81. She’s Always Had Paris
Edith Wharton, Henry James, and the Brontës deserve some of the credit for Maja Thomas becoming a lover of the French language at the early age that she did. Those English-language writers tantalized Maja with French passages in their books. Maja, growing up in the pre-Google age, was determined to someday translate them.
She has done more than that. She has become an English/French bilingual, embracing not just the French language but its culture, whose values resonate deeply with her. Eventually—it took many years, but finally—she bid adieu to the US and established herself in Paris.
Just how did she do it, despite the challenges (plus a plethora of French bureaucratic paperwork)?
HEAR THE STORY
Listen on Apple Podcasts here: America the Bilingual by Steve Leveen; on Spotify; or wherever you tune in to your podcasts.
LE FLANEUR IS ALSO A PIONEER
We’ve taken a little liberty here for the sake of rhyming—Maja is actually the feminine version, la flaneuse, which she explains early in the episode.
As for the pioneer—Maja was a leading publishing executive who helped to shape the audiobook industry. In fact, she won six Grammys, including Best Spoken Word Album for Children, for Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies; and Best Spoken Word Album, for The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., with LeVar Burton. She also spent five years digitally restoring and compiling Doctor King’s sermons and speeches. She continues to consult today.
HAVE SOME FUN! TAKE OUR TWO BILINGUAL QUIZZES
You’ll find both quizzes here in our Quizzery. The first tests your knowledge of America’s linguistic landscape. The second quiz has you match the English word with the language that birthed it.
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CREDITS
Thanks to members of the America the Bilingual Project team for this episode: Mim Harrison, the editorial and brand director of the America the Bilingual Project, who wrote and directed the episode; Fernando Hernández Becerra and his production house in Guadalajara, Mexico, Esto No Es Radio, which provides sound design and mixing; and Jen Cavagnaro at Daruma Tech, who manages our website.
Music: Kevin MacLeod—Quasi Motion, and Envato.
We welcome your comments on this episode page.
You can book Steve for many different audiences
First, know that she has one of those glorious English accents (or what all of us who are not English would call an accent), which makes her a natural for the audio book narration that she does. Although U.S. born, Caroline grew up in England and studied literature at the University of Warwick (fyi for American ears: that second “w” is silent).
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