In Other Words

Learning another language can be a transformative experience; it can, quite literally, change your life. In learning another language, one becomes another person: stupid, inarticulate, and without a sense of humour at first and then, gradually, someone with a different identity. For Lori Farnham, learning French was a passport to worlds beyond, a ticket to escape, a life-altering experience.

She was an unhappy child growing up in Kitchener, Ontario, in the 1960s. She was ridiculed for her name —“Farnham, farm ham, fart ham, oink oink, hey little piggy”— and felt disconnected from her peers, her city, even her parents. There were harsh exchanges at the dinner table. “Our food is not good enough for you?” she was asked. “Our name is not good enough for you either?” The insinuations were cutting. Resentful of her daughter, for taking up French and for recoiling from the family, Lori’s mother once snapped, “Who do you think you are? You’re nobody special.” Years later...