Friday, February 4, 2011

Dredging up my French from a deep, dark place

I had what I would like to believe was a pretty rigorous education in French from the grades of 4 through 7.  Grade 4 was a bit lacking, but 5-7 were French overtime (as I am sure my elementary school friends at The Banana Stand and This Happy Happy Life will affirm).  I was good at it because I am a lingual geek.  I continued French in high school, but abandoned it in college for the more "interesting" (i.e. HARDER) languages of Japanese and Russian.

Because I learned French so young, it's always stuck with me.  I might not be able to string words together, but I can catch the gist of things pretty well, especially if they're written.  I haven't heard any Canadians speaking French yet, but French is rampant at my favorite place (where else?), the grocery store.  Almost everything is in both French and English, and I am proud to say that I am the owner of a bilingual toaster and coffeemaker.  Slick, eh?

But since I have encountered this sudden onslaught of a language I once spoke relatively well, it's started to come back to me.  Little pieces of songs and sayings, vocabulary words, common words, random words like parapluie that I thought I'd never see/use again.  I've found that I'll even talk to myself in French.  This came to a head today in the grocery store when I found the marshmallows (to which I am addicted) and upon seeing the French word for them, thought to myself, "OUAH!  J'ai trouver les guimauves au supermarche!!"

Where the HECK did that come from?!

Honnetement, je ne sais pas.  Mais je pense que ce continuer'a....

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