the word of the month - New York in French2024-03-29T08:07:26Zhttps://newyorkinfrench.net/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/the+word+of+the+monthWords, Words, Words: The Story behind The Word of the Monthhttps://newyorkinfrench.net/profiles/blogs/words-words-words-the-story-behind-the-word-of-the-month2023-02-08T21:11:26.000Z2023-02-08T21:11:26.000ZAndrew Lawrence Palmaccihttps://newyorkinfrench.net/members/AndrewLawrencePalmacci<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10962178471?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p><span style="font-weight:400;">Recently, I spoke with Andrew Arnon, Jim Sheppard and Benjamin Levy of </span><a href="https://www.gymglish.com/en"><span style="font-weight:400;">Gymglish</span></a><span style="font-weight:400;">, the Paris-based language learning outfit that has produced </span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">The Word of the Month </span></em><span style="font-weight:400;">online for more than ten years.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}10962186081,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10962186081,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="200" alt="10962186081?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">Arnon, a San Francisco native, does the writing; Jim Sheppard, a Brit, does the illustrations; and Benjamin Levy, a native of France, who also co-founded Gymglish, serves as chief editor. Gymglish started in 2004 as a provider of language lessons to French speakers in Paris. </span><span style="font-weight:400;">In Levy's bio from the book version of their successful blog, out now from </span><a href="https://tbr-books.org/product/the-word-of-the-month-vol-1"><span style="font-weight:400;">TBR Books</span></a><span style="font-weight:400;">, he said he started Gymglish with the modest goal of having fun every day. So, I asked the three how </span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">The Word of the Month </span></em><span style="font-weight:400;">became fun for them and their audience.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">Arnon interjected that before </span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">The Word of the Month</span></em><span style="font-weight:400;">, Gymglish was known for outside-the-box language lessons which were not anchored in the "real world". This new initiative was decidedly tethered to the real world–to current events and the words used to describe them–and geared towards English language learning. </span><span style="font-weight:400;">Sheppard added that "people are interested in the news. People latch on to it to learn language," describing some of these words as even "sexy".</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">Levy stated that "when we started Gymglish, teachers would use newspapers to teach language." With </span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">The Word of the Month</span></em><span style="font-weight:400;">, they sought to create a mix of vocabulary stemming from everyone's world-wide connection to the news in the modern age. But, to treat these words in a fun way. </span><span style="font-weight:400;">Though the monthly lexical publication is obviously digital, Paris proved to be the perfect place to start this web-based wordly wisdom. As Arnon told me, Paris "has a history, a long legacy, of people being intellectually curious," adding "the format is key to why it's fun: You don't need a dictionary."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">"People in Paris are international, cultivated and willing to laugh." </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">This sounds like the perfect recipe for launching a humorous, word-centered website; a tasty treat like a good </span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">crème brûlée</span></em><span style="font-weight:400;"> in a Parisian bistrot.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">The idea to eventually translate the English words of the month into French, Spanish and German came about because the initial Gymglish spoke these other European languages.</span><span style="font-weight:400;">At the beginning, </span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">The Word of the Month</span></em><span style="font-weight:400;"> was very French-English targeted, including when they were brought onto the French newspaper of record, </span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">LeMonde.fr</span></em><span style="font-weight:400;">. Then, as the number of languages expanded, the site became more internationally focused and the writing developed from the English-French dynamic.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">As Levy said, "After 12 years, we're trying to zoom out." <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}10962186458,RESIZE_1200x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10962186458,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="200" alt="10962186458?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">He admitted that they "talk more about Western [than other] cultures," but explains that comes from the fact that "we teach Western languages." </span><span style="font-weight:400;">"We are aware that our perspective is Western. Looking at the glass half full, we have </span><span style="font-weight:400;">the diversities of one British, one American and one French person; subcultures of the overall Western culture."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">When asked for their favorite word or drawing since the site started in 2010, Sheppard cited "</span><a href="https://www.gymglish.com/en/thewordofthemonth/word/holy"><span style="font-weight:400;">holy</span></a><span style="font-weight:400;">", noting that, as the illustrator, his favorite words are those with the best drawings. With this one, there was a debate over how to undertake it, because of the delicate nature of how people perceive and use the word. </span><span style="font-weight:400;">Levy expanded on this, saying that they explained this word by offering a few choice examples from pop-cultural slang: "holy mackerel", "holy cow", and "holy shit". </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">Some of his personal favorites include "Dog days" (the cover art for their new book) and "fake". </span><span style="font-weight:400;">The three also agreed on a lockdown-inspired word, "</span><a href="https://www.gymglish.com/en/thewordofthemonth/word/bake"><span style="font-weight:400;">bake</span></a><span style="font-weight:400;">", as a preferred word. Arnon observes that in the last few years there have been quite a few "Covid-inspired words" but that team is "having fun with this". </span><span style="font-weight:400;">On a heartwarming note, he recalls "</span><a href="https://www.gymglish.com/en/thewordofthemonth/word/mother"><span style="font-weight:400;">Mother</span></a><span style="font-weight:400;">", which as he describes from memory has a "poorly-sketched girl handing her mother a drawing of a poorly-sketched mother, and her mom loving it."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">Levy said he loves Andrew's jokes about dogs and loves Jim drawing them in a silly fashion. Jim, for his part, said he actually finds drawing dogs, and animals in general, rather challenging. </span><span style="font-weight:400;">Other words, like "holy" were more delicate and, perhaps, loaded, so their publication came with some apprehension. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">"</span><a href="https://www.gymglish.com/en/thewordofthemonth/word/woke"><span style="font-weight:400;">Woke</span></a><span style="font-weight:400;">", for example, for Arnon, was "so hard to define", but said he likes the words that receive a lot of comments, which that one certainly did. </span><span style="font-weight:400;">Race-related words, such as "</span><a href="https://www.gymglish.com/en/thewordofthemonth/word/matter"><span style="font-weight:400;">matter</span></a><span style="font-weight:400;">," published during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement in June 2020 were put out with a bit of caution. </span><span style="font-weight:400;">Sheppard, the illustrator, chose "</span><a href="https://www.gymglish.com/en/thewordofthemonth/word/shed"><span style="font-weight:400;">shed</span></a><span style="font-weight:400;">", which was released after the </span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">Charlie Hebdo </span></em><span style="font-weight:400;">shootings by Muslim extremists in Paris. Levy assented, saying "we were close to </span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">Charlie Hebdo</span></em><span style="font-weight:400;">'s offices [where the shootings took place]. Impossible to talk about it; impossible to not talk about it."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">The chief editor and co-founded of Gymglish, Levy, proffered an honest admission of bias, saying they can receive criticism "when you talk about women, race, minorities, since we are three male, white authors."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">One of the big success stories within Gymglish and </span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">The Word of the Month </span></em><span style="font-weight:400;">has been their collaboration with esteemed newspaper </span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">Le Monde</span></em><span style="font-weight:400;">. </span><span style="font-weight:400;">Levy explained that the relationship "was good all along. They didn't want to censor or even read us." This was helped by a clear statement on their section of </span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">Le Monde</span></em><span style="font-weight:400;">'s website that </span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">The Word of the Month</span></em><span style="font-weight:400;"> wasn't written by </span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">LeMonde.fr</span></em><span style="font-weight:400;">'s staff. "We were not on the homepage, we were not pushed, so they were cool."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">After 7 or 8 years, the French journalism giant offered them a blog, with full autonomy. And they were ok with the dog jokes. A huge </span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">coup</span></em><span style="font-weight:400;"> for a language-lesson start-up. </span><span style="font-weight:400;">Arnon, for his part, said "on the content side, things were totally hands off." Being on such a reputable site allowed </span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">The Word of the Month </span></em><span style="font-weight:400;">to be opened up to new readers. </span><span style="font-weight:400;">One particular slogan for Gymglish's French language lessons gained traction with internet users of </span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">Le Monde</span></em><span style="font-weight:400;"> and caught the eye of the staff of the parent site: "Arrogance doesn't come overnight, it takes practice." </span><span style="font-weight:400;">After </span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">Le Monde </span></em><span style="font-weight:400;">used this, there was some Twitter buzz and some backlash for perceived "French-bashing". </span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">Le Monde</span></em><span style="font-weight:400;">'s CEO was forced to respond and remove the copy, but otherwise there were no repercussions.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">The trio's reaction to </span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">Le Monde</span></em><span style="font-weight:400;">'s recent foray into a full English-language online version was, expectedly, positive.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">Levy detailed that "</span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">Le Monde </span></em><span style="font-weight:400;">was very late [to the English-language game]", celebrating that "at last we have an English language version" and critiquing the venerable publication for being "very French-centric". This sort of thing "happens in other countries. I'm personally very happy that they have opened up to international audiences." </span><span style="font-weight:400;">Sheppard was a bit more bullish, saying "Not sure how many people will read it, but I think it's a good idea."<a href="{{#staticFileLink}}10962186490,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10962186490,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="200" alt="10962186490?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">Arnon circled back to Levy's approbation: "It's great that it's a dedicated site, not just run through a translator. A step in the right direction. France has this protectionist attitude. It can be good." He mentions the long-standing requirement for French radio to play at least 33% French-language music, to offset the heavy rotation of English-language bands. </span><span style="font-weight:400;">In this way, Arnon stated, France does not become "an America junior. As with the tech boom, there are more English words. Woke figures into that. Older people are complexed about their ability to speak English, because they were taught [English] by French people. The more they're exposed, the better. Younger people are exposed to English via the internet."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400;">"</span><em><span style="font-weight:400;">The Word of the Month</span></em><span style="font-weight:400;"> is a short, fun, funny way to do that."</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p>-Andrew Palmacci</p>
<p>To order The Word of the Month, click <a href="https://tbr-books.org/product-category/language/wom" target="_blank">here</a></p>
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