{"id":31611,"date":"2019-10-08T05:34:16","date_gmt":"2019-10-08T03:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=31611"},"modified":"2019-10-02T18:55:40","modified_gmt":"2019-10-02T16:55:40","slug":"french-language-three-wise-monkeys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/french-language-three-wise-monkeys\/","title":{"rendered":"French Language – Three Wise Monkeys"},"content":{"rendered":"

A random line in one of my favorite French podcasts<\/a> 1<\/a><\/sup>You can also find Christophe Hondelatte and his great r\u00e9cits<\/em> \/ accounts<\/em> on YouTube<\/a> grace \u00e0 \/ thanks to <\/em>Europe1.<\/span> sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole to explore a variety of expressions \u2026 and from rabbits I was soon at des singes<\/strong> (monkeys)<\/em>!<\/p>\n

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Il n\u2019y a pas pire aveugle \u2026 <\/strong><\/p>\n

A few years back, I wrote a blog on the senses<\/a> in French. What I didn\u2019t think to talk about was how to talk about the absence of the senses<\/em>.<\/p>\n

A person who cannot see (qui ne peut pas voir\/qui ne voit pas<\/strong>) est aveugle<\/strong> (is blind<\/em>).<\/p>\n

A person who cannot hear (qui n\u2019entend pas<\/strong>) est sourd(e)<\/strong> (is deaf<\/em>).<\/p>\n

A person who cannot speak (qui ne parle pas<\/strong>) est muet(te)<\/strong> (is mute<\/em>).<\/em><\/p>\n

While we would find it sexist today, Montaigne wrote in the early 1800’s that Un bon mariage serait celui d’une femme aveugle avec un mari sourd.<\/strong> (A good marriage would be one of a blind woman with a deaf man. <\/em>!!!<\/div>\n

Anyway … The phrase that got me thinking about all this was Il n\u2019y a pire aveugle que celui qui ne veut pas voir<\/strong> (None is more blind than the person who doesn\u2019t want to see)<\/em>. This expression \u2013 which can also be found as Il n\u2019est pas<\/strong> \u2026 – has its echo in Il n\u2019y a\/Il n\u2019est pire sourd que celui qui ne veut pas entendre <\/b>(None is more dear\/harder of hearing than the person who doesn\u2019t want to hear).<\/em><\/p>\n

Monkey business<\/strong><\/p>\n

And when it comes to not seeing, not hearing, and not speaking, nuls ne sont plus connus que les trois singes sages<\/strong> (none are more well-known than the three wise monkeys, <\/em>also known as les singes de la sagesse<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

In my journey down the rabbit hole I found two different ways of saying their \u201cSee no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil.\u201d maxim. The first \u2013 Ne pas voir le Mal, ne pas entendre le Mal, ne pas dire le Mal.<\/strong> \u2013 is closest to the English, and to the original meaning of trying to avoid bad things (evil) in one\u2019s life by not looking for it, not listening to it, and not speaking about it.<\/p>\n

The alternative \u2013 Ne rien voir. Ne rien entendre. <\/strong>Ne rien dire.<\/strong> \u2013 which means more See nothing. Hear nothing. Say nothing.<\/em> seems to me less true to the original meaning, but truer to the modern-day usage of ignoring what we hear and see and not pointing out the bad that we see.<\/p>\n

Qu\u2019en pensez-vous?<\/strong> What do you think\u00a0?<\/em><\/p>\n

Which French version resonates with you? For some inspiration, check out this amazing photo blog<\/a> featuring people from around Asia posing as les fameux singes.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Photo by\u00a0George Becker\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>from\u00a0Pexels<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n