Like it says. I’m going in June, and need to explain to folks why I am falling asleep in my fromage blanc while simultaneously trying to compute the bill in francs vs. dollars. While I’m at it, is there a trick to getting over jet lag? Haven’t found one yet.
I’m not sure if the French language has an adjective for “jet lagged”, but I suppose you can get your meaning across by saying: Je suis fatigué par le décalage horaire. In other words: “I’m tired from the time shift.” Does anyone who speaks French care to elaborate?
Here is some advice on avoiding jet lag. I haven’t tried it myself so I can’t vouch for it.
-JB
I didn’t check out the link posted above, but the thing I know to do is get as much sunlight as possible after you land (if you land in the middle of the night then it should be the next day). I have read that this somehow “adjusts” your internal clock somewhat, so it knows what is daytime and what is nighttime.
You almost had it, June; according to my Larousse unabridged, you say “Je suis sous le coup du décalage horaire” to say “I’m jet-lagged.” The actual noun is “la fatigue due au décalage horaire.”
Where are you going to be in France, Pug?
And as to the question about what helps jet lag - I’ve been told by everyone to sleep on the plane. The website cited by JuneBeetle is right when they say that you should set your watches to your new location’s time on the plane and act like you’re already there.
Merci for the advice and translations, Junebeetle and Quadzilla. I’m going in June. We are renting a villa attached to a winemaker’s chateau, about 13 miles west of Beaune in Burgundy. I’ve been trying to learn and practice French on my own, with the aid of the “French In Action” language immersion video series. “Nous allons inventer une histoire de deux jeune gens, pars que c’est utile pour apprendre le Francais . . . .” Hopefully I know enough to get directions to the marche and the TGV garde. Let’s see now: “Je suis sous le coup du decalage horaire . . .” – I am under the cut of the time shift?
Errr… Sleeping on the plane can’t possible always be a good idea, right?
For instance, let us suppose I’m going to China on May (because I am). 14 hour flight + 13 hour time difference means when I get back at 6:30pm the time will be 6:30pm according to the clocks, and 7:30am according to my body.
Any sleep I would get on the plane would be the sleep I would normally get before “7:30”, thus perpetuating my reliance on China, not Indiana, time.
Shouldn’t I stay awake (a virtual impossibility, of course) so that I’m tired when I get back? Then I’ll be off by 4 hours (8-12, when i’m usually tired) instead of 13.
But I’ve never actually done this, so maybe I’m missing something.
–John
Admittedly, my experience is limited, as I’ve only flown overseas twice. However, I find that jet lag is always worse going west than going east. I think it’s because when you’re flying east, the strategy for keeping in sync with local time is to sleep as much as possible during the trip, but when you’re flying west, the strategy is to stay awake as much as possible. Especially if the westward leg comes at the end of your journey, the latter is very, very hard to do.
A friend of mine just took a trip to Japan and confirmed that the jet lag was much worse when he got there than when he came back, which seems to bolster my theory.
I’ve flown Melbourne/LA (the longest leg on the books I think) and Australia/ Europe many times. My advice is simple enough: when you get there don’t go to bed until it gets dark. You’ll still feel a tad tired the next day, but after that you’ll be fine.
Personally, I don’t worry about trying to adjust on the plane: it is too quick, the environment is too foreign, and they’ll be serving you meals that don’t make sense (they serve according to the local time zone). I drink the free booze and have lots of water you get very dehydrated.
picmr
That’s it literally…I don’t pretend to understand French idioms. “Un coup” can also be translated as a blow - like a blow to the head or such. Since you’re going over there for a while, are you taking a small dictionary or phrase book? You’re doing really well for just doing the immersion tape, btw 
Have fun - it sounds like you got an awesome place to stay! (I get to go over for the first time from May 25 - July 5, staying with families in Paris and Cannes.)
Way to go, Quadzilla. For you, three weeks and counting. More than a month over there! You will fall in love with the country, as I did. A good book to read on the flight over is “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” or “A Year in Provence.” We will be staying in Paris in the latin quarter on the night of June 30, and plan to go to “L’Academie de la Bier” in the 5th arrondissement. It is touted as the bar in Paris with the most Belgian beers on tap. Voulez-vouz bier belge pression? On mangeons “moules frites” avec bier belge.
The only hard thing about going to France is coming back . . .
I’m a day late again, but congratulations to both of you (Quadzilla and pugluvr) on making the effort to learn some french! That’s the sure-fired away to make the locals warm up to you. They might even be willing to trot out their high school english, and a good time will be had by all.
Or, in french:
Je suis de nouveau un jour en retard, mais félicitations à vous deux (Quadzilla et pugluvr) de faire l’effort d’apprendre le français! C’est un moyen sûr pour que les indigènes vous apprécient. Ils voudront peut-être même faire prendre l’air à l’anglais qu’ils ont appris au lycée, et tout le monde s’amusera bien.
Hey, A.W., how do you make the fonts have those little accent marks and other doodlies that the French use? Since I’m self-taught, I’m too ignorant to know what to call 'em.
I’m impressed with your French. Did you spend any time over there?
pugluvr: I am originally from the french-speaking part of Switzerland. French is my native language.
For accents: depends on what kind of operating system is running on your computer. I will discuss two common OS’s.
MacOS: in the apple menu, run the “KeyCaps” application. Hold down the option key and you will see the list of characters that are made with the option key (which works similarly to the shift key.) For example, e with an acute accent (é) would be made by pression <option>e e.
Windows OS: in the start menu, look for the application “Character Map”. It’s usually under Accessories I think. In there, you can select accented characters, and do a copy and paste.
Thanks to both pug and Arnold… Pug, another way to do the accents (the way I do mine for all my reports and other typed stuff) is to use the ALT + commands if you’re on an IBM. When you open the character map in Windows, down on the bottom, you’ll see an “ALT +” and a number. Hold the ALT button down, type the number, and release ALT. Voilà! Oh yeah - and on the flight over, I am planning to read the sequel to A Year in Provence - I saw it in the college bookstore, but am waiting to get it without the markup :rolleyes: I think it’s called Encore Provence or something to that effect. Thanks for the recommendations!
Arnold: Thanks for the encouragement. Je me spécialise dans le français et dans l’education secondaire. Je reste avec une famille à Paris et à Cannes cet été, alors j’espère de parler bien! Merci encore.
Thanks, A.W. – I’m going to check out my Windows OS’s ability to help me produce accurate French writing. You may see some weird test posts in the appropriate forum soon. How great to be bilingual! As far as I know, you are tri-, quadri-, or quinti-lingual, being from Switzerland. Be prepared for annoying “how do you say” posts, perhaps.
Quadzilla: Have a wonderful time over there. Be careful: the cheese alone can put on ten pounds in a month. A bientot!