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Onomatopoeia appears to be a unifying feature of all of the world's languages. It is vivid, expressive and livens up the way we communicate. In the sphere of water, it gives us 'plop', 'splash', 'gush' and 'drizzle'; and, in the Indian language Tulu, gulugulu (filling a pitcher with water), budubudu (bubbling, gushing water) and caracara (spurting water from a pump). Some languages use it to articulate sentiments specific to their culture, such as lushindo (the sound of footsteps; Bemba), yuyin (the remnants of sound which remain in the ears of the hearer; Chinese), and, my favourite, zonk zonk (to throb terribly; Turkish). Rural British dialects have a specific variety of jolly rhyming compounds, including 'fidge-fadge' (a motion between walking and trotting; Yorkshire) and 'boris-noris' (reckless, happy-go-lucky; Dorset). In Indonesian, sounds are vividly portrayed: kring is the chime of a bicycle bell; dentang, cans being hit repeatedly; reat-reot, the squeaking of a door; and ning-nong, the ringing of a doorbell (reminiscent of 'ding-dong'). More recognisable, perhaps, are the Basque terms kuku ('cuckoo'), mu ('moo'), durrunda ('thunder'), zurrumurru ('whisper') and urtzintz (to sneeze); as well as the Maltese taptap ('to patter') and capcap ('to clap'). The Japanese take things a step further. Of course they, too, have rhythmic words such as shikushiku (to cry continuously while sniffling) and zeizei (the sound of air being forced through the windpipe when one has a cold or respiratory illness). But what is special is the concept of gitatigo. These are words that try to imitate not just sounds but states of feeling: gatcha gatcha describes an annoying noise; harahara refers to one's reaction to something one is directly involved in; and ichaicha relates to a couple engaging in a public display of affection, viewed as unsavoury by passers-by. Adam Jacot de Boinod is author of The Meaning of Tingo and Other Extraordinary Words and creator of the Tingo iPad app. Vol/54 No/1 2015 FEBRUARY/MARCH The Linguist 29 OPINION & COMMENT well. Then came Geneva: mysterious, unknown, exciting! Living with my Francophone family has had an immediate, positive impact on my French. The four hours a week I invest in formal French lessons (a requirement for the Swiss residence permit) are also paying dividends in terms of grammatical competence. Nonetheless, my advice to others contemplating such a move is to brush up on your basic language skills in advance. You'd be surprised how much everyday vocabulary gets 'overwritten' while studying more complicated topics at school. Being a language graduate and forgetting how to say 'the chair'… well! My French family is as new to Switzerland as I am, so other au pairs are an invaluable source of information on life here: residence permits, bank accounts… Swiss bureaucracy in general. I usually dine with my host family but it's nice to be able to escape to a café with friends, and share experiences and ideas. How do you simultaneously occupy a four-year-old and get a nine-year-old to concentrate on her homework? Facebook groups proved to be a great way of making contacts before I flew out. Lucianna Harrison studied German and History at Exeter University. TL In other words The graduate What do you do once your language degree ends? We follow one graduate to find out 'You're going to be an au pair? Are you mad?' This was a common reaction to my decision to take up a six-month position in Geneva – and with good reason. Looking after someone else's children is a huge responsibility, especially in another country and another language. However, I felt prepared; I had previously worked in a German school as a British Council teaching assistant, and had supplemented my income by babysitting my mentor's children. In retrospect, I was rather naïve about how hard the job would be: you're essentially a maman du jour. Having a love of languages, I had always planned to move abroad after graduating, mainly to improve my French, which was in poor shape after four years of neglect in favour of German. Since full-immersion language study had substantially improved my German, I knew it would benefit my French. I considered another British Council assistantship, but they prioritise students, and I wanted a new challenge. I registered with aupair-world.co.uk and received job offers from more than 30 families within a month. The majority were in Paris – a beautiful city but one I know LUCIANNA HARRISON NEW HORIZONS Lucianna with one of her wards (inset); and a snapshot of Geneva ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD