Time transcripts of Liz

[00:00:00:00]	Alright, I am a senior... English and French major

[00:00:04:19]	with a psychology minor at Ohio University. And my name's Elizabeth Tippett. 

[00:00:10:01]	[Interviewer: What would you like to share with us about your experiences learning a foreign language?] 

[00:00:14:01]	Well, I started at Ohio University thinking I was only going to minor in French,

[00:00:20:02]	but then my Sophomore year I decided that I'd participate in the study abroad program

[00:00:24:02]	and I got accepted, and, ya know, it was really great

[00:00:28:02]	and I was really excited, and then I...bought my plane ticket

[00:00:32:15]	and that made it really real. And I did end up going to Provence Avignon, France, 

[00:00:38:03]	and I studied there for three months.

[00:00:40:03]	And that's when I realized I also wanted to be a French major.

[00:00:44:04]	...I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but I really wanted to major in French.

[00:00:49:24]	At first it was terrifying, like I couldn't believe I was in France, 

[00:00:53:04]	I had no idea what I was doing, I was like 'I'm an English major why am I here?'

[00:00:56:14]	'this is really dumb' and it was scary, but I had a really great host family.

[00:01:01:03]	They didn't use English with me but they were really willing to like mime things out and stuff.

[00:01:06:05]	And my first day I really don't think I said anything other than like, 'I like that,' 'I don't like that'

[00:01:12:06]	'yes, no.' like I think that's really all I said.

[00:01:16:06]	But then the first night, my host mom

[00:01:19:13]	took us to a production her theatre company was doing of "Blanche Neige," "Snow White." 

[00:01:26:07]	And it was great because it was a play for kids.

[00:01:29:07]	So...and I already knew the story of Snow White.

[00:01:31:20]	But that's what taught me, wow, you can actually understand French,

[00:01:34:20]	if you just calm down and listen to what people are saying, you'll be okay. 

[00:01:38:08]	And...that's when I really started to understand things...

[00:01:44:08]	And it was nice because we got to talk with the actors afterwards

[00:01:48:09]	...And my host family throughout the three months 

[00:01:52:27]	kept taking me to different productions they did

[00:01:55:07]	and something really awesome was they did one in the Palais des Papes

[00:02:00:25]	which is the old popes castle in Avignon.

[00:02:04:10]	And it was for doctors. And they got me in because

[00:02:08:10]	they were the actors and just kind of dragged me in so I was there drinking champagne and eating

[00:02:13:02]	appetizers with all of these doctors and they were talking to me like I was a doctor, 

[00:02:17:11]	which was great because, ya know,

[00:02:19:15]	I got to practice my French and try to pull some things off.

[00:02:23:00]	And then after that I got to sit backstage with the actors and talk with some high schoolers

[00:02:28:12]	and that was a really good experience to...

[00:02:32:13]	learn about, like their view of France

[00:02:36:13]	and they had a lot of questions for me as an American, and that was really cool just to

[00:02:40:14]	...hear what they thought of me and what they thought I thought of them,

[00:02:46:02]	and it was neat to see like, they didn't automatically hate me.

[00:02:49:02]	Which is the stereotype, like all French hate Americans and all Americans hate the French

[00:02:53:15]	Like...they didn't feel that was at all, they were just really curious,

[00:02:57:00]	like 'do you eat at McDonald's everyday? How are you not 400 lbs.? Shouldn't you be 400 lbs.?

[00:03:00:15]	I'm like, 'no.' .... But

[00:03:04:16]	That was really neat. And then also, while I was there my host sister was pregnant.

[00:03:10:01]	She was eight months pregnant...or nine months pregnant

[00:03:13:02]	by the time I left. So I got to see the French preparing for

[00:03:16:17]	a baby to be born. And I also got to see her civil union ceremony 

[00:03:21:29]	with her boyfriend, which was really cool.

[00:03:23:29]	Just to see... a non-religious marriage ceremony in France and how that works

[00:03:29:03]	...But while I was there, also, I went to Italy, which was really neat.

[00:03:36:19]	Because there, I didn't think I'd get a chance to,

[00:03:40:19]	but I even got to practice my French there, because the guy who was letting us stay in his house

[00:03:44:19]	...He spoke English, French, German, Italian, Spanish

[00:03:48:20]	and everything else, because he used to be a tour guide,

[00:03:51:08]	but his wife only spoke French and Italian. So the only way we could thank her

[00:03:56:02]	for letting us stay with her and like talk to her about her food was in French,

[00:03:59:20]	so that was really neat. Excuse me...

[00:04:04:21]	...And the classes there were cool too,

[00:04:07:27]	it was just really neat to hear... the professor's perspectives and how they were different

[00:04:13:06]	like, as an English major, I'm used to writing essays but in France

[00:04:16:22]	the essay style is different. Like, they like you to start with a question.

[00:04:20:22]	So, and that's something I've always been taught never to do.

[00:04:24:22]	But it was really cool, just to start an essay with a question and

[00:04:28:22]	practice a different style of writing,

[00:04:31:23]	and my literature professor really liked Americans.

[00:04:35:23]	He liked to talk about D Day, a lot. And about how the Americans

[00:04:40:23]	really saved his country. Which I thought,

[00:04:43:24]	I've worked with a lot of World War II vets in America, so it was just really cool to see the people

[00:04:49:00]	are still remembering that and are still grateful and that it ... made such an impact

[00:04:53:21]	...I guess one of the biggest things I learned in France was

[00:04:56:25]	we really aren't as different as popular culture would have us think

[00:05:01:04]	like, no not every single French person hates every single American.

[00:05:05:19]	And not every American hates the French

[00:05:08:26]	...That's something that France taught me. And then on my way back,

[00:05:13:26]	I flew into Paris,

[00:05:15:26]	that's ya know, the time when I couldn't say anything other than like 'yes' or 'no'

[00:05:19:26]	and then when I flew out of Paris, something really striking was

[00:05:24:27]	using the metro and hauling all of my bags like I did the first time

[00:05:28:09]	the first time, nobody really helped me with the stairs, but the second time, like,

[00:05:32:03]	I don't think I carried my bags down or up a flight of stairs once, like,

[00:05:35:28]	some French person would just always come and help, like, I like to think it's because

[00:05:40:25]	I blended in a little bit more. I don't know...

[00:05:44:08]	but that kind of showed me that if you make an effort to...

[00:05:48:29]	acclimate to a culture, like, people will welcome you, it's...

[00:05:52:29]	and I'm sure people knew I was American, but I think they appreciated that, like

[00:05:56:14]	I would thank them in French and things like that. I learned a lot.

[00:06:02:00]	[Interviewer: So how did you get started learning French?]

[00:06:05:00]	What were your first experiences with it and maybe some of the struggles?]

[00:06:10:01]	....I started French, in eighth grade we

[00:06:13:01]	had a program where you got to do, like a few weeks of Spanish

[00:06:17:01]	a few weeks of German and a few of French, and ...

[00:06:21:02]	I really liked the French unit, mostly because I just liked the way the words sounded

[00:06:24:29]	and how it felt to make them. So I decided to continue

[00:06:29:02]	doing French throughout high school.

[00:06:31:15]	And I found that I actually really liked, like I like French movies,

[00:06:36:09]	I liked reading French literature, and no I did not understand most of the things

[00:06:41:04]	my teacher said, and I didn't really understand any of the movies without subtitles,

[00:06:46:04]	but it became like a puzzle that I wanted to break

[00:06:49:04]	I normally really don't like puzzles, but another thing I really don't like is not knowing what's going on

[00:06:53:08]	so it became a challenge, like get better in French so you can know

[00:06:57:05]	what's going on, and I did.

[00:06:59:05]	[Interviewer: That's awesome. So you mention, literature and films and different kinds of literacy

[00:07:05:06]	so how has French literacy played a role in your life?]

[00:07:09:06]	Um, I'd say it's played a pretty bug role, because as an English major,

[00:07:12:06]	obvi... I love literature. And I think it's really important to be able to read literature.

[00:07:17:07]	in it's original language.

[00:07:21:07]	And I really like Jean-Paul Sartre. So getting to read

[00:07:25:08]	one of my favorite plays, "No Exit"

[00:07:27:23]	in the original language it was written in was neat because.... And then I...

[00:07:33:08]	reading it now, at the point where I am now, almost done with my major

[00:07:37:08]	I got to like make connections with French philosophy I've studied

[00:07:41:15]	and like, French mindsets today, and then compare like

[00:07:45:09]	how they work all of that into their literature with how the English

[00:07:48:25]	work all of their stuff into the literature. And...

[00:07:53:01]	it's really showed me how enormous my

[00:07:57:10]	field of literature really is and all of the different factors that go into it.

[00:08:02:10]	...And then French movies...

[00:08:05:11]	now that I have more of a background to French history and culture and references,

[00:08:10:11]	watching French movies is a lot more interesting

[00:08:13:12]	...because like literature I can see everything that goes into it

[00:08:17:12]	and then that makes me more aware when watching American movies

[00:08:21:12]	all of the things from American culture that goes into that.

[00:08:25:12]	[Interviewer: just one question I kind of want to ask you, have you ever dreamed in French? ]

[00:08:29:13]	...Yes actually, while I was in France

[00:08:33:04]	 I was really disappointed because I kept expecting to dream in French and I never did,

[00:08:37:14]	I flew back, and I was really mad about it. But then like a month or two after,

[00:08:42:02]	when I was still really missing France, I woke up and I realized I'd had

[00:08:45:14]	a dream in French, which was really neat...I think it was about food.

[00:08:49:14]	[Interviewer: Is there anything else you'd like to share with us about your literacy with French? ]

[00:08:53:15]	.....

[00:08:57:15]	I, like now when I read French books, no I don't understand every word, 

[00:09:02:06]	by any means, but it's really neat that I can read French

[00:09:05:28]	... not... trashy novels,

[00:09:09:16]	without having a dictionary right by me the whole time. And that's just how I know,

[00:09:13:28]	like, no I'm definitely not perfect in French yet, my grammar

[00:09:17:16]	can still use lots of work, but I've gotten to the point where I can understand

[00:09:21:26]	which...is a big thing.

[00:09:24:02]	[Interviewer: Well thank you so much and good luck with everything.] Oh, no problem.