Nov

The Hidden Hearts of Bruges

by Joyce McGreevy on November 28, 2017

Bruges by night is safe and serene.
© Joyce McGreevy

Where Being Bilingual
Is Just the Beginning

So, you’ve practiced your French to visit Belgium. Well, not so fast! Here, being bilingual is just the beginning. In this country the size of Maryland, only 40% of the population speaks French.

The Other 60 Percent

Now how’s your Flemish? Because we’re bound for Bruges. Known locally as Brugge, it’s arguably Europe’s most picturesque small city.

ruges is a World Heritage city in Belgium, where being bilingual is just the beginning. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

This World Heritage city welcomes 7.5 million visitors a year.
© Joyce McGreevy

Wait, did I say Flemish? Silly me. I meant West Flemish. Although to get truly local, you really should learn Brugs . . . In Brugge (where everyone’s also fluent in English), being bilingual is just the beginning.

Now I know what you’re thinking. “Aren’t Flemish, West Flemish, and Brugs all just slight variants of Dutch?”

Variants, yes. But slight, not always. It’s said that while a Bruggeling can easily understand a Dutch speaker . . .

A carved stone head inspires thoughts about language in Belgium, where being bilingual is just the beginning. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

. . . the Dutch speaker might not understand the Bruggeling’s reply.

A carved stone head inspires thoughts about Flemish in Belgium, where being bilingual is just the beginning. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Dutch vs Flemish

If the sound of Dutch is the tap of new shoes on an office floor, Flemish is your favorite old boots padding across moss. The hard Dutch g becomes an aspirated h. Words that look identical can have wildly divergent meanings, and some vocabulary varies by neighborhood.

Oh, I see: In Flanders, language is highly localized. Your address shapes how you speak.

Sint-Clarastraat, Bruges inspires a writer in Belgium, where being bilingual is just the beginning.

Like many streets in Brugge, Sint-Clarastraat is named for a saint.
© Joyce McGreevy

My address this month is Sint-Clarastraat. It’s part of a network of cobbled streets and canals that form a circular, lace-like pattern around this medieval city.

A colorful canal view in Bruges inspires a traveler in Belgium. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

What’s Flemish for “I could stay here forever”?
© Joyce McGreevy

Storm Before the Calm

While those canals present a placid beauty, they sprang from cataclysmic change. In 1134, Brugge was already three centuries old when a mighty storm ripped open the River Zwin, gouging a deep passage all the way to the North Sea. The “Golden Inlet” was born.

With connection came wealth, as Brugge grew into an international capital of trade. Goods, people, ideas—they all flowed to and from Brugge like the lifeblood of a beating heart. Brugge became a cradle of art and architecture.

The medieval Adornes Domain in Bruges inspires a traveler in Belgium, where past is present. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Bruges’ Jerusalem Chapel and its almshouses were built by a 15th-century merchant.
© Joyce McGreevy

The reach of medieval entrepreneurs extended from Scotland to Jerusalem. Nature’s fortunate flood was followed by a flood of capital, and in 1309, Bruges launched the world’s first stock exchange.

Over time, the flat plains of Flanders and the slow-moving River Zwin proved a doomed combination. The Golden Inlet became clogged with silt, choking the port and sending Brugge into economic decline.

Yet the neglect that settled over Brugge preserved it. Stand in the center of the old Burg, scanning the surrounding buildings, and you will time-travel through the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, and Neoclassical ages.

Old Burg architecture in Bruges, Belgium spans several centuries. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Buildings in the Old Burg span 10 centuries.
© Joyce McGreevy

The Heart of a City

Because it’s central, guidebooks call Market Square the “heart” of the town. But Brugge has many hearts. Like learning the local language, discovering these hidden hearts takes time.

Smedenpoort Gate in Bruges, inspires a traveler in Belgium. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Don’t miss outer Bruges, where you’ll find its four medieval gates.
© Joyce McGreevy

Did you ever hear the saying, “Nobody goes there because it’s too crowded”? The stereotype about Brugge is that it’s a hive of time-pressured, selfie-taking, beer-tasting tourists pursuing a quick fix of the picturesque before the tour buses leave town.

But if high-season weekends fuel the stereotype, evenings and weekdays dispel it. The most iconic sights become places of solitude then.

A tranquil canal view in Bruges inspires a bilingual writer in Belgium. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Rarely has a Monday looked so tranquil.
© Joyce McGreevy

Beyond the Center

Whenever you visit, do venture beyond the center. Zigzag along streets unmentioned in the guidebook. Follow laneways to see where they lead—a hidden pond, a sheep meadow, a cloistered garden. Take longer and longer walks.

A sheep meadow in the heart of Bruges inspires a bilingual writer in Belgium. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Peaceful green spaces are hidden all around Bruges.
© Joyce McGreevy

Look closely at buildings for details that signal the history of this city. Adopt local expressions as you do errands. Ask everyone who can spare a moment to teach you a new word or expression.

A bicycle overgrown with flowers inspires a walk around Brugge, Belgium, where being bilingual is just the beginning. (Image @ Joyce McGreevy)

Ready for a ramble around Brugge?
© Joyce McGreevy

Meet Your Neighbors

By this point you will be so in love with Brugge that you will have a thousand questions about its million mysteries. Filip Bil and Annemieke Demuynck have the answers.

Bilingual travel guides and food bloggers Annemieke Demuynck and Filip Bil live in Bruges, Belgium. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Roast venison with chicory and other Flemish favorites grace Annemieke and Filip’s table.
© Joyce McGreevy

He’s a firefighter, she’s a marketing manager. To explore the city’s history with them on foot, to have supper in their home, to visit their recommended bakeries, cheese shops, chocolatiers, and restaurants—each experience reveals another reason to marvel.

Fortunately, you can do all these things, because Filip and Annemieke are licensed guides, two of the friendliest experts you’ll ever meet. They also write a bilingual food blog called Vertelle Mentjes, “Little Stories.”

A candlelit restaurant in Bruges, Belgium inspires a reader of the bilingual food blog, Vertelle Mentjes. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

There’s much more to Bruges’ food scene than “steak-frites.” Just ask Filip and Annamieke.
© Joyce McGreevy

We almost didn’t meet. The price of a private tour was so reasonable that I hesitated. How good could it be, I wondered, if even I could afford it?

Thank goodness, we did meet. Without Filip and Annemieke, I would surely have missed many hidden hearts of Brugge.

A windmill in Bruges inspires a bilingual writer in Belgium. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Hike to the old city boundaries, where the scenery’s anything but run-of-the-mill.
© Joyce McGreevy

Hidden in Brugge

Today in Brugge, where being bilingual is only the beginning, another heart is hidden—mine. Somewhere between the place where the wind ruffles the down of a swan and the moon illuminates the bridges, that’s where I left it.

I’ll just have to return for it one day.

Brugsch Swaentje, or swans of Bruges, inspire a bilingual traveler in Belgium. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Legends surround the Brugsch Swaentje, or swans of Bruges.
© Joyce McGreevy

Meet Filip and Annemieke here and here.

Explore differences between Dutch and Flemish here.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy 7 Comments

Belgium/Language & Culture/On Foot

Nov

A Game of French Wordplay: Les Bons Mots

by Meredith Mullins on November 20, 2017

A French bakery (boulangerie) with two women selling baguettes, illustrating baguettiquette, a form of French wordplay about the etiquette of eating baguettes. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Proper baguettiquette begins with the selection of the right baguette.
© Meredith Mullins

French Language Puns Offer Stories about the Culture

You can often step into French life through its language. Sometimes you can even invent new words to expand the boundaries of French language and culture. All it takes are some bilingual puns and a fun sense of French wordplay.

What word inventions come to your mind?

Observing Baguettiquette

What are the rules and traditions surrounding that oh-so-French symbol, the baguette?

Hardly a day goes by in France where a baguette doesn’t show its crusty face—tucked under someone’s arm in the street, paired with cheeses and a good bottle of wine at a riverside picnic, or at home eaten fresh from the oven of your local boulangerie.

Young woman carrying baguette on her shoulder, proper baguettetiquette, an invented word in French language as part of wordplay. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Just sling the baguette over your shoulder and keep walking.
© Meredith Mullins

More than one famous French street photographer captured a decisive baguette moment. They are a significant part of everyday life.

Here are some of the unwritten rules of baguettiquette:

You’re allowed (and encouraged) to spread butter and jam on your baguette at breakfast and dunk it in your coffee or tea.
When in France, you learn quickly to put your bread on the table beside your plate. In fact, if you put bread on your plate, you’re committing a serious dough pas.
You will be among the locals if you can’t resist biting off the end of the baguette as you carry it home, especially if it’s warm from the oven.
To that end (no pun intended), it is best to time your visit to the boulangerie to coincide with the morning or evening baking.
You can feel free to clean your plate with your bread to savor the last bits and drops of a delicious meal. This technique also expedites dishwashing.

Man eating end of a baguette in Paris, France, illustrating rules of baguettiquette, a word invented via wordplay with the French language. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Can anyone resist biting off the crunchy end of a baguette
on the way home from the boulangerie?
© Meredith Mullins

Experiencing Déjà Rue

The magnetism and magic of Paris is to be able to walk down an endless number of streets, always discovering some treasure—whether it’s layers of history, local characters, or new cafés and tiny shops.

Woman in a Montmartre alleyway, illustrating wordplay in the French language (deja rue). (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

An interesting character at every turn when you’re flaneuring
© Meredith Mullins

From medieval alleyways to broad avenues, people have cultivated the art of flaneuring for many years—wandering without destination or purpose.

There are some streets where, even if you’ve never been before, something feels familiar. You’ve been there in another time, another life. You’ve been there in a Victor Hugo novel or a Baudelaire poem. You’ve been there in a symphony or in a saxophone solo under a streetlamp. That’s déjà rue.

You know you belong there.

Rue de Rivoli in Paris France, illustrating some wordplay (deja rue) in the French language. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

The famous Rue de Rivoli, but seen in a different way—without traffic!
© Meredith Mullins

Finding Véliberation

The speedier version of flaneuring is velibing—flying freely through Paris on one of the bikes available from the city’s bike-sharing system.

It is indeed a liberating experience, especially when the traffic is minimal. (“When is that?” you might ask. Early Sunday mornings, or perhaps between 3 and 5 am . . . or in August when most of the locals are on vacation.)

Three velib riders in Paris France, illustrating the wordplay in the French language of veliberation. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Véliberation!
© Meredith Mullins

The Vélib system is now more than ten years old in Paris and is undergoing some important changes under Mayor Hidalgo, who wants Paris to be the most bike-friendly capital in the world.

The number of bikes and bike lanes is expected to double. Electric bikes will be added to the fleet. And signs will be added to the streets allowing cyclists to go through red lights and turn right on red.

A new system for parking the bikes will be installed to allow two bikes in one parking space. Arriving at your destination and not finding a parking space has been a recurring problem.

Despite challenges over the past 10 years (including a high rate of theft and destruction of the bikes), the system has been deemed a success. It is an environmentally-friendly way to move around the city, with the added bonus of that elusive feeling of véliberation.

Bakery (boulangerie) window in Paris France, illustrating the concept of eclairity, wordplay in the French language. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

So many choices. We must seek clarity.
© Meredith Mullins

Seeking Éclairity

Gazing in the window of a boulangerie or patisserie is a tough job, but someone has to do it. The array is artistic, colorful, mesmerizing, and tempting or taunting (depending on your health regime).

Some mornings are destined for croissants. Some evenings cry out for tartelettes. Often, there are a thousand small voices singing the song of the millefeuille.

But it is those days of éclairity, when the choice is clear. The éclair.

Éclairs are now omnipresent around the world, but they did, in fact, originate in France. They are believed to have been created by 19^th century royalty chef Marie-Antonin Carême.

He liked to create structures, such as the Charlotte and the Napoleon. The éclair was a masterpiece of exterior and interior magic.

Chocolate and coffee eclairs in a bakery (boulangerie) window, illustrating wordplay in the French language. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Traditional éclairs in chocolate and coffee.
© Meredith Mullins

Éclair means “flash of lightening” in French. It is believed that the pastry was so named because the confectioner’s glaze glistened or perhaps because it was quickly gobbled up . . . by both royalty and common folk. Either way, it caused a stir in the world of French pastry.

Now, the flavors of chocolate, vanilla, and coffee are the foundation of tradition, but also the precursor for more creative approaches—for example, truffle, lemongrass, matcha tea, and pistachio.

Éclairity. Is it a flash of lightening or a way of life? Only you know the answer.

Offering a Sincere “Bone Appétit”

The French enjoy the pleasure of food and good company. Before you begin a meal, your host, friends, or waiter may offer a “Bon appétit,” a sincere wish to enjoy the meal that will follow.

It literally means “have a good appetite,” but more likely than not, that’s a given when you sit down to a delicious French meal.

Dog with a bone, illustrating wordplay in the French language. (Image © Igor Terekhov/Hemera.)

Bone appétit? Well, it speaks for itself. The French love their animals, especially their dogs. You’ll see dogs strutting by the Seine, eating in Michelin-starred restaurants, and wearing the best of canine haute couture. (See the Travel Tails story in OIC Moments.)

They deserve the best, so Bone appétit.

The “Oh, I See” Moments

We can learn a lot about French culture by looking at the French language, even when using imagination to invent a new lexicon. And so today, have a laugh on les bons mots of this French language wordplay and look beyond to gain appreciation for the simple pleasures of French culture: Baguette etiquette. Flaneuring. Free-flying bike riding. Éclairs . . . and more.

Thank you to the Boulangerie Martin on the Ile St Louis. For more information on éclairs, follow the trends with David Lebovitz.

Comment on this post below.

Meredith Mullins 2 Comments

France/Language & Culture/Wordplay

Nov

Visual Wordplay for the Bilingual Brain

by Eva Boynton on November 14, 2017

A cartoon of a woman pulling a leg and hands grabbing her hair, showing how visual wordplay with Spanish and English proverbs tickles the bilingual brain. (image © Eva Boynton).

“Ouch! You’re pulling my leg!”
“¡Ay! ¡Me estás tomando el pelo!” (“Ouch! You’re grabbing my hair!”)
© drawing by Eva Boynton

Spanish and English Proverbs in Pictures

While living in Mexico, I heard phrases whose literal translations created odd visual images for me and confused my developing bilingual brain. For example: “Me estás tomando el pelo!” (You are grabbing my hair!”). My initial bewildered response? I checked to see if my hands were minding their business at my side.

With further explanation, I soon understood that such strange phrases were proverbios y refranes (proverbs and sayings), wise and colorful ways to make a point. In this case: “You are pulling my leg.”

As I started collecting Spanish proverbs, something else began to appear. Oh, I saw that the essence of a proverb often translates from language to language even when the metaphors and imagery vary.

For me, someone who thinks visually, these proverbs were waiting to be translated into cartoonish illustrations that bring their wordplay to life.

1. Together is Always Better

Proverbs and sayings state a general truth and often offer advice metaphorically. Has anyone ever told you, “Two heads are better than one”?

A cartoon of a man with four eyes and a woman with two heads, illustrating how visual wordplay with Spanish and English proverbs tickles the bilingual brain. (image © Eva Boynton).

How about the Spanish equivalent: “Cuatro ojos ven mas que dos” (“Four eyes see more than two”)? Whether there’s an extra head or more than two eyes, collaborating with others always helps to solve problems.

2. You Can’t Hide What’s Inside

Whether in Spanish or English, proverbs represent values people hold. They reflect shared experience and the wisdom that arises from it. For example, “Fine feathers don’t make fine birds” communicate that it’s not the elegant coat and shiny earrings that define a person, but rather what is underneath.

A cartoon of a cockatoo and a monkey with a silk dress sitting on a branch, illustrating how visual wordplay with Spanish and English proverbs tickles the bilingual brain. (image © Eva Boynton).

In Spanish, the feathers metaphor takes on a different form: Aunque la mona se vista de seda, mona se queda (“Although the monkey is dressed in silk, she remains a monkey”). The true nature and that fuzzy monkey tail cannot be hidden by silken decoration.

3. Pay Attention or Learn Your Lesson

Proverbs and sayings touch every aspect of life. “You snooze you lose,” said a man who quickly slipped into my parking spot. That jolted me into the present after being distracted by a pretty view. The proverb had it right with its warning not to hesitate and miss an opportunity.

A cartoon of a shrimp sleeping on a raft going down a stream, illustrating how visual wordplay with Spanish and English proverbs tickles the bilingual brain. (image © Eva Boynton).

Maybe the raft is incredibly comfortable, but this shrimp is about to learn the same lesson—in Spanish: “Camarón que se duerme se lo lleva la corriente” (“A sleeping shrimp gets carried away by the current”).

4. Beware of Musical Chairs

There are many English and Spanish proverbs with warnings about losing something you already have. In Spanish, “El que se fue a Sevilla, perdió su silla” (“He who left for the town of Sevilla, lost his seat.”) is a good reminder to pay attention.

A cartoon strip of a woman taking the chair of a man who left his seat, showing how visual wordplay with Spanish and English proverbs tickles the bilingual brain. (image © Eva Boynton).

Not all proverbs are a beautiful slice of wisdom. Sometimes they can be sarcastic, to the point, and biting. If someone took my seat and chanted, “Finders keepers, losers weepers,” I would most likely furrow my brow, cross my arms, and . . .

5. What Looks Nice Sometimes Bites

“Every rose has its thorn . . . every cowboy sings his sad, sad, song” is more than a couple of lines from an eighties song by the band Poison. “Every rose has its thorn” is also a famous proverb with advice on the nature of things—something that appears beautiful and perfect can have its sharp side.

A cartoon of a rose poking its thorn at a bee holding honey, showing how visual wordplay with Spanish and English proverbs tickles the bilingual brain. (image © Eva Boynton).

When I asked my husband for an example of the proverb in Spanish, he came up with, “Hasta las abejas que tienen miel, tienen aguijón” (“Even bees with honey have stingers”). He smiled and elaborated in Spanglish, “You are sweet and cute, pero cuando te enojas, tienes aguijón” (but when you are angry, you have a stinger). Perfect, I wrote that one down.

As my pen marked the page, I wondered about the significance of a rose versus a bee. What might the choice say about the culture or the language?

If you have a bilingual brain, try out some bi-visual wordplay of your own. You may find yourself feliz como una lombriz (happy as a worm) when you think in Spanish and “happy as a clam” when your clever brain turns to English. And please share the bilingual proverbs you come up with in the Comments.

A cartoon of a smiling clam and a dancing worm with maracas, showing how visual wordplay with Spanish and English proverbs tickles the bilingual brain. (image © Eva Boynton).

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Eva Boynton 3 Comments

Becoming Bilingual/Language & Culture/Proverbs & Sayings/Wordplay

World Views:

Topics

Monthly Archives: November 2017

The Hidden Hearts of Bruges