Ma muse est une pug? Un pug?
I used to speak French rather fluently. It didn't come easily though. I took French in high school- had a terrible teacher (it wasn't a great school if you've noticed a theme). Then I tried again at community college and on my own to prepare myself for my year in France. When I arrived in France, it was like I had never studied at all. They were all speaking so fast, with accents. They weren't using the phrases I learned. I felt like I started as a beginner. For three months I couldn't talk, I started to understand. I felt like an idiot, or trapped in a baby's body. Read "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris if you haven't already. It is rather humbling when the 5 year old child you are watching speaks WAY better than you do.
However, I was completely immersed in French and taking language classes taught entirely in French which helped. After 9 months there- I had a dream in French. I stopped having to translate in my head first and speaking came naturally. It was great and I vowed never to lose it. It did not come easy I repeat.
Here I am over 10 years later and I am losing it. Also I am raising two children and not teaching them French from infancy as I had promised myself I would. Not only that, their father speaks French quite well so there is no reason we can't get something going. Except laziness perhaps. I think I will try to find some French friends here. And I am listening to French radio over the internet to keep my comprehension up. I read the blog La Coquette and saw how she is upset her father did not teach her French - especially since he IS French. I think my fear with teaching the kids French is that I will do it wrong. My accent is not perfect, or even close. I don't have that native intuition to tell me whether something is masculine or feminine. It has to be learned and remembered.
Is a pug masculine or feminine? Does each dog breed (poodle, lab, etc) have a specific gender, or are they all masculine- un chien?
I will get back to this later- hopefully when I write about it again I will have made some progress.
However, I was completely immersed in French and taking language classes taught entirely in French which helped. After 9 months there- I had a dream in French. I stopped having to translate in my head first and speaking came naturally. It was great and I vowed never to lose it. It did not come easy I repeat.
Here I am over 10 years later and I am losing it. Also I am raising two children and not teaching them French from infancy as I had promised myself I would. Not only that, their father speaks French quite well so there is no reason we can't get something going. Except laziness perhaps. I think I will try to find some French friends here. And I am listening to French radio over the internet to keep my comprehension up. I read the blog La Coquette and saw how she is upset her father did not teach her French - especially since he IS French. I think my fear with teaching the kids French is that I will do it wrong. My accent is not perfect, or even close. I don't have that native intuition to tell me whether something is masculine or feminine. It has to be learned and remembered.
Is a pug masculine or feminine? Does each dog breed (poodle, lab, etc) have a specific gender, or are they all masculine- un chien?
I will get back to this later- hopefully when I write about it again I will have made some progress.
posted by ASH at 9:10 AM
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