{"id":31445,"date":"2019-08-23T21:02:26","date_gmt":"2019-08-23T19:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=31445"},"modified":"2019-08-23T21:02:26","modified_gmt":"2019-08-23T19:02:26","slug":"upstream-traffic-towards-paris-confusing-directions-in-french","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/upstream-traffic-towards-paris-confusing-directions-in-french\/","title":{"rendered":"Upstream Traffic Towards Paris &#8211; Confusing Directions In French"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Learning <strong>le fran\u00e7ais<\/strong> is all about <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/finding-the-right-hot-drink-tea-in-french\/\">making mistakes<\/a> and being at a loss for words when there&#8217;s something important to say. That can lead to some embarrassing moments, but a few uncomfortable seconds is the price to pay for free <a href=\"https:\/\/education.transparent.com\/mylearning\/game\/ng\/?utm_campaign=Blog%20Post%20CTA%20Buttons&amp;utm_source=blog%20header&amp;utm_medium=learn%20french%20with%20us%202#\/signup\/trial\/choose\">French lessons<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_31550\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31550\" class=\"size-full wp-image-31550\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/08\/amont-aval-upstream-downstream-french-france-vocabulary.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/08\/amont-aval-upstream-downstream-french-france-vocabulary.jpg 640w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/08\/amont-aval-upstream-downstream-french-france-vocabulary-350x233.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-31550\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/photos\/stream-creek-brook-nature-river-1149882\/\">Image<\/a> from Pixabay. Licensed under CC0.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Being a non-native <strong>francophone<\/strong> (French speaker), I often hear a new word before I know how to write it or what it means. <strong>Bien s\u00fbr<\/strong> (of course), I have a <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/egg-in-your-eyes-difficult-french-voyelles\/\">vague idea<\/a> of how to use it, but I would never be able to clearly define or spell it.<\/p>\n<p>A few years ago on <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/\">this blog<\/a>, I told a story about hearing a word without seeing it and the confusion it can cause with <em><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/french-vocabulary-dansequala\/\">Dansequ\u00e2<\/a><\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"Hfxjrx8iCD\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/french-vocabulary-dansequala\/\">French Vocabulary: Dansequ\u00e2<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;French Vocabulary: Dansequ\u00e2&#8221; &#8212; French Language Blog\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/french-vocabulary-dansequala\/embed\/#?secret=MVMx9bNHBJ#?secret=Hfxjrx8iCD\" data-secret=\"Hfxjrx8iCD\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I was reminded of a similar lesson when a pair of relatively common <strong>mots fran\u00e7ais<\/strong> (French words) recently came up. I had learned and generally understood them, but would never be able to correctly define them:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>En amont<\/strong> &#8211; Upstream<br \/>\n<strong>En aval<\/strong> &#8211; Downstream<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>After mixing the two words up a few too many times, I finally looked them up, but their definitions never really felt complete. I knew <em><strong>en amont et en aval<\/strong> <\/em>were used well outside of the context of <strong>le flux d&#8217;une rivi\u00e8re<\/strong> (the flow of a river).<\/p>\n<p>I was reminded of that confusion one morning while listening to <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/as-easy-as-rfi-easy-french\/\"><strong>la radio<\/strong><\/a> when a traffic report came on. While describing an accident on a major highway, <strong>l&#8217;animateur<\/strong> (the host) specified in which direction traffic was backed up:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Un bouchon s&#8217;est constitu\u00e9 en amont de Paris.<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>A traffic jam built up <strong>upstream<\/strong> <strong>of<\/strong> Paris.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>For the life of me I couldn&#8217;t figure out which direction that meant and muttered to myself:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>\u00c7a veut dire vers o\u00f9 exactement ?!<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>That means towards where exatly?!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So I decided to clear things up once and for all.\u00a0 It was time to really learn all there is to know about the tricky pair that is <em><strong>en amont et en aval<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>En amont<\/strong> <\/em>does mean <em>upstream<\/em>, but how it&#8217;s used in everyday life is more complicated. <strong>Le mot fran\u00e7ais<\/strong> has taken on a metaphorical sense that doesn&#8217;t exist in English. <em><strong>En amont<\/strong> <\/em>outside of <strong>les cours d&#8217;eau<\/strong> (waterways) can mean <em>before<\/em> or <em>in advance<\/em>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>En amont<\/strong> &#8211; Before, in advance<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That means <strong>en fran\u00e7ais<\/strong> you can prepare for something <em><strong>en amont <\/strong><\/em>or work on a project <em><strong>en amont<\/strong><\/em>. <strong>La m\u00e9taphore<\/strong> (the metaphor) can be extended to general directions, meaning being stuck somewhere <em><strong>en amont de<\/strong> <\/em>a location that&#8217;s not connected to <em>the flow of a river<\/em>!<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>En amont de<\/strong> &#8211; Behind<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Pour un anglophone<\/strong> (for an English speaker) like myself, it took a stretch of the imagination to understand how <em>upstream from the source of a river<\/em> could mean <em>behind<\/em>. The lack of an equivalent English <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/french-eggs-expression-difficult-subjects\/\"><strong>expression<\/strong><\/a> made wrapping my head around the idea extremely difficult.<\/p>\n<p>With a little patience it started to make sense and I could see how the relative nature of <em>moving towards the source<\/em> can mean <em>somewhere before the origin<\/em>. After realizing that, the early morning traffic report started to make more sense:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Un bouchon s&#8217;est constitu\u00e9 en amont de <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/waves-in-paris-le-metro-is-flooded\/\">Paris<\/a>.<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>A traffic jam built up<strong> in the direction of <\/strong>Paris.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em><strong>En aval<\/strong> <\/em>works in much the same way with the literal definition being <em>downstream<\/em>, but having taken on a broader metaphorical sense of <em>after<\/em>. In my personal experience I&#8217;ve noticed the more abstract use of <strong>en aval <\/strong>(after) is more common for <em>projects<\/em> and refers to things that can be done <em>after a project is completed<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>While it might seem odd to be familiar with a word without being able to know how a concise definition. In writing <strong>cet article<\/strong> (this article), I experienced the very same thing with <strong>un mot anglais<\/strong> (an English word)!<\/p>\n<p>While trying to figure out how <strong>une rivi\u00e8re<\/strong> flows and which direction exactly is <em>upstream<\/em> and <em>downstream<\/em>, I saw that <em>the mouth of a river<\/em> is called<em><strong> l&#8217;embouchure<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Une embouchure<\/strong> &#8211; A mouth of a river<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That may not jump out to every reader, but as someone who played a wind instrument, I can clearly remember <strong>le prof<\/strong> (the teacher) saying how important it is to maintain your <em>embouchure<\/em> when blowing into the instrument.<\/p>\n<p>I never knew how to spell <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/talking-about-music-in-french\/\">the musical word<\/a> and never thought that it was actually <strong>un mot fran\u00e7ais<\/strong> (a French word)!<\/p>\n<p>Learning from context is a great way to pick up vocabulary and is the best way to keep conversations flowing like a river. <strong>Cependant<\/strong> (however), sometimes nothing beats taking the time to <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/the-origin-of-lordinateur-computers-in-french\/\">look things up<\/a> and figuring out exactly what a new word means.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"233\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/08\/amont-aval-upstream-downstream-french-france-vocabulary-350x233.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/08\/amont-aval-upstream-downstream-french-france-vocabulary-350x233.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/08\/amont-aval-upstream-downstream-french-france-vocabulary.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>Learning le fran\u00e7ais is all about making mistakes and being at a loss for words when there&#8217;s something important to say. That can lead to some embarrassing moments, but a few uncomfortable seconds is the price to pay for free French lessons. Being a non-native francophone (French speaker), I often hear a new word before&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/upstream-traffic-towards-paris-confusing-directions-in-french\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":31550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31445","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}