher of journalism, a reporter/feature writer with The Wall Street Journal, an account executive with a major international press relations agency, European marketing communication director with two major international companies, and a founding partner of a marketing communication agency in near Brussels, Belgium, where he has lived since 1974. Contact: phil.yaffe@yahoo.com or phil.yaffe@gmail.com.