L'Échange à Fribourg
The Exchange in Fribourg
A French exchange student and a Swiss-German classmate clash repeatedly over small habits before reaching real mutual understanding.
- cultural exchange
- identity
- bilingualism
Tap an underlined word to see its meaning.
What you'll encounter
- Grammar
- conditionnel (aurait préféré)
- imparfait for habitual contrast
- plus-que-parfait, light use
- Vocabulary
- school and project vocabulary
- abstract nouns related to directness and register (la franchise, la politesse, le malentendu)
- Skills
- contrasting two characters' cultural assumptions without an explicit narrator judgment
- inferring growing mutual understanding from small gestures rather than a stated reconciliation
Solène, lycéenne venue de Lyon pour un semestre d’échange à Fribourg, avait imaginé vivre une expérience presque entièrement française, puisque la ville est officiellement bilingue, mais elle découvrait rapidement que la réalité du quotidien ressemblait davantage à un mélange constant entre français, allemand standard, et suisse allemand.
Show English
Solène, a student from Lyon who had come to Fribourg for a semester abroad, had imagined living an almost entirely French experience, since the city is officially bilingual, but she quickly discovered that daily reality looked more like a constant mix of French, standard German, and Swiss German.
Dès la première semaine, elle a été associée à Urs Baumann, originaire de la partie germanophone du canton, pour un projet commun d’histoire locale que leurs deux professeurs avaient décidé d’organiser ensemble, en français pour elle, en allemand pour lui.
Show English
From the very first week, she was paired with Urs Baumann, from the German-speaking part of the canton, for a joint local-history project that their two teachers had decided to organize together, in French for her, in German for him.
Le projet portait sur l’histoire du Pont de Berne et des remparts médiévaux de la vieille ville, un sujet que les deux professeurs avaient choisi précisément parce qu’il obligeait les élèves à consulter des sources aussi bien en français qu’en allemand.
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The project focused on the history of the Bern Bridge and the medieval walls of the old town, a topic the two teachers had deliberately chosen because it required students to consult sources in both French and German.
Leur première réunion de travail a mal commencé : Solène est arrivée avec vingt minutes de retard, convaincue que ce délai restait raisonnable entre camarades, tandis qu’Urs, déjà installé depuis l’heure exacte du rendez-vous, n’a pas caché son agacement.
Show English
Their first working meeting got off to a bad start: Solène arrived twenty minutes late, convinced that this was a reasonable delay between classmates, while Urs, already there since the exact time of the meeting, made no effort to hide his irritation.
« Chez moi, quand on dit quinze heures, cela veut dire quinze heures », a-t-il remarqué sèchement, pendant que Solène, surprise par sa franchise, cherchait encore une excuse à donner.
Show English
"Where I'm from, when we say three o'clock, it means three o'clock," he remarked dryly, while Solène, surprised by his bluntness, was still searching for an excuse to give.
Le malentendu ne s’est pas arrêté là : au moment de la pause de midi, Urs a sorti son repas pour le manger seul, en quinze minutes, debout près de la fenêtre, alors que Solène, habituée aux longues pauses de midi françaises, a proposé de s’asseoir et de discuter en mangeant, ce qu’Urs a d’abord trouvé être une perte de temps inutile.
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The misunderstanding didn't stop there: at lunchtime, Urs took out his meal to eat it alone, in fifteen minutes, standing by the window, while Solène, used to long French lunch breaks, suggested sitting down and chatting while eating, which Urs at first found to be a pointless waste of time.
Les semaines suivantes n’ont pas vraiment amélioré les choses : Urs donnait son avis sur chaque partie du travail sans détour, parfois de façon si directe que Solène le trouvait presque impoli, alors que lui pensait simplement être honnête et efficace.
Show English
The following weeks didn't really improve things: Urs gave his opinion on every part of the work without holding back, sometimes so directly that Solène found him almost rude, while he simply thought he was being honest and efficient.
Lors d’une réunion particulièrement tendue, Urs a déclaré, sans détour, que la première version du plan de Solène « ne tenait pas debout », une expression qu’elle a mis plusieurs minutes à comprendre complètement, avant de se sentir doublement blessée, par le fond et par la forme.
Show English
During one especially tense meeting, Urs bluntly declared that the first version of Solène's plan "didn't hold up at all," an expression that took her several minutes to fully understand, before she felt doubly hurt, by both the content and the way it was said.
De son côté, Solène préférait suggérer ses critiques avec plus de prudence, en passant par des phrases comme « peut-être qu’on pourrait revoir cette partie », ce qu’Urs interprétait, lui, comme un manque de clarté plutôt que comme de la politesse.
Show English
Solène, for her part, preferred to suggest her criticism more cautiously, using phrases like "maybe we could look at this part again," which Urs, in turn, interpreted as a lack of clarity rather than as politeness.
Un jour, pendant qu’ils travaillaient à la bibliothèque municipale, Urs a corrigé, sans y penser, trois fautes de français dans le texte de Solène à voix haute devant d’autres élèves, et elle est restée silencieuse le reste de l’après-midi, blessée sans vraiment savoir comment le lui dire.
Show English
One day, while they were working at the municipal library, Urs corrected, without thinking, three mistakes in Solène's French text out loud in front of other students, and she stayed silent for the rest of the afternoon, hurt without quite knowing how to say so.
Urs, remarquant son silence inhabituel, lui a demandé, un peu maladroitement, ce qui n’allait pas, et Solène, après une hésitation, a fini par expliquer qu’elle aurait préféré en parler seule à seul avec lui, plutôt que devant les autres élèves.
Show English
Urs, noticing her unusual silence, asked her, a little awkwardly, what was wrong, and Solène, after some hesitation, finally explained that she would have preferred to talk about it with him alone, rather than in front of the other students.
Urs s’est excusé, surpris d’apprendre que sa remarque avait pu blesser quelqu’un, puisque, dans sa propre famille, corriger directement une erreur passait pour un geste utile plutôt que pour un manque de respect.
Show English
Urs apologized, surprised to learn that his remark could have hurt someone, since, in his own family, directly correcting a mistake was seen as a helpful gesture rather than a lack of respect.
Peu à peu, les deux élèves ont commencé à expliquer, plutôt qu’à juger, leurs façons différentes de communiquer : Solène a appris que la ponctualité stricte d’Urs n’était pas de la froideur, mais une habitude profondément enracinée depuis l’enfance, et Urs a compris que les phrases prudentes de Solène cachaient souvent une vraie opinion, simplement formulée autrement.
Show English
Little by little, the two students started explaining, rather than judging, their different ways of communicating: Solène learned that Urs's strict punctuality wasn't coldness, but a habit deeply rooted since childhood, and Urs understood that Solène's cautious sentences often hid a real opinion, simply phrased differently.
Ils ont même fini par partager, presque chaque mercredi après les cours, un chocolat chaud dans un café du centre-ville, sans jamais vraiment se le dire à voix haute, comme si cette habitude s’était simplement installée d’elle-même, entre deux séances de travail.
Show English
They even ended up sharing, almost every Wednesday after school, a hot chocolate at a café downtown, without ever really saying so out loud, as if the habit had simply settled in on its own, between two work sessions.
Pour la présentation finale de leur projet, devant toute la classe réunie, Solène a proposé de présenter la partie française avec plus de nuances, et Urs la partie germanophone avec sa clarté habituelle, plutôt que de forcer un style commun artificiel.
Show English
For the final presentation of their project, in front of the whole class, Solène suggested presenting the French part with more nuance, and Urs the German-speaking part with his usual clarity, rather than forcing an artificial common style.
Le jour de la présentation, quand Urs est arrivé cinq minutes avant l’heure prévue, il a trouvé Solène déjà installée, les documents soigneusement rangés, et elle lui a dit, en riant, qu’elle avait pris de nouvelles habitudes depuis leur premier rendez-vous raté.
Show English
On the day of the presentation, when Urs arrived five minutes before the scheduled time, he found Solène already there, her documents neatly arranged, and she told him, laughing, that she had picked up some new habits since their first failed meeting.
Leur présentation a été un succès, remarquée par les deux professeurs pour l’équilibre inhabituel entre rigueur et nuance, et pendant les applaudissements, Urs, pour la première fois depuis le début du projet, a souri à Solène avant même qu’elle ne le regarde.
Show English
Their presentation was a success, noted by both teachers for its unusual balance of rigor and nuance, and during the applause, Urs, for the first time since the project began, smiled at Solène even before she looked at him.
Ni l’un ni l’autre n’a jamais vraiment dit qu’ils étaient devenus amis, mais à la fin du semestre, quand Solène est repartie pour Lyon, Urs l’a accompagnée jusqu’à la gare, portant lui-même sa valise la plus lourde, sans qu’elle ait eu besoin de le lui demander.
Show English
Neither of them ever really said they had become friends, but at the end of the semester, when Solène left for Lyon, Urs walked her to the station, carrying her heaviest suitcase himself, without her ever needing to ask.
Show full English translation
Solène, a student from Lyon who had come to Fribourg for a semester abroad, had imagined living an almost entirely French experience, since the city is officially bilingual, but she quickly discovered that daily reality looked more like a constant mix of French, standard German, and Swiss German.
From the very first week, she was paired with Urs Baumann, from the German-speaking part of the canton, for a joint local-history project that their two teachers had decided to organize together, in French for her, in German for him.
The project focused on the history of the Bern Bridge and the medieval walls of the old town, a topic the two teachers had deliberately chosen because it required students to consult sources in both French and German.
Their first working meeting got off to a bad start: Solène arrived twenty minutes late, convinced that this was a reasonable delay between classmates, while Urs, already there since the exact time of the meeting, made no effort to hide his irritation.
"Where I'm from, when we say three o'clock, it means three o'clock," he remarked dryly, while Solène, surprised by his bluntness, was still searching for an excuse to give.
The misunderstanding didn't stop there: at lunchtime, Urs took out his meal to eat it alone, in fifteen minutes, standing by the window, while Solène, used to long French lunch breaks, suggested sitting down and chatting while eating, which Urs at first found to be a pointless waste of time.
The following weeks didn't really improve things: Urs gave his opinion on every part of the work without holding back, sometimes so directly that Solène found him almost rude, while he simply thought he was being honest and efficient.
During one especially tense meeting, Urs bluntly declared that the first version of Solène's plan "didn't hold up at all," an expression that took her several minutes to fully understand, before she felt doubly hurt, by both the content and the way it was said.
Solène, for her part, preferred to suggest her criticism more cautiously, using phrases like "maybe we could look at this part again," which Urs, in turn, interpreted as a lack of clarity rather than as politeness.
One day, while they were working at the municipal library, Urs corrected, without thinking, three mistakes in Solène's French text out loud in front of other students, and she stayed silent for the rest of the afternoon, hurt without quite knowing how to say so.
Urs, noticing her unusual silence, asked her, a little awkwardly, what was wrong, and Solène, after some hesitation, finally explained that she would have preferred to talk about it with him alone, rather than in front of the other students.
Urs apologized, surprised to learn that his remark could have hurt someone, since, in his own family, directly correcting a mistake was seen as a helpful gesture rather than a lack of respect.
Little by little, the two students started explaining, rather than judging, their different ways of communicating: Solène learned that Urs's strict punctuality wasn't coldness, but a habit deeply rooted since childhood, and Urs understood that Solène's cautious sentences often hid a real opinion, simply phrased differently.
They even ended up sharing, almost every Wednesday after school, a hot chocolate at a café downtown, without ever really saying so out loud, as if the habit had simply settled in on its own, between two work sessions.
For the final presentation of their project, in front of the whole class, Solène suggested presenting the French part with more nuance, and Urs the German-speaking part with his usual clarity, rather than forcing an artificial common style.
On the day of the presentation, when Urs arrived five minutes before the scheduled time, he found Solène already there, her documents neatly arranged, and she told him, laughing, that she had picked up some new habits since their first failed meeting.
Their presentation was a success, noted by both teachers for its unusual balance of rigor and nuance, and during the applause, Urs, for the first time since the project began, smiled at Solène even before she looked at him.
Neither of them ever really said they had become friends, but at the end of the semester, when Solène left for Lyon, Urs walked her to the station, carrying her heaviest suitcase himself, without her ever needing to ask.