What’s in a word? How about an expression? Since its beginnings, French Words has been one of my favorite Instagram and Twitter accounts to follow and not because I need language assistance. The concept’s creator, Julien Azarian, offers a clever and useful way to build your French vocabulary and master idiomatic expressions that you can weave into conversation (and impress your friends). It’s simple and consistent, something followers can look forward to several times a week. With 500,000 followers on Instagram and 36,000 on Twitter and a growing community on Facebook, Azarian’s reach is wide, a testament to the massive appeal (and perhaps seduction?) of the French language. He kindly agreed to answer a few questions about his project and where it’s headed. Take a look!
What motivated you to start this project? Was there a particular ‘déclic’?
It may surprise you but I had the idea for French Words in…. Sweden! In 2013, I spent 10 days in this wonderful country. Meeting people is one of the most important aspects of travel – they are among my favorite moments when I’m on the road. When I was there, I spent many evenings chatting with Swedes. In conversation with someone who isn’t from the same country as you, standard questions around name, age, hometown certainly come up but so do more unexpected questions like how do you say [insert bad word here] in French? It was this question that inspired French Words. I wanted to find a unique way to speak about the language and about French culture.
How long have you been running French Words?
I created the Instagram in August, 2013 so it’s been a full 3 years! The project has evolved a lot in only a short amount of time but there is still so much more to explore and develop.
What is your background (Surely you must be in a creative field)?
I have worked in social media for eight years and today, I work for a digital agency doing social strategy and execution for a number of large international brands. It’s a lot of work but it’s always interesting. French Words links up nicely with the rest of what I do. I like to call it my « lab » because it’s a project that allows me to test out and play with language. And I love it because it has me connect with a community predominantly composed of Anglophones. English is a beautiful language that I love to speak so it’s been great fun to develop the project!
How do you choose the words you’re going to highlight on a given day?
It’s a mix, really. Often they are words or expressions I overhear and note carefully in my iPhone to use later but sometimes they are suggested to me or appear in the media (whether they are happy topics or not).
What is your favorite French word and why?
My favorite is putain ! I know, it’s not very elegant but I have an excuse: I’m from Marseille and in that part of France, the word is used like punctuation. It’s a word that fits into many contexts and reflects the natural side of French people.
What’s next for French Words?
A lot, I hope! Everything takes a bit of time because my job is so intense and because we want to produce things that we can be proud of and that we know will appeal to people. I said “we” because French Words is now a true team, I’m surrounded by incredibly cool people. Merrit, our adorable illustrator, and Carrie, our American friend and French professor, both of whom I met via Instagram. And I can’t forget Fanette, my best friend, and Claire, my girlfriend. We have two goals: continue to reinforce the strong presence of French Words in the digital space but also veer off social media and create more tangible things.
I can’t wait to see what Julien and his team come out with next! To follow along and learn a word here and there, follow French Words on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Ps. The first visual was created especially for this interview (and nod to cheese!)
