Malheureusement

One could perhaps be forgiven for starting to think that one word, malheureusement, dominates spoken French in Congo. According to the dictionary, it means, “unfortunately.” At times, it feels like the only word one needs to know, and the truly important translation is, “Whatever follows this word is not something you want to hear.” Whenever someone is about to tell you that your flight has been canceled, it is too rainy to travel, the generator has broken down, the internet or cell phone network is not working, there is no more drinking water, the documents have not arrived (or are not the right ones), or for some other reason your plans are going to have to change, speakers usually begin the sentence with malheureusement.

A feature of life in the US that we hardly ever notice is the fact that things almost always work as they are supposed to, or at least don’t all break down at the same time. Yes, flights get canceled, but you can whip out your smart phone and re-book, and you have a decent hope of getting at least some of the price of the new ticket covered by the airline. Yes, electrical power failures happen, and sometimes last longer than we think they should (days or weeks), but there is someone on a customer service line somewhere who will listen to us complain.

It takes a while to realize how much the expectations created by this ubiquitous experience of functioning systems shape and color a view of the world, and affect one’s reactions when confronting systems that routinely, almost as a matter of course, do not function smoothly. Thus, when a French-speaking Congolese person has to deliver the news to an English-speaking foreigner that, unsurprisingly, plans will have to be adjusted because although there was supposed to be gasoline available to purchase, there is none, the French-speaking Congolese person will almost always begin the sentence, “Malheureusement…” Unfortunately, a perfectly normal roadblock to your plans has appeared. Unfortunately, I know you will be angry about this. Unfortunately, you may express this anger to me, although I had nothing to do with the situation. Unfortunately, you will also be angry that you don’t know exactly how to deal with this new problem.

The frequency of this particular communicative interaction eventually compels the researcher (me) to try to figure out what is going on here. One concept that appears to be key is the issue of “blame.” To blame someone is, in fact, a communicative action, an act that is performed in and through speaking. While the English concept of “taking responsibility” has positive connotations, and is a culturally understood communicative action that should be performed by “responsible” people at the appropriate time and in the appropriate setting, “blame” has almost entirely negative connotations, and is an action directed by a speaker towards another person. The question of “blame,” especially when the action is directed (or perceived to be directed) by a foreigner or non-French speaker towards a Congolese person, also appears to be an extremely sensitive issue when it arises in interpersonal or inter-group communication.

It will take more time and more observation and experience to piece together the rules operating in this type of communicative interaction, and the meanings and premises that underlie the speech produced in such encounters, but this does seems to be one potentially productive place to keep looking. And figuring out where to look is often the first step in figuring out something possibly important.