Stand Up Comedy
As a tool for language learning
For a long time, I believed that watching the performances of stand up comics did little to help a person improve his command of a foreign language. For one thing, many monologueurs humoristes achieve comedic effect by speaking in eccentric accents or making deliberate mistakes in the realms of grammar and usage. For another, they often eschew complete sentences in favor of various combinations of fragmentary phrases, facial expressions, and sight gags. Finally, a high proportion of present-day jokesters employ idioms that would redden the face of a sailor, stable boy, or stevedore. (As I have practiced, in days of yore, all three of the aforementioned professions, I can attest to the truth of that effect.)
Recently, however, an algorithm introduced me to a short video in which Francophone comédienne Nawell Madani complained of her experience as the middle child of a large family and, as such, obliged to play the role of stagiaire. (My dictionary tells me that stagiaire means ‘intern’. However, in this context, I would translate it as ‘dogsbody’, ‘factotem’, or even ‘Cinderella’.)
In telling her tale of familial favoritism, Madame Madani spoke clearly, pronouncing each word in the approved manner. Better yet, she used the rhythm of her sentences, her facial expressions, and her gestures in ways that that shed light on the meaning of her words. Best of all, she told no jokes I could not share in a family-friendly setting.
Inspired by this discovery, I went looking for other videos that showcased Madani’s work. This quest, alas, convinced me that the wee video I had found by accident might well have preserved the paragon of the comic’s œuvre. In particular, I ran into many performances in which she spoke so quickly that, even when I set ‘playback speed’ to 75%, I found it difficult to make sense of what she said.
Thus, if you are looking for a new way to expand your vocabulary, encounter familiar words in the wild, or attune your ears to the music of contemporary French, the work of Nawell Madani offers a good place to start. Nonetheless, you may have to do a bit of sifting.
Speaking of sifting …
In the course of this little adventure in alloglot jocularity, I discovered a little trick that will minimize encounters with expressions you don’t want swimming around in your head, as well as the cynicism that so often keeps company with such language. If you turn off the sound to the video, turn on close captioning, and play the video at high speed, you will be able to spot the signs - such as rude gestures and words with lots of asterisks in them - of the sort of soliloquy you want to avoid.
For Further Reading
