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• How to Say Homework in French: A Comprehensive Guide

Whether you’re a student studying French or simply curious about expanding your vocabulary, knowing how to say “homework” in French is essential. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore both formal and informal ways to refer to homework in French, while also providing useful tips, examples, and even regional variations when necessary.

Table of Contents

1. Formal Ways to Say Homework in French

Let’s start by looking at formal ways to express the concept of homework in French:

The most common and formal word for “homework” in French is “devoirs.” This term is used both in educational settings and in everyday conversation. It is important to note that “devoirs” can, depending on the context, also refer to assignments or duties.

Example: J’ai beaucoup de devoirs à faire ce soir. (I have a lot of homework to do tonight.)

b) Travaux (scolaires)

Another formal expression for “homework” is “travaux (scolaires).” This term primarily refers to academic work, including homework, assignments, or even projects.

Example: Je dois finir mes travaux scolaires avant demain. (I have to finish my homework before tomorrow.)

2. Informal Ways to Say Homework in French

Now, let’s explore some informal or colloquial ways to talk about homework in French:

“Boulot,” though originally meaning “work” in a general sense, is commonly used among younger people to refer to homework or school assignments.

Example: J’ai encore du boulot à faire pour demain. (I still have homework to do for tomorrow.)

“Taf” is a slang term for “work” that can also be used to convey the idea of homework. It is particularly prevalent in casual conversations among friends or classmates.

Example: Je dois me mettre au taf ce soir. (I need to start my homework this evening.)

3. Regional Variations

While the words mentioned above are commonly used throughout French-speaking regions, it’s worth noting that there might be slight variations depending on the specific regional nuances. For instance:

a) Quebec French

In Quebec, you might come across the term “devoir” instead of “devoirs” to refer to homework.

b) Belgian French

In Belgium, the word “devoirs” is also used for homework. However, the term “exercices” is occasionally employed to specifically refer to exercise-based tasks.

4. Additional Tips for Talking about Homework in French

Here are a few extra tips to help you express your thoughts on homework more effectively:

• Vary Your Vocabulary: While “devoirs” and the informal alternatives are widely used, it’s always good to expand your vocabulary and experiment with different expressions.
• Use Verbs Appropriately: When communicating about homework, make sure to use verbs like “faire” (to do), “terminer” (to finish), or “commencer” (to start) to convey the necessary actions.
• Consider Context: Depending on the context, you may need to provide additional information to clarify what type of homework or schoolwork you are referring to.
• Practice Pronunciation: Ensure you practice the correct pronunciation of the words you learn, as accurate pronunciation adds clarity to your conversations.

Learning how to express “homework” in French equips you not only with essential vocabulary but also with a deeper understanding of the language and its nuances. Remember to practice using these words in different contexts to solidify your knowledge.

Mastering vocabulary is a voyage that requires patience, so don’t be discouraged if it takes time to integrate these new words into your French conversations. Enjoy the process, have fun, and most importantly, bonne chance (good luck) with your French homework!

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• How to Say “Do Homework” in French: A Comprehensive Guide
• How to Say “Holiday Homework” in French
• How to Say “Homework Book” in French
• How to Say Homework Diary in French
• How to Say “Math Homework” in French
• How to Say Homework in Another Way
• How to Say Homework in Spanish: Formal and Informal Ways

About The Author

Mark Kieran

Homework in French

Homework in French is devoirs

Example Sentences

• Elle aidait son frère dans ses devoirs . She assisted her brother with his homework . Source
• J'ai fait mes devoirs hier. I did my homework yesterday. Source
• J'ai fini mes devoirs avec difficulté. I finished my homework with difficulty. Source
• Je viens de finir mes devoirs . I have just finished my homework . Source
• Je me suis mis à jour dans tous mes devoirs la nuit dernière. I caught up on all my homework last night. Source
• Je finis mes devoirs . I'm finishing my homework . Source
• Faire ses devoirs est extrêmement ennuyeux. Doing homework is extremely boring. Source
• Je regarde la télé après avoir fini mes devoirs . I watch TV after I finish my homework . Source
• Combien de temps me faudra-t-il pour finir mes devoirs  ? How long will it take me to finish my homework ? Source
• Que cela te plaise ou non, tu dois faire tes devoirs . Whether you like it or not, you have to do your homework . Source
• Je pensais que tu avais des devoirs . I thought you had homework . Source
• Je compte sur son aide pour faire mes devoirs . I intend him to help me with my homework . Source
• As-tu fini tes devoirs  ? You have finished your homework , haven't you? Source
• Je me suis endormi en faisant mes devoirs . I fell asleep while I was doing my homework . Source
• Remets tes devoirs pour demain, je te prie. Please turn in your homework by tomorrow. Source
• Elle a fait ses devoirs en un clin d’œil. She did her homework in a flash. Source
• Il finit ses devoirs avant de se coucher. He finishes his homework before going to bed. Source

Looking for something a bit more visual? Check out our infographic on Homework in French with example sentences and translations.

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FR: I have done my homework

• Thread starter lunettarose
• Start date Feb 15, 2009

lunettarose

• Feb 15, 2009

Salut, tout le monde! I'm sure I'm being very stupid, but I need to ask this quetion: How does one say, "I have done my homework" in French? Is it simply, "J'ai fait mes devoirs"? Or is "J'ai fait mes devoirs" only "I did my homework"? Because in English, "I did" and "I have done" are slightly different concepts. And all similar phrases, too, like "J'ai vu la nouvelle voiture" etc. Is it "I have seen the new car" or "I saw the new car" or both? Merci!  

Senior Member

Bonjour, pour ta première question, on dit toujours "j'ai fait mes devoirs". Je ne vois pas d'autres façons de le dire en français même si en anglais vous le dites de deux manières différentes.  

Merci beaucoup! Votre réponse était très utile. Je comprends bien, maintenant.  

What is "Homework" in French and how to say it?

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Classroom vocabuary and commands

By: Author David Issokson

Posted on Published: September 13, 2012  - Last updated: July 24, 2024

La salle de classe

Whether you’re a student learning how to speak French or a classroom teacher you’ll definitely want to learn some useful classroom commands and expressions. This list includes common phrases and vocabulary words for both teachers and students. 

Phrases for teachers

Homework, assignments.

• Where is your paper? Où est votre papier ?
• Turn in your homework. Rendez vos devoirs.
• Who wants to correct the work? Qui veux corriger le travail ?
• Make the corrections. Faites les corrections.
• Did you finish? Vous avez fini?
• Good job! C’est bien! Bravo !

During the class

• Show me . Montrez-moi .
• Repeat. Répétez !
• Repeat three times. Répétez trois fois .
• Take your book. Prenez votre livre.
• Open your book to page __ . Ouvrez votre livre à la page __.
• Close your books. Fermez vos livres.
• Do you understand? Vous comprenez…?
• What does that mean? Qu’est-ce que ça veut dire?
• Raise your hand. Levez la main.
• Look at the blackboard. Regardez le tableau noir.
• Take a sheet of paper. Prenez une feuille de papier.
• Read __ . Lisez __ .
• Listen and repeat. Écoutez et répétez.
• Write this word. Écrivez ce mot.
• Spell this word, sentence. Épelez ce mot, cette phrase.
• You understand this word, sentence? Vous comprenez ce mot, cette phrase ?
• How do you say _ in French? Comment on dit _ en français ?
• I’ll explain the word. J’explique le mot .
• Speak louder. Parlez plus fort.
• Ask the question. Posez la question.
• Who can reply/answer? Qui peut répondre?
• What’s the right answer? Quelle est la bonne réponse?
• Who can answer? Qui peut répondre?
• Who wants to read aloud? Qui veut lire à voix haute ?
• Do the exercise. Faites l’exercise.
• Work alone. Travaillez seul.
• Work with a partner, in pairs. Travaillez deux par deux.
• Work in small groups. Travaillez en petits groupes.
• Sit down! Asseyez-vous !
• Who’s absent (not in class)? Qui est absent ?
• Pay attention! Faites attention !
• Leave the room! Sortez de la salle !
• Silence! Silence !
• Stand up! On your feet! Levez-vous ! Debout !
• Shut up at the back of the class! Taisez-vous au fond de la classe !

Phrases for students

Relating to homework.

• Here’s my homework. Voici mes devoirs.
• I forgot my homework. J’ai oublié mes devoirs.
• I haven’t done my homework. Je n’ai pas fait mes devoirs.
• My dog ate my homework. Mon chien a mangé mes devoirs.

During class

• What page? Quelle page
• Where’s my textbook. Où est mon manuel scolaire.
• I lost my notebook. J’ai perdu mon cahier.
• I don’t have a book, a pen. Je n’ai pas de livre, de stylo
• How do you write this word? Comment écrit-on ce mot ?
• How do you say _ in French? Comment dit-on _ en français?
• I’m having a hard time ___ . J’ai du mal à ___.
• Can you teach ? Pouvez-vous enseigner ?
• I already learned this word. J’ai déjà appris ce mot.
• What does that mean? Qu’est-ce que ça veut dire ?
• I don’t understand. Je ne comprends pas.
• I understand. Je comprends.
• How do you pronounce this word? Comment prononce-t-on ce mot?
• Could you repeat, please? Vous pouvez répéter, s’il vous plaît ?
• You’re speaking to fast. Vous parlez trop vite.
• Speak slower. Parlez moins vite.

Related lessons

• Vocabulary for the school
• Names of school subjects

French vocabulary | Lessons by David Issokson

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David Issokson

David Issokson is a lifelong language learner and speaks over seven languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private lessons. When not teaching or writing his French Word of the Day lessons, David enjoys his time skiing, hiking and mountain biking in Victor, Idaho.

See all posts by David Issokson

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▾ Dictionary English-French

Homework noun —, devoir m (often used), devoirs pl m (often used), homework club n —, homework help n —, homework support n —, homework book n —, homework supervision n —, ▸ wikipedia, ▾ external sources (not reviewed).

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How do you say 'I did my holiday homework' in French?

J'ai fait mes devoirs de vacances, j'ai fait les devoirs que j'avais pour les vacances.

Add your answer:

How do you say Have a wonderful holiday in French?

You can use the expression, "Bonne vacances!" in French, which literally means, "Good holiday," but would translate out to, "Have a good holiday!"

How do you say turn in homework in French?

To turn in one's homework is "rendre ses devoirs" in French.

How do you say 26 in french?

how do you say 26 in french t for my homework vingt-six

How do you say we have too much homework in french?

Nous avons trop devoirs en français

How do you say in French Here is my homework?

English: Homework French: Les devoirs

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Who is Yusuf Dikec, the Turkish shooter who went viral at the 2024 Olympics?

Turkey’s Savval Ilayda Tarhan, left, and Yususf Dikec compete in the 10m air pistol mixed team gold medal event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Chateauroux, France. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Turkey’s Savval Ilayda Tarhan, left, and Yususf Dikec pose for a photograph after winning the silver medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Chateauroux, France. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Turkey’s Sevval Ilayda Tarhan, left, and teammate Yusuf Dikec prepare to compete in the 10m air pistol mixed team qualification round at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Chateauroux, France. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

L to R on the podium, Turkey’s Savval Ilayda Tarhan and Yususf Dikec, Serbia’s Zorana Arunovic and Damir Mikec, and India’s Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh pose for a photograph after the medal ceremony of the 10m air pistol mixed team event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Chateauroux, France. Serbia won the gold medal, while Turkey and India won the silver and the bronze respectively. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

R to L, India’s Sarabjot Singh uses his phone to take a selfie with teammate Manu Bhaker, Serbia’s Damir Mikec and Zorana Arunovic, and Turkey’s Yususf Dikec and Savval Ilayda Tarhan after the medal ceremony of the 10m air pistol mixed team event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Chateauroux, France. Serbia won the gold medal, while Turkey and India won the silver and the bronze respectively. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

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CHATEAUROUX, France (AP) — Turkish pistol shooter Yusuf Dikec has gone viral on social media for his seemingly casual attitude while shooting his way to a silver medal at the 2024 Olympics.

The most-shared images show Dikec shooting in a T-shirt with one hand in his pocket, a seemingly standard pair of glasses and an impassive look on his face. He’s been likened to a regular guy competing at the Olympics, or even a hitman.

The 51-year-old is no newcomer, though. He’s competed at every Summer Olympics since 2008.

Some memes contrast Dikec with his Serbian opponent Damir Mikec, who was wearing a blinder over one eye, a lens over the other and a large pair of ear defenders.

Did Dikec win a medal?

He did, and it made history.

Dikec and Sevval Ilayda Tarhan won the silver medal in mixed team 10-meter air pistol shooting Tuesday. It was Turkey’s first-ever medal in Olympic shooting.

Mikec and Zorana Arunovic won gold for Serbia. The bronze went to India’s Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh.

Unlike Dikec, his teammate Tarhan was competing with large ear defenders and a visor, as well as braids in the red and white colors of the Turkish flag. She was shooting with one hand in her pocket, too.

Dikec was 13th in his individual event and is now done at the Paris Olympics. He’s looking ahead to the next Games in 2028, though. “I hope next in Los Angeles (for) a gold medal,” he said Tuesday.

What does he think about going viral?

Dikec seems to be embracing the trend, reposting a video compilation of Turkish-language memes about him to his Instagram page.

The shooting events were held around three hours’ drive south of Paris. Dikec and Tarhan made the journey to the French capital Wednesday, where they were greeted with cheers at the Champions Park , an open-air venue where medalists celebrate with fans.

Why didn’t Dikec wear more gear?

Shooters have some freedom about how they dress for competition.

Catch up on the latest from Day 12 of the 2024 Paris Olympics:

• Boxing: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting advances to gold-medal Olympic bout, excelling amid misconceptions about her gender.
• Basketball: A’ja Wilson and the US women’s basketball team beat Germany to move closer to their record eighth-consecutive Olympic gold medal.
• Track and field: American Quincy Hall made an epic comeback from fourth place to win gold in the 400m race.
• Artistic swimming: US wins first Olympic artistic swimming medal in 20 years as China takes gold.
• Keep up : Follow along with our Olympics medal tracker and list of winners. Check out the Olympic schedule of events.

Many shooters at the Olympic range in Chateauroux, central France, choose to wear visors to reduce the glare of the lights or so-called blinders over one eye to get a better focus for the eye which is looking down the sights.

It’s not quite true that Dikec wasn’t wearing any shooting gear. He had yellow earplugs to block out distractions while he shot in the final. They just weren’t visible from the angle of the image which went viral.

Just like Dikec, Chinese rifle shooter Liu Yukun won a gold medal Thursday wearing earplugs but no blinder or visor.

Have other shooters gone viral at the 2024 Olympics?

Yes, South Korean pistol shooter Kim Yeji’s confident demeanor and dramatic stance have brought praise on social media for her “main character energy”.

“The Olympic #shootingsport stars we didn’t know we needed,” the official Olympics account on X posted Thursday with pictures of Kim and Dikec.

Kim won silver in the women’s 10-meter air pistol event Sunday behind her South Korean teammate Oh Ye Jin. Kim and Oh are roommates and Kim said she was pleased Oh got the gold because she sees her like a “youngest sibling”.

OLYMPIC PHOTOS : See AP’s top photos from the 2024 Paris games

Kim is set to compete again Friday in qualification for the women’s 25-meter pistol event.

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

A UC Berkeley linguist explores what Kamala Harris’s voice and speech reveal about her identity

"When we talk about Kamala Harris as a modern candidate, she is in some ways embodying all of the ways the country has moved on from the idea that you can only be one thing at once."

By Jason Pohl

Lawrence Cooper/Sipa USA via AP

August 6, 2024

Every now and then, a scholar’s niche expertise lines up with a cultural or political moment and finds an audience hungry for the details. Nicole Holliday is having one of those moments. 

Holliday is an acting associate professor of linguistics at UC Berkeley who studies what politicians say, how they speak and what their speech reveals about their identity. Perhaps more than any other scholar, Holliday has spent years examining the speaking style of a politician who is also having a moment: Kamala Harris.

What does Harris’s enunciation of vowels say about her California roots? How do a few choice words on the debate stage speak to her background as a Black woman? And how does that all change when she’s working a crowd in Georgia or delivering a policy statement in Washington? 

“I’m really interested in what happens with the voice, with the body, to inhabit these different parts of a person’s style,” said Holliday, who has also researched Barack Obama’s speaking style. “Politicians are the best people to study this on because you know what their motivations are — they’re all trying to get elected, or they’re trying to get money, or they’re trying to get voters.”

Journalists and the general public have become increasingly interested in Holliday’s work ever since President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid and Harris soared to the top of the ticket as the Democratic presidential nominee. Holliday’s TikTok videos describing the science of Harris’s tone, style and word choice have gone viral, as have her explanations on why linguistically it’s problematic when people intentionally mispronounce her name. (It’s “comma-la.”) 

Individuals shifting how they speak based on their goals isn’t reserved for politicians, and it shouldn’t be viewed as inauthentic, Holliday said. Regular people vary their tone and word choice from their workplaces to their homes. Those variations fascinate Holliday.

“Most of the stuff that I’m talking about happens way below the level of consciousness,” Holliday said, “It would be really hard to control, even if you were trying.”

Berkeley News asked her what her research on Harris says about Harris’s culture and identity, why it matters that some people — including Donald Trump — continue to mispronounce her name, and what language can teach us about the current political moment. 

Berkeley News : Can you give me the 30,000-foot assessment of what your research has found especially interesting or special about the way Kamala Harris speaks? 

Nicole Holliday: She has a really unique style that reflects her biography. She sounds like an African American woman. She sounds like she’s from Northern California. She sounds like a charismatic political figure. But these are different identities that one person would have to inhabit all at once, and they’re traditionally seen as in conflict.

Our stereotype of a persuasive politician is not a Black and Indian woman. If you ask somebody to draw a picture of an American politician, they’re not drawing Kamala Harris. So she’s got to be a politician and, at the same time, sound like herself: a woman and Black and Indian American. And rep her hometown because she is a hometown girl, which can be a little bit of a liability for her now on a national stage because of the way that California is painted. 

But damn, she is so California.

Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons

Say more. As a linguist, what do you hear in her speech that signals her California roots? 

When people describe the features that are geographically unique to California in the linguistic literature, they focus on a few things. There is this thing called the California vowel shift , where the back vowels move forward, and this is something that we see Harris do. 

@mixedlinguist VP Harris is sociolinguistally awesome, and fortunately I already wrote a paper about that! #linguisttok My website with all my research: https://nicolerholliday.wordpress.com ♬ original sound – Nicole Holliday

She doesn’t say “cool.” She says “kewl.” She doesn’t say goat. She says “gewt,” with the tongue far forward in the mouth. This is also a change that’s been in progress across America, so a lot of young people, even in the Midwest, will pronounce their back vowels far forward like this. But it started in California. It would be very strange if she had those vowels and she was her age and she was from New York. This is not something that they do over there. 

Another example: She has this interesting thing going on with what we call the low back vowels. Her low back vowels are distinct, which is not the case for most Californians, but they’re both kind of shifted up.

What that means is that words that are like “cot” and “caught,” those for me, a person from Ohio, are the same. But for her, they’re slightly distinct, but higher than we would expect. That’s a really interesting interplay, because I think that has to do with her being a Black woman from California. 

If she were a white woman, or if she were a Black man, we might not see this exact pattern.

You also say she’s embodying what’s called African American English. What do you mean?

I looked at her debate speech from when she was running as a primary candidate for the 2020 nomination. And when she talks about things that have to do with her biography, specifically about race or about immigration — these things that she can speak on from personal experience —  she uses a set of tones that is more what we would characterize as an African American charismatic style. So she kinda sounds more like Obama. 

When she talks about things like the economy or gun control or the climate, she uses a more typical, average white politician style, in terms of her tone. It is very interesting. And in this situation, it’s not a function of talking to different audiences, because she’s just in the same debate. It’s really what she’s talking about.

Lastly, she has this very occasional strategic use of casual features that are, for white Americans, just seen as really casual, but can also be what we call “camouflaged features of African American English.” This is my favorite thing. African American English is stigmatized. People call it “bad English.” They say it’s “improper.” All of this kind of stuff. But as a result, middle class and upper middle class Black people have found a way to kind of index their Blackness — highlight this part of their identities — without getting chastised for using “bad grammar.” 

And she does this even in the super formal debate speech.

She uses “gotta” and “gonna” in these particular ways. And of course, yes, white people say “gotta” and “gonna.” Everybody in America says “gotta” and “gonna.” But in a debate context, that is a little bit surprising, given how formal the rest of her style is. 

Is there an example of her doing this that comes to mind?

My favorite quote from her is from Oct. 15th, 2019, in the fourth primary debate. She said, “This is a crisis of Donald Trump’s making, and it is on a long list of crises of Donald Trump’s making. And that’s why dude gotta go.” 

When she has these strong zingers, particularly against Trump, they tend to go viral. Nicole Holliday, UC Berkeley

“Dude. Gotta. Go.” Not “Dude’s gotta go.” No. For a while, her primary campaign was selling T-shirts that said, “Dude gotta go.” It became a catchphrase. When I say that she’s doing this as part of a stylistic performance, that’s what I mean. Maybe it wasn’t premeditated. She didn’t think about it ahead of time. But that became a zinger, a one-liner. And when she has these strong zingers, particularly against Trump, they tend to go viral.

The last one is with “I’ma,” which is actually the most distinctively African American of these features. She says, “Cause I’ma tell you as a prosecutor” and “I’ma tell you what I saw.” 

We hear her do it now, too, once in a while. This is her being able to be like, “Look, look, look. I have these fancy degrees and I’m a prosecutor. And yes, I’m the vice president of the United States. But don’t forget that I’m from Oakland, and I’m Black.”

How much of this is conscious? And how much of this is just the deeply ingrained way we speak that’s been honed from decades of talking? 

@mixedlinguist Is Kamala Harris code-switching? What do we even mean by that? #linguistTok #kamala My website: https://nicolerholliday.wordpress.com ♬ original sound – Nicole Holliday

Political figures have debate coaches, speech coaches, things like that. But my sense is that the stuff that she’s doing in this case would be really hard to control. Maybe you can make a little argument about the “I’ma” and the “gotta.”

But the vowels? I’m a professional linguist, and if someone was like, “Make your vowels more California,” I don’t think I could do that. Especially not when I’m trying to, like, deliver a policy position. The cognitive load is too high. 

That holds even more for what I’m saying about the stuff that she does with her tone. It’s not really possible to do this at the level of consciousness. We choose our words, for sure, but even those in a debate kind of context are a little bit difficult. Those are the things you prep. 

But your speech coach is never gonna be like, “All right, so you need to raise the pitch by exactly 50Hz on the first syllable of prosecutor.” It doesn’t happen. It may be that she has a style in mind, but controlling the specific features that are attached to it is not really possible, 

I could see some people with a cynical reading of all of this being like, “Nothing is real, everything is prepared, they’re all politicians, and they’re all trying to manipulate us.” It sounds like you’re saying, “Yeah, maybe.” But also that it’s unlikely because of the more technical parts of speech that linguists spend their careers studying.

I would actually maybe turn that on its head and say, “Yeah, that’s every human.” We notice them doing it because we know that they’re selling something to us.

And this isn’t just her. This is Trump. This is J.D. Vance. This is Pete Buttigieg. It’s everybody who has that job, because selling the brand is part of the job. That’s how they keep their jobs.

Do you think that highlighting your New York-ness if you call the New York DMV is going to get you further than if you sound like you’re from California? Sure it is. And nobody had to tell you that. It’s not a conscious process. But arguably, we all do it. 

It’s just that with the politicians, because we know what they want, it’s clearer that they’re doing it. And the line between a politician doing something as a cynical ploy and doing something that really is part of their biography that I actually connect with as a voter is very fine.

As a linguist, what do you make of the deliberate mispronunciations of “Kamala” that have continued, despite her being a prominent national politician for many years now?

The right way to say anyone’s name — anyone’s name — is how they tell you to say their name. Period. That’s the first point. 

@mixedlinguist What’s up with the differences in how people say “Kamala”? Her name has become a shibboleth that tells us about the speaker’s alignment! #linguistTok #kamala ♬ original sound – Nicole Holliday

I know a guy named Christopher. People call him Chris. He doesn’t want to go by Chris. It’s disrespectful. The third time that he tells you, “My name is not Chris,” and you keep doing it, unless you have some kind of really good excuse, it’s disrespectful. 

For years, Kamala Harris has been putting out videos saying, “My name is Kamala,” and the stress is on the first syllable.

Yes, there are many reasons that regular people can get it wrong in conversation, especially if you’re a person that hasn’t heard her name very much, you’ve only read it. Some people have trouble hearing stress differences. If English isn’t your first language, that might be interfering with your ability to hear the way that she’s pronouncing her name with the stress. I’m not at all saying that your pronunciation of her name as an everyday person is an indication of your politics. I’m not making that claim.  

What I am saying is, if you’re the former president of the United States, or a U.S. Senator, or a media personality with extensive training who’s had to say her name thousands of times in your life and you’ve never bothered to try to say it the way that she says it, that’s on purpose.

You’ve also studied Maya Rudolph’s portrayal of Kamala Harris on Saturday Night Live. What makes that parody so good?

My first published Kamala Harris paper was about Maya Rudolph. She takes literally the exact phrases and the tone of those phrases that Kamala Harris uses, and then she dials them up to 11. I’m sure that Maya Rudolph doesn’t actually know how to do this the way that I would coach her as a linguist. She’s not looking at the waveform and the pitch up and down and being like, “All right, well, I need to raise myself by 50Hz here.” We don’t do that. But it’s like she really hears what Kamala Harris is doing. She internalizes it. And then when she goes to put on the Kamala Harris costume, it’s like a caricature. 

This is why parody is funny. Everybody that plays a politician on SNL does this to varying levels of effectiveness. But I would argue that Maya Rudolph is just a really skilled comedian anyway. I’m so glad that they just announced that she’s going to play Kamala Harris for the next year. I was really worried that we wouldn’t get more Maya Rudolph. 

But now I have to write another paper.

There are going to be a lot of speeches in the months ahead. There are going to be a lot of campaign stops. What’s next on your list of things to study?

What I didn’t have in the earlier analysis was her in different situations. Now, I hear her being different in Atlanta than in Philadelphia than in Los Angeles. And I want to know: Where is the California-ness? Where is the Black woman-ness? Where is the politician? I think she’s doing all of these things all the time. But I’m also interested in how people respond to her.  

What’s your sense of that response, so far? 

Speaker Mike Johnson said to members of Congress that they should not leverage racist and sexist attacks against her, that it would not help their cause. And they cannot seem to stop doing it.  

I’m interested in how she responds… She’s got a really fine line to walk.  Nicole Holliday, UC Berkeley

So if she gets portrayed as inauthentic by her opponents, I’m interested in how she responds. Does she shift something about her language in that response, or does she not? Maybe she shouldn’t. Maybe the way is to just let this roll off. I’m not a political consultant. But I do think she’s got a really fine line to walk. 

And there’s something really challenging for her, too. With Barack Obama, he did get the criticism that he wasn’t really Black. But in his case, the only other option was that he was white, and that didn’t work. His opponents were not going to go around saying he was white.

For her, because she has all of these identities at the same time — she is Indian American, she is Black American, she’s Jamaican American — there can be a little bit of a whack-a-mole where everyone will always accuse her of not being X enough.

This is disconcerting because it comes from a cultural and linguistic assumption that people can only ever be one thing. But that’s not the world we live in. So when we talk about Kamala Harris as a modern candidate, she is in some ways — with her biography, her ethnicity, her gender — embodying all of the ways the country has moved on from the idea that you can only be one thing at once. 

So I’m very interested to see how she manages to stay true to herself to respond to those never-ending critiques, and what she does with different audiences. 

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An Olympics Scene Draws Scorn. Did It Really Parody ‘The Last Supper’?

Some church leaders and politicians have condemned the performance from the opening ceremony for mocking Christianity. Art historians are divided.

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By Yan Zhuang

A performance during the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony on Friday has drawn criticism from church leaders and conservative politicians for a perceived likeness to Leonardo da Vinci’s depiction of a biblical scene in “The Last Supper,” with some calling it a “mockery” of Christianity.

The event’s planners and organizers have denied that the sequence was inspired by “The Last Supper,” or that it intended to mock or offend.

In the performance broadcast during the ceremony, a woman wearing a silver, halo-like headdress stood at the center of a long table, with drag queens posing on either side of her. Later, at the same table, a giant cloche lifted, revealing a man, nearly naked and painted blue, on a dinner plate surrounded by fruit. He broke into a song as, behind him, the drag queens danced.

The tableaux drew condemnation among people who saw the images as a parody of “The Last Supper,” the New Testament scene depicted in da Vinci’s painting by the same name. The French Bishops’ Conference, which represents the country’s Catholic bishops, said in a statement that the opening ceremony included “scenes of mockery and derision of Christianity,” and an influential American Catholic, Bishop Robert Barron of Minnesota, called it a “gross mockery.”

The performance at the opening ceremony, which took place on and along the Seine on Friday, also prompted a Mississippi-based telecommunications provider, C Spire, to announce that it would pull its advertisements from Olympics broadcasts. Speaker Mike Johnson described the scene as “shocking and insulting to Christian people.”

The opening ceremony’s artistic director, Thomas Jolly, said at the Games’ daily news conference on Saturday that the event was not meant to “be subversive, or shock people, or mock people.” On Sunday, Anne Descamps, the Paris 2024 spokeswoman, said at the daily news conference, “If people have taken any offense, we are, of course, really, really sorry.”

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