By Fat Penguin – The SCA Intake of 2016/17

Breaking ice with the French

Notre première rencontre en tant que Gros Penguins était avec les étudiants français de Sup de Pub.

Our first global encounter as Fat Penguins was with French students from Sup de Pub. Here is what we learned from this experience:

Anam: If you can sell your idea to a person whose first language isn’t English, or vice versa, then it’s a solid global idea.

Sophie: Sometimes miscommunication due to language barriers makes an idea even more interesting because you have to describe it in a different way or people understand it in a new light.

Alexandra: I could teach but I probably shouldn’t.

Mary: I actually did French in secondary school, but during this week, I realized how few words I actually know in French… Hint – they’re: yes, hello and snail. Don’t even know why I know snail…

Sam: One of the biggest realisations I got from having the French in was just how weird this school is. I found myself sat there listening to Marc’s talk on Monday trying to watch through the eyes of the Sup de Pubbers. From all the shouting, dancing and random outbreaks of laughter they must have thought they’d stepped into some kind of asylum.

Daisy: Our studio may not feel big enough for 60+ people but…yeah it’s not. But the Frenchies are all great despite that.  

Ludo: It’s really interesting how many words don’t translate from English to French. There has been a few awkward silences…

Kenny: French people are cool, and so are English people. In fact, I’d put forward the idea that you’ll find pretty decent people all over the globe. I reckon this week only reinforced that thought. They were helpful, creative, clever and sometimes hard to understand. So really, not all that different from anyone else I’ve met during my early days in adland.

Kyle: Everything sounds better in a french accent.

Tomo: Although we’re only separated by a tiny stretch of water, the way we see the world is going to be slightly different. The French have grown up with their own culture, language and experiences that mean their perspective on things is different to ours. That diversity really shone through in our group work with them, where we were coming up with ideas from all sorts of different angles.

Augustine: Enseigner est la meilleur façon d’apprendre.

Jesse: it wasn’t so much the French aspect of the French that I learnt from, but the jobs they were going into. It was really interesting getting the viewpoint of strategy and digital on creative projects. Sometimes we can get a bit too caught up in trying to be clever and creative-y.

Beth : It’s interesting – the difference between the British and the French sense of humour. There were sometimes some awkward silences. I guess this is something to be considerate of when creating ads – like Caroline said ‘if you can say it in another language.. Then you probably have a good thought there’.

Christine: Listen to what they have to say – cultures are different and so are ideas. Their insights might be useful? No matter what, learning about a new culture gave me new knowledge. Make ideas understandable and involving for everyone. Ideas based on my own experience alone are not enough.

Krista: French sure do love their bread.

Sasha: I want to learn French – being bilingual is a very valuable skill to have. Having Sup de Pubbers in made me realise how ignorant us English are, at times I was alone in a group of with 5 french students and they still continued to speak English.

Mark: I learned that Mark Twain’s quote about eating frogs works a lot less well when translated into French. Something about culinary habits…

Ashley: They are not english and when you try and speak to them in english they sometimes don’t understand you but that’s ok. Mona is my fav frenchie. The original one.  Mine too

Mona: My English accent is actually not THAT bad.

Malou: Why go to France when you can have the French come to you. Or… Well. I love France but don’t have the money to go. So having this many French people around have been full of insights and new learnings. Just as when you go traveling =)

Lauren: The French didn’t care all that much about winning coins on Monday, hence our category: bread. (I realise how ridiculous this must sound to anyone outside of the Fat Penguin huddle…. ditto that).