When people make claims that lexical differences between languages should be interpreted as cultural differences, a healthy dose of skepticism is usually in order. So when I saw an article on BBC.com titled “Why the French Don’t Show Excitement,” based on the untranslatability of the English word excited, I wasn’t sure if there’d be much I’d agree with. But actually the writer makes a number of good points. The article also got me thinking about what kinds of significance we should attribute to differences in vocabulary.
Excited Versus Excité
One of the writer’s main points is about the lack of a direct translation for the English adjective excited. When I was teaching French, I often had to correct students who wanted to use its cognate, excité(e), in French, as this word has a purely sexual meaning. A similar English expression, “I can’t wait,” also cannot be translated word for word into French. Je ne peux pas attendre would mean that something was actually preventing you from waiting (as in, “I’m in a hurry, I can’t wait”).
But this fact by itself does not indicate any lack of excitement on the part of the French. It just means that eagerness or excitement will be expressed with different French words. Translators and interpreters deal on a daily basis with the fact that the same emotions will be expressed differently in a foreign language. It’s not an issue of not being able to say something but of having to say it differently. To express excitement, a French person might say J’ai très envie or Cela me fera très plaisir. Are these expressions less enthusiastic? That’s probably in the eye of the beholder. And the level of enthusiasm conveyed will depend a lot on the body language and facial expressions involved.
A Lack of Excitement in France?
Yet the writer does seem to have put her finger on a difference between the French and American characters. She quotes her husband, who is French, saying, “If you’re too happy in French, we’re kind of wondering what’s wrong with you. But in English, that’s not true.” The article explores a certain reserve — or at times even a negativity — in the French character. Flipping the situation on its head, a bilingual American living in France sees the American attitude as flawed. He thinks the American public has been trained “to have a fake, almost cartoonish view on life, in which superficial excitement and false happiness are the norm.” So maybe Americans are just overusing the word “excited.”
To sum up, the lack of a one-to-one translation for the adjective “excited” in French can stimulate reflection on cultural differences. But on its own it would not be sufficient to demonstrate these differences. The difference between excited and excité is nothing to get too excited over.