Where are you from?

The question “Where are you from?” is a seemingly simple and innocuous question but which my kids have difficulties answering as they were born in different countries, have two passports and have spent their formative years living in 4 different countries.* In fact, responding to it must be difficult for many people because just recently the questions ‘Where do you come from?’ or ‘Where are you from?’ were removed from the Cambridge English Qualification exams.

In her TedTalk ‘Where are you from?’ Taiye Selasi argues that a more appropriate question to ask people is: ‘Where are you a local?’. This question shifts the focus away from nationality to experiences. Taiye Selasi is writer and photographer of Nigerian and Ghanaian descent, born in London and raised in Boston, who now lives in Rome and Berlin. She states that “what we call countries are actually various expressions of sovereign statehood, an idea that came into fashion only 400 years ago“. This reminds me of the great quote that I posted after our trip to Norway in August 2020 from the Norwegian explorer, Thor Heyerdhal: “Borders? I have never seen one. But I have heard that they exist in the minds of some people.”

Asking “What are your personal experiences?” is not actually any easier to answer than “Where are you from?”, but it is clear that responding with meaningful human experiences is far more pertinent than with an invented country name.

*I wrote about Third Culture Kids – March 2015

Watch your language!

I ‘ve already written briefly about French wine in an earlier post (‘Classy’ – May 2017) but I simply couldn’t resist taking a photo of this wine bottle when I spotted it on the supermarket shelves recently. Difficult to walk past it!

When I first arrived in France, more than twenty years ago, the labels on wine bottles were very plain and all looked very similar. They typically had a creme background black writing – occasionally with a touch of red ink – and possibly a little sketch of a chateau or a bunch of grapes. Things have changed since then and all sorts of colours, images and words are used as you can see.

I might be wrong, but I doubt you’d find such a label in an English-speaking country and I’m quite sure that you wouldn’t find the same name- translated into French – appearing on bottles here in France.

It think that it can be easier to use rude words (‘gros mots’) in languages other than your own as they don’t carry as much weight and can even be a little amusing.

Mind you… the middle finger doesn’t need translating, in any language, and so I must say I found it a little more surprising to see it flashing boldly at all of the passing supermarket customers.