a very nice letter from France

I don't want to make a habit of slapping up correspondence from my French "family," but every now and again I feel proud to stick something from them up on the blog. They're truly incredible people. The following is an email (un courriel,* as they say these days) I received from my French Papa on Monday:

Mon Cher KEVIN,

Nous te souhaitons un joyeux NOEL et une très bonne et sainte année 2007. Nous avons été très heureux de recevoir la carte de ton papa, qui ne nous a pas posé probleme pour la lecture; un peu plus difficile pour répondre mais avec l'aide du traducteur anglais pour la correction nous arrivons à nous débrouiller et l'aide de Dominique.

Depuis ma retraite Xavier dirige seul l'entreprise, mais je suis souvent confronté à des messages en anglais surtout techniques auxquels il faut répondre, surtout émanant de chinois en anglais. C'est parfois du vrai chinois... alors je me familiarise peu à peu à la langue anglaise. Si un jour nous avions l'opportunité de nous rendre à Montréal chez une nièce, nous ferions sans doute un petit crochet par Washington mais ce n'est pour l'instant qu'un rêve.

A part cela, toute la famille se porte bien: les familles, les 18 petits-enfants aussi, la grand-mère qui vient de passer ses 100 ans allègrement... Je pense que tu t'en souviens à la ferme; elle a, malgré l'âge et les petits ennuis de santé, toujours une vivacité de caractère, bien que la mémoire n'enregistre plus toujours les faits présents. Elle nous parle surtout de son passé, de sa jeunesse, mais elle est encore toujours présente.

Nous espérons quant à toi que tu es toujours en pleine forme et toujours accompagné de jolies étudiantes (voir photos). Peut-être auras-tu un projet de voyage en France en cette année 2007? Maman Jeannette va mieux; nous envisageons l'année qui vient avec beaucoup plus de sérénité. Le nouveau traitement américain Herceptin semble lui avoir bien réussi. Nous aurons un premier bilan en mars prochain

Voila, mon Cher Kevin, nous t'adressons tous nos voeux celui aussi de te revoir un de ces jours. Merci encore de ton message. Il nous fait toujours chaud au coeur.

Nous t'embrassons,

Pierre D

Translation:

My dear Kevin,

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a very happy and holy 2007. We were very happy to receive your father's card, which was no problem to read; a bit hard to answer it, but with the help of an English translator to correct us we managed to figure things out, and we had help from Dominique.

Since my retirement, Xavier has been managing the company himself, but I often find that I'm faced with messages in English, especially those converted from Chinese to English. Sometimes it's really Chinese... so I'm familiarizing myself, bit by bit, with the English language. If, one day, we have the chance to visit a niece of ours in Montreal, we will without a doubt dip into Washington. For the moment, though, it's just a dream.

Aside from that, the whole family's well: the families, the 18 grandchildren too, the grandmother who just turned an energetic 100... I think you remember her from the farm; she still retains, despite her age and small health issues, her vivacity, even though her memory no longer records present facts. She speaks to us, for the most part, about her youth, but she is still present.

As for you, we hope you are still in good health and still surrounded by pretty students (seeing those photos). Do you perhaps have plans to travel to France in 2007? Mama Jeannette is doing better; we look forward to the new year with a lot more serenity. The new American treatment, Herceptin, seems to have worked for her; we'll have the first checkup this coming March.

So there we are, my dear Kevin, we send you all our best wishes, including that of seeing you again one of these days. Thanks again for your message. It always warms our heart.

Love,**

Pierre D

Sigh... I have to hit Europe soon.

---

*The word "courriel" comes from "courrier électronique," or electronic mail. Most French folks simply say "e-mail" with an English-y pronunciation to distinguish it from the French "émail" (pronounced "ay-migh," rhyming with "Hey-- thighs!"), which means "enamel."

**"Nous t'embrassons," translated literally, is "we kiss you," which seems a strange way to render that in English. Interesting to note the "nous," which often indicates someone of the older generation writing: as has been happening for a couple decades now (at least since the 1980s), "nous" is often dropped in favor of "on." It's very common to see letters and emails ending with "On t'embrasse," which means the same thing as "nous t'embrassons."


_