First off, I now wish to travel only by piggyback.
French students: have you ever heard a translation for this? The only thing I can think of is "sur le dos de quelqu'un" (on somebody's back) but that's not as fun as piggyback. With extensive (1-minute) research on WordReference, I have found "le ferroutage," but that's specifically for trains. Boo!
German students: do the Germans have a word for this? They seem to have a word for everything...
Down to business: I decided to learn a bit about "le ferroutage," so thank you WordReference.
Here's a brief answer to "C'est quoi le ferroutage?" (What is piggybacking?)
And a French wiki on le ferroutage.
And in English: piggyback.
Le ferroutage is the French word for piggyback in the railroad flatcar sense of the word. It is a kind of combined transport where something is carried on the back of something else.
I found a dorky yet informative TV show (~26 minutes) called "C'est pas sorcier" ("It's not Magic"). They did an episode all about le ferroutage! Linked here for your viewing pleasure if you should wish to watch a fun French show with a PBS air about it. C'est pas sorcier - Le ferroutatge.
In the opener, Fred says: "Le camion sur un train?! Qu'est-ce que c'est que cette histoire?", which translates roughly to "A truck on a train?! What is this madness?" ("Histoire" meaning story really, and the actual translation is "What's all this about?" but I like mine better and you get the point.) In fact, this is le ferroutage.
The show goes on to explain the intricacies of this mode of transporting goods, and all its pros and cons. As we know, a lot of resources such as fruits and vegetables are imported and exported between countries. Products are also made from different parts of the whole that come from different countries. So long distance transport of such products throughout Europe is necessary and frequent. The main advantage of le ferroutage is it allows for easier travel across natural obstacles, such as through the Pyrenées and the Alps. It also helps to reduce pollution and cut down on traffic jams.
So one could say that manufacturers throughout Europe piggyback their resources on the train in order to piggyback them with other resources to reach the final product. I wonder how and if this kind of transportation of goods will continue to develop.
Katie,
ReplyDeleteI think it is funny how this is the subject you chose to write about because when I looked up "France + piggyback" I got a train too! You went a step further than me though to actually look up the translation of the word, so gold star for you!
I think that today we forget how frequently things such as trains are still in use because I feel like a number of people would consider it an ancient form of transportation. Living anywhere near campus here in Fayetteville, we all should know how frequently trains are used because of the wonderful train that seems to always come by after 2:00 am every night! Trains still play a vital part of our life, be it here in the United States or anywhere in the world. Trains are so efficient at moving large quantities at a much faster rate than say a semi could. Also, the weather conditions don't need to be as good for a train as it would be a semi. The question is, how long do you think we will continue using them?
Randi, all the factors you mentioned are true for why this kind of transportation by train has been so popular in France. It's pretty efficient, and conditions such as weather and secular holidays don't apply. I asked the same question, and while I was doing my initial research I found an article that showed that le ferroutage wasn't really exploding. If I remember correctly, it didn't necessarily say there was a decline, just not really an increase. Wish I could find it...Anyway, I think that if it remains economical maybe the use will continue. There are multiple other benefits too like cutting down on polution and road traffic. We'll see!
DeleteI think trains are one of the most important inventions of all time. They are extremely important in transporting goods cross country as well as use in public transportation. I love trains, can you tell? Not to hate on the car, but I hate the traffic. Coming from Dallas, you can get stuck in dead stop traffic for an hour for no reason. With trains, no driving, no traffic, and you get to read! How much of a win is that?
ReplyDeleteAside from that, I found many german words for piggyback:
piggyback der Huckepack
piggyback board die Huckepackplatine
piggyback traffic der Huckepackverkehr
piggyback trucking der Huckepacktransport
piggyback car [tech.] der Huckepackwagen [Eisenbahn]
piggyback export [comm.] der Huckepack-Export
piggyback export scheme [comm.] das Huckepackausfuhrsystem
piggyback exporting [comm.] der Huckepackexport
piggyback service (Amer.) der Huckepackverkehr [Eisenbahn]
piggyback transport [tech.] der Huckepacktransport
piggyback wagon [tech.] der Huckepackwagen
piggybacking [tech.] die Huckepackübertragung
So technical and precise. A word for everything! There is even a verb which is used to express 'to beat a dead horse'. Love it!
Now we need to have a train between Europe and America for free travel and, of course, the French cheese! :)
Ashley, I agree, trains are great! Let's build an underground tunnel from the US to Europe like the one between France and England! Granted, it'd have to be a lot longer and probably more prone to collapse...but we can dream about easy free travel there and back!
DeleteThis particular use of trains also has its specific benefits and I was fascinated learning about it. it really fascilitates an easier transportation of goods across the country and across borders.
Also, thanks for the German words! So fun!
My only question would be "why?" Why wouldn't you use train carts? Is it for portability sake? When a shipment arrives by train/truck can the the truck driver then get off the passenger car and hop in the truck and just drive locally? It's a pretty neat idea! Or "ideal" if you are from the south haha!
ReplyDeleteOne of the benefits they discussed was that the goods are still being transported on holidays. Truck drivers aren't allowed to drive on holidays, but the trains can run!
DeleteWe need to take into consideration that the train system plays an important role in French Culture. The French take the train everywhere that's why most of the transportation of Goods is done by train. And also SNCF always on strike.
ReplyDeleteGood point Nii! I think Europe in general tends to use train systems more than we do over here.
DeleteKatie,
ReplyDeleteI used to watch "C'est pas sorcier" when I lived in Belgium! Or rather my dad did while I sulked because I wanted to watch something else, preferably in English.
Anyway I'm glad you take a more literal/technical route in your entry. (It provides some excitement and variety.) It's kind of crazy how much international travel the most mundane-seeming of products go through before they reach the shelves. It seems kind of wasteful and inefficient to me but I'm not at all knowledgeable about logistics and at least as you say trains aren't as polluting as trucks and planes.
I feel like I would totally watch "C'est pas sorcier" on a regular basis just because of how silly it is...
DeleteI get what you mean by it seeming wasteful and inefficient that there's so much travel involved for products. I don't know the actual percentage of how much this comes in to play as far as spending money on travel and assembly of things from all over the place, but that's a good point to raise. Is it making things more expensive? Probably. I am inclined to like this method anyway because of environmental benefits. And the fewer semi trucks I see on the road the happier I am. Get with it, America!