Language in the Louvre
 

Message: When visiting the Louvre one is confronted with the fact that all paintings amd sculptures are described in French only. Did this perturb anyonelse?<BR>I know all the arguments that suggest French is the only language necessary; however, in light of the clearly international clientele, I would think the museum staff would want their exhibits to be understood and appreciated by as many people as possible and to accomplish this, would have at least one or more additional dominant languages. For example, I believe the Israel Museum in Jerusalem has all exhibits explained in hebrew, english and arabic.<BR>Any opinions on this?<BR>

i thought that there was already something there that described the things in english if you wanted to purchase something. am i wrong?

I wonder if the French are just as perturbed when they visit the Met and find everything in English. <BR><BR>

Good point, Chris.

I just returned from Paris last week. When I was at the Louvre I seem to remember that in some of the rooms there were bins as you walked in the doorway that had hard plastic cards in different languages. The cards described the items in the rooms. I especially seem to remember them in the area that had the Napoleon collection. Most of the museum staff spoke english too but I didn't find them as friendly or interested as could be hoped for. Guess they had burnout. There are guidebooks that you can purchase in english. I didn't check to see if they had audio tours. On the Louvre website it mentions guided tours in english for an additional fee.

You encounter a similar situation in the vast majority of major (and minor) museums throughout the world.<BR>A minimal investment in the rental of the audio tour at the Louvre (and other museums) would go a long way towards resolving the dilemma!<BR>

If it bothers you, pay a little for the English audio guide as others have suggested, geez, I often pay for those even though I read French because I find them very informative. I don't recall the cards, but that is common in many French museums, so sounds right. I don't think I've ever seen a museum in the US with more than English on the posted information. What I found rather bizarre was in some museum in Quebec City (Museum of Man, I believe) they only had the curating in French even though it's a bilingual country.

The purpose of having signs in English is not just to accommodate Americans and British tourists. English signs would also be helpful to travelers who are Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Russian, German, and other foreign tourists who cannot speak French. <BR><BR>English is now the universal language of the business world. Most people in the world who learn a second language learn English. In the course of my travels I have met many foreign tourists who used English as their "traveling" language, for example, Germans speaking English to communicate in Spain, Italians speaking English to communicate in France, etc. <BR><BR>It is too bad the French interpret English signs as being "pro-American", when such signs would really be "pro-world". Signs in English would make the Louvre's art more accessible to all nationalities.

As I said in my original post, I am familiar with the arguments against the use of another language..."geez"!<BR>Audio tours are nice, but assuming one doesnt have the desire to deal with them, it would be nice to walk up to a particular work of art and quickly peruse some information; without listening to an authoritative voice from on high explain details that are of no interest to you. <BR>

linguist and Joyce. If you can't cope with French labels (who'd of though of that - using French in France) stay in the States and go to your local minor league art gallery where everything will be in English.<BR><BR>Stay in your little comfort zone

&lt;&lt;English is now the universal language of the business world.&gt;&gt;<BR><BR>So that's it? Game over? Latin was once the universal business language of the world (if there was such a thing - - perhaps academic would be more apropos). I'm not sure what moved into first place after Latin was dethroned.<BR><BR>Is the horse in second place supposed to roll over and play dead? The French are as entitled as any language community to want to position themselves to be the successor to English.<BR><BR>And there will be a successor, even if it takes a few thousand years.<BR><BR>Global communications will change language for sure. But I believe that there will still be jockeying among many languages long after my lifetime.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR><BR>

Dear X<BR>Thanks for being truly obnoxious...your appellation fits you....<BR>PS I did enjoy the Louvre...just throwing out a suggestion; thanks for being so broad minded....

From ChristineLavin.com<BR><BR>and yes, the mis-splled French numbers are how Chrissy has them spelled there...<BR><BR>Two Americans In Paris (Twenty Minutes In The Louvre) <BR>&copy;1997 Christine Lavin<BR><BR>Dashing up the stairs <BR>following the signs <BR>I don't speak the language <BR>you lead <BR>but I'm not far behind <BR>The car is downstairs on the street <BR>in twenty minutes <BR>we must meet the driver <BR>to take us to the airport <BR>fly home<BR><BR>But you said <BR>"You must see the Mona Lisa <BR>before we leave this place"<BR>running breathless through the Louvre <BR>foolish Americans race<BR><BR>Down another hall <BR>up more marble steps <BR>I say "let's go right" <BR>I'm wrong<BR>we go left <BR>another lengthy corridor <BR>another flight of stairs <BR>we know she's here <BR>we're just not sure where<BR><BR>You say <BR>"You must see the Mona Lisa <BR>you must see her face" <BR>running breathless through the Louvre <BR>an impossible race<BR><BR>We run the length of <BR>one more cavernous hall <BR>a knot of people has gathered <BR>round a certain painting <BR>on that wall <BR>you push me toward the front <BR>of the reverent crowd <BR>yes it's her, I know that smile <BR>can we leave now?<BR><BR>But you whisper <BR>"Look the Mona Lisa <BR>look at that face" <BR>but I'm thinking<BR>of the waiting cab <BR>and flying back home to the States<BR><BR>You hold me by the arm <BR>say "count to twenty-five <BR>don't miss this opportunity <BR>it makes me feel alive" <BR>but I'm looking at my watch <BR>I'm telling you we must go <BR>but you can't release your grip <BR>you shake your head "No"<BR><BR>"Look at the Mona Lisa <BR>stare at that face <BR>I will do the counting for you<BR>just stand here in place"<BR><BR><BR>un <BR>deux trois <BR>quartre cinq six sept <BR>huite neuf dix onze douze treize<BR>quartorze quinze seize dixsept dixhuite dixneuf vingt <BR>vingt-de-un vingt-deux vingt-trois vingt-quartre vingt-cinq<BR><BR><BR>I saw the Mona Lisa <BR>gazed upon her face <BR>running breathless through the Louvre <BR>two Americans race<BR><BR>

To xxx:<BR><BR>You are very narrow-minded. This is not a question of "comfort zone". It is an issue of tolerance for other cultures, and an understanding that art belongs to all humanity, not just to the country in which the art happens to be housed.<BR><BR>Most of the Louvre's art was created by artists who are NOT French: The art there was created by Italians, Germans, Egyptians, etc. It would be nice if the Louvre would do more to make it easier for other nationalities to understand art that comes from their own countries.<BR><BR>I never said English is better than other languages. I was just stating a fact: When most of the world learns a second language, English is what they learn. Many museums in Europe recognize this fact, and have signs in English.

Of course the original post has a valid point. English IS the international language of business, ALL flight controllers use English except one (guess who?) and yes, it would be a common courtesy to print in several languages, English in particular.<BR><BR>Francophiles cannot accept ANY thing that hints of criticism of their idealized version of France in general or of Paris in particular. French people I’ve spoken with decry American’s lack of knowledge about their country, but when I went to Chartres to learn I found that unless I was fluent in French I was spinning my wheels. EVERYTHING available in the church, except for a small, 2-sided brochure, was in French only. The French are, in fact, so anal about the risk of losing their language that they generally do not even print warning labels or escape instructions on trains/hotel rooms/etc. in anything but French.<BR><BR>At the Louvre we noticed that they’d “run out” of American brochures about 10 in the morning. The next day the supply was restocked, indicating to me that, on the previous day, simply no one on staff could be bothered with supplying information to the Americans, the English, and anyone else who might want to read (and learn) about the museum’s contents, unless, of course, they read in French.<BR><BR>Make all the excuses for this behavior that you want, it is still a shame and if indeed they want to “share their culture” and to educate us lowly non-French, they’d best learn the ways of the world. The lifeblood of Paris is tourism. Wake up and smell the cafe`. <BR>

If Paris is an International city, they should be happy to cater to the tourists and travelers who spend billions each year year to come and gawk.<BR><BR>I've noticed many other world-class museuems and attractions in London, New York, Berlin, Tornonto etc. that are secure enough in their own culture to extend a common courtesty to international travelers by printing a great deal of information in various languages. The French are paranoid.

&lt;&lt;If Paris is an International city&gt;&gt;<BR><BR>Maybe Paris has no interest in being nominated to be an international city. Maybe they are quite happpy to be a French city that people from all over the world want to come visit because it is the embodiment of French-speaking culture.

Actually it has been my experience that most Paris museums, gov't supported as well as private,, make a quite satisfactory effort to accommodate other languages, especially English.<BR>I have seen the hard plastic card/captions in bins that Anita mentioned, and then of course there are the audio guides, as well as guided tours with English-speaking guides. Additionally, the museum bookstores carry many art books and guides in English. <BR><BR>On the other hand, when I was in Florence for the first time a couple of years ago we noticed that at the Uffizi, for one example, had no cards or captions or signs in English. There was an English audio guide; I don't know if English-speaking guided tours were offered. The bookstore had, at that time, very little available in English. I see that merely as either a missed marketing opportunity, or just a desire to stay very Italian (French, whichever) rather than international, rather than taking it as a personal insult or as ingratitude for my tourist dollar.<BR><BR>If I wanted everything to be more like home, or even more accommodating to English than they are, I wouldn't be going in the first place.