Have you already scrolled down to the bottom of the page to check how long it’s going to take to read this article? Read the conclusion to see what can be skipped? Perhaps the whole thing. With any luck.
We skim read to survive in the modern age. But it’s a skill that’s best unlearnt when acquiring a new language.
Let’s take a concrete example. Take a look at the following article from Le Monde and see what you can make out:
La bijouterie Chaumet braquée à Paris, plus de deux millions d’euros dérobés
Un homme a braqué, mardi 27 juillet, la boutique du joaillier Chaumet, près des Champs-Elysées à Paris, faisant main basse sur un butin évalué entre deux et trois millions d’euros, a-t-on appris de source proche du dossier, confirmant une information du Parisien. « Une enquête de flagrance du chef de vol avec arme » a été ouverte et les investigations ont été confiées à la brigade de répression du banditisme (BRB), a fait savoir à l’AFP le parquet de Paris.
Le braqueur, venu à trottinette, a fait irruption vers 17 heures dans la célèbre joaillerie située rue François-1er, près des Champs-Elysées, avec une arme de poing et s’est fait remettre bijoux et pierres précieuses, sans violence. Il est reparti comme il était venu, en trottinette, a ajouté la même source.
La maison Chaumet est surtout connue dans le monde pour son établissement historique de la place Vendôme qui avait fait l’objet d’un braquage en 2009. Deux malfaiteurs, munis d’un badge d’accès, cagoulés et armés, avaient dérobé des pierres précieuses d’une valeur de 1,9 million d’euros.
The Fast Read
If you know some French, you’ll probably have got the essentials. An armed robber got away with more than €2 million worth of loot from a Parisian jewellery store. He made his getaway on an e-scooter (“une trottinette”). In fast reading mode, that’s probably all we really need to know. Onwards.
The Slow Read
But now let’s analyse the text as a language learner, taking it word by word. Here are just some of the points we might pause to reflect on:
deux millions d’euros – note the d’. Un million, like un milliard, is a noun, so you need de after it if you want to say “a million somethings” (unlike cent euros, or mille euros)
dérobé – vocabulary, “stolen” in this context
près des Champs-Elysées – note that the Champs-Elysées is plural: les Champs-Elysées therefore près des Champs-Elysées
faisant main basse sur – vocabulary (phrasal verb), “taking, getting their hands on”
a-t-on appris de source proche du dossier – note the absence of article in the expression appris de source (learnt from a source)
a fait savoir à l’AFP le parquet de Paris – note the subject (le parquet de Paris) comes after the verb (a fait savoir) following reported speech (unlike in the English: “Paris prosecutors told AFP”)
faire irruption dans la célèbre joaillerie – vocabulary faire irruption dans (phrasal verb), “burst into”
une arme de poing – vocabulary, “handgun”
venu à trottinette – note the elipse. In English we’d have to say “who came by e-scooter”, but here we have venu à trottinette not qui est venu à trottinette
s’est fait remettre – vocabulary (phrasal verb), “made the staff hand over”
bijoux et pierres précieuses – note the absence of articles (it’s not des bijoux et des pierres précieuses, though it could have been, grammatically). The author is writing in the pseudo-telegraphic mode of the police statement.
située rue François-1er – note the absence of either preposition or article when giving a street address after situé(e)
Il est reparti comme il était venu – note the pluperfect: il était venu. French systematically uses the pluperfect for an event that happened earlier in time than the narrative, unlike in English, where we’re happy to use the perfect (“He left the same way he came” or “He left the same way he had come” are both grammatically acceptable in English).
qui avait fait l’objet d’un braquage / avaient dérobé des pierres précieuses – pluperfect. Again French systematically uses the pluperfect for an event that happened earlier in time than the narrative, whereas in English we would use the perfect (“which was robbed” not “which had been robbed”, “stole gemstones” not “had stolen gemstones”).
Not a bad haul for a text of just 188 words!
The Value of Slow Reading
When we start out learning French, we’re happy simply to understand and be understood. We feel our way around by looking for words we recognize and attempting to translate our own thoughts word by word from our native language.
But French is not the translation of English. And it’s at the granular level of observation, that comes from slow reading, that you’ll acquire and absorb the French way of saying things.
Reading, fast and slow
It’s not possible to read slowly all the time. When we are gripped by a narrative plot or the desire to absorb information, our minds skip into fast, skimming mode automatically, and there is no harm in that. But occasional, dedicated slow reading sessions are an excellent way of making progress.
The intermediate and advanced level classes on this site are as a good starting point as any. They have native-speaking audio to accompany them, they’re rich in content and each delivers an important grammatical point to understand.
At slow reading pace, it can easily take an hour or more to absorb each lesson. It doesn’t matter. The benefits of slow-reading are cumulative: the more you do it, the faster you become.
