Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi
Bonjour. Je m’appelle Elysse. Je viens de Californie et j’ai étudié le français à Neuchâtel, en Suisse, pendant 10 mois. Hello. My name is Elysse. I am from California, and I studied French in Neuchatel, Switzerland for 10 months. This short introduction became my go-to presentation whenever I met someone during my time in Switzerland. My later, and more advanced introduction might have included something about my love of Swiss chocolate.
When I think of Threshold Concepts, my intensive French learning program in Switzerland immediately comes to mind. The experience of being immersed in an unfamiliar language and culture was initially something troublesome to me. I became acquainted with the feeling of being sans repères or without a reference point. V.S. Naipaul writes in The Enigma of Arrival, “I saw what I saw very clearly. But I didn’t know what I was looking at. I had nothing to fit it into. I was still in some kind of limbo.”[1] For a while, I felt stuck in a liminal space, my language learning limbo. I remember a French instructor playing Céline Dion’s Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi as a class activity. The students were challenged to call out words they knew. I thought, “These will never be words to me!” Lo and behold, the troublesome space of difficult-to-pronounce vocabulary, verb tenses, and faux amis would one day be a new lens through which I viewed the world.
Learning French was a transformative journey for me, but it was not a destination quickly or easily reached. In his presentation “Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge,” uploaded to Youtube on February 23, 2012, Ray Land explains, “Threshold concepts change the learner; they reconstitute them, and it can take a long time.” I found this to be true. My initial approach to French was mimicry. I found superficial mimicry to be a very useful survival tool. However, it felt strange to use words that meant nothing to me but held significance to the native speaker. “Un café, s’il vous plait” and “une baguette, s’il vous plait” remain valuable phrases for me. Although mimicry produced results for simple tasks, I was unable to participate in meaningful conversations avec les Suisses. And forget about successfully telling a joke!
In the liminal space I found engagement with native French speakers awkward and difficult. For months I retreated and avoided French-speaking interactions. Maggi Savin-Baden highlights responses to disjunction: retreat, temporizing, avoidance, and engagement.[2] I recognized in myself retreat and avoidance responses when triggered by disjunction. I struggled to make sense of what was around me and felt a defensive reluctance to adapt. I felt disconnected and learning was done with little community. It took time to admit that I was the barrier. Advancement in language learning did not come until I experienced increased self-awareness concerning my default modes in stressful situations. It required a willing heart to discover and engage that ultimately helped me get ‘unstuck’. It was then I noticed significant growth and joy in the process.
It’s difficult to describe the moment when mimicry shifted to understanding and appreciation of French. Simple words like un café and une baguette unexpectedly became more than items on a menu. These words represented a culture I had grown to appreciate. I had found and accepted my place there. Glynis Cousin asserts concerning Learner Transformation, “New understandings are assimilated into the learner’s biography, becoming part of what he knows, who he is and how he feels.”[3] I went from Californian, English-speaking Elysse to bilingual, third-culture Elysse; it remains my identity today.
I can relate Threshold Concepts to language learning. Unfamiliar vocabulary, grammar rules and fun slang serve as a portal to another world, a new culture. This is relevant across all disciplines. It’s uncomfortable, humbling, and incredible. The world that opened up to me in Switzerland was not only French. It was Raclette cheese, Cailler chocolate, the Swiss Alps, and amazing public transit. These things that were once unknown to me now have meaning. I became part of them. I arrived on ‘the other side’ so to speak. The introduction to new Threshold Concepts can be troublesome and awkward, but engagement and wonderment in liminality has the potential to shift learners toward a new meaning frame. This was and continues to be my experience.
I remember walking through the grocery store just a few days before leaving Switzerland. I heard Céline Dion’s Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi over the speaker system. I had to smile because I understood every word.
[1] V.S. Naipaul, The Enigma of Arrival. New York: Vintage Books, 8, 2010. Kindle.
[2] Maggi Savin-Bedin, “Disjunction as a form of troublesome knowledge in problem-based learning.” In Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge, edited by Ray Land and Jan Meyer (London: Routledge, 2006), 164-165.
[3] Glynis Cousin, “Threshold concepts, troublesome knowledge and emotional capital: An exploration into learning about others.” In Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge, edited by Ray Land and Jan Meyer (London: Routledge, 2006),135.
About the Author
Elysse Burns
13 responses to “Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi”
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Elysse, ton article était génial. Puisque je suis une personne d’une troisième culture, je m’idenifie à tout ce que tu as partagé. Traverser de nouvelles langues et cultures a été l’un de mes plus grands « concepts de seuil » dans la vie. Selon toi, quel sera ton prochain concept de seuil pour vivre à l’étranger ?
Kari, Merci bcp. C’est une bonne question que tu m’as posée. Je crois que mon prochain ‘threshold concept’ sera d’apprendre l’arabe courammant mais cette fois je vais l’aborder avec un esprit plus ouvert. L’espace ‘liminal’ n’est pas un ennemi mais un challenge qui peut me transformer.
C’est une bonne perspective. Bonne chance!
Hi Elysse,
Bonjour! Comment tale vous?
Your response reminded me of a conversation Chris and I were having this week of how the material this week hit home as we are both modicum Spanish speakers, and after the last Advance, we headed to Spain for a few days. When we were out and about, we were pleasantly surprised how quickly our Spanish was coming to us, which connected the dots for us with threshold concepts.
It seems that language is best learned in an immersion experience. You will quickly “understand” when you are placed in situations where you have to speak the language rather than to learn through an app (not to say that virtual or classroom learning is not good).
At one point you said, “I felt disconnected and learning was done with little community,” which I can completely understand.
And, I love that you ended your time with complete understanding of Celine Dion’s song! So priceless, right?
Thanks for sharing your language journey.
Salut Nancy. Je vais très bien. I completely agree with you. Immersive language learning is really effective, as you learn vocabulary and the culture. In Neuchâtel I learned of a delicious desert called Carac which is specific to the French-speaking region of Switzerland. I also found the counting system to be different. For example, in France the number 90 would be “quatre-vingt-dix,” but in Switzerland it was “nonante.” That’s a very long response to essentially say, I would not have learned this information on an app. My learning required engagement.
Congratulations on your successful Spanish learning!
Elysse,
I have learned enough languages and traveled enough that I understood all the French in your post even though I have never once learned any French. It is funny how languages work like that. I had a similar language experience in Kenya. I had learned Swahili but I was learning the local tribal language and it was hard. I had a drunk neighbor who was missing half of her teeth and always slurred her words. I could never understand a word she was speaking. I knew that I would have learned the language once I could have a discussion with her. Well, about a year later, I was standing talking to her and carrying on a conversation. Suddenly, it dawned on me that I had crossed the threshold and not only did I understand the language, I understood it from a woman slurring her words.
When you left Switzerland chocolate for desert sand what was the new threshold concept you had to pass through? Did language make sense? Or did you have a new point to pass?
Adam, thank you for sharing about your slurring neighbor. It’s amazing how language works. It feels like a huge accomplishment when you are able to switch back-and-forth without much thought.
One of the thresholds I had to cross was the use of the word “inshallah.” Although it’s direct translation is identical to how Christians say “God willing” in English, it’s used in a completely different way in the desert. It felt almost like a release of personal responsibility for whether or not the person decided to do something. I found myself frustratingly asking friends and colleagues, “Do you mean ‘inshallah’ yes or ‘inshallah’ no?” However, the more I learned about the culture’s value of time versus my mine, I can relax much more.
Hi Elysse, I appreciated your analogy of threshold learning to learning French. I noticed something I hadn’t expected. I studied French from elementary though high school. It surely wasn’t emersion and there is no fluency but when you wrote in French, many of the words were familiar and I could tell what the song was about. One more thing about threshold learning, it stays with us. But it was also a reminder that using what we learn is an important piece of maintaining the growth. There were also a lot of words that I would have had to look up if I wanted a complete understanding of meaning. What is the primary language in Mauritania? and do you recognize other threshold concepts that have stayed with you?
Diane, très bien! I have really enjoyed hearing about my cohorts’ language learning experiences. Mauritania (RIM) is a very diverse country. You might hear five different dialects happening simultaneously. However, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and French are the languages used in business and more formal settings. However, Hassaniya Arabic is the dialect used by the majority of the population. I must admit, this is a threshold I have been afraid to cross. This will be changing soon, as I have no more excuses.
There are many areas where I have ‘made it to the other side’ so to speak. However, there are still days when I feel stuck in the troublesome space. There are many things that still intimidate me in RIM, but I consider it a privilege to learn. The extreme poverty is something that has changed me. It’s something that can’t be unseen. I am still learning how to best understand and navigate it.
Bonjour, Elysse. Je m’appelle Noel. Je viens de Micronesia. I don’t really have any idea what I just wrote or said, I hope you are not going to sue me for plagiarism.
Your illustration using language in talking about the threshold concept and the liminal space is very meaningful, thank you.
Salut Noel. Ne t’inquiète pas. I will not sue you for plagiarism. But next time please site me in the Turabian Chicago Style 17th edition (full note).
Elyse,
Great post, I understood une baguette, but that was about all the French I recognized. I feel that I can relate in some ways. As I have undertaken teaching a Cultural and Human Diversity class for the past three years, the concepts and the various cultures I am learning about are becoming more and more familiar to me. I have begun to look for diversity everyone I go and try new experiences that I previously would have shunned. Last Spring, my wife and I were invited to our Amish neighbor’s daughter’s wedding. The entire ceremony is done in their high German dialect. I did not understand what was being said except a few English words were spoken such as The Five Love Languages. My wife and I were uncomfortable, but yet overjoyed at having been invited to be part of a different culture’s private celebration. Because I am a foreigner to many of the cultures I teach about, I will never fully understand them, but I believe I can learn enough to be considered a “conversational speaker”.
Thank you, Jeff. Wow! It’s incredible that you were invited to an Amish wedding. Thank you for sharing this story. There’s no better way to learn a new culture than to be invited to a wedding.