I do remember the path that my language skills took when I was living in Costa Rica 21 years ago and improving my four years of high-school Spanish. When I first arrived in Costa Rica I went from barely comprehending what was being said around me to being able to follow along with conversations and speak relatively well in just three short months. I also remember that my spelling in English got worse after becoming more fluent in Spanish. The languages are similar enough and there are many words in English where the consonants are doubled, but not doubled for the similar word in Spanish. This may be fine for most people, but I returned to the states to study JOURNALISM, and maybe you don't know this, but journalists need to know how to spell. Well, at least the journalists who hope to make a living in such a profession. It took years of concentrated effort to make sure I was spelling correctly in English, and up until now everything has been going swimmingly.
Re-lubing those parts of my brain that are involved in learning a new language has basically ruined my ability to spell again. Not to mention, I can barely speak without folding in three languages at once. My biggest obstacle with French are those pesky little Spanish words that are similar between the two languages, but have no similar meaning. Take for instance the English word "and." In Spanish you'd say "y" (pronounced eee) and in French you say "et" (pronounced ay.) Also the masculine/feminine (le/la) pronouns are spelled the same between the two languages but are pronounced very differently. The pronunciation of the alphabet and particular letters (e, j, g and q) are also problematic. Not that this stops me from hacking my way through French. I'm sure native French speakers cringe when they hear their melodic, beautiful language mangled, but I also know that they appreciate the effort and are exceedingly patient and helpful as I s-l-o-w-l-y eek out a sentence or phrase.
Similar to learning Spanish, I can now read and comprehend French much more than I have the ability to speak. This is helpful so long as I can read and then slowly think of my response. This completely breaks down when trying to have a conversation. I feel like my brain is a dusty pin-ball machine in some seedy bar in the Nevada desert. The quarter gets dropped in but the ball takes a very circuitous route before finally making its way down to the levers. Sometimes I can keep that ball pinging around and sometimes it makes a straight shot for the red buzzer and I lose a ball.
I absolutely have to credit the language school in which Jim and I are enrolled. Our teacher, Claudine, is fabulous and the class is very well structured. If I think about the progress we've made in less than three weeks, it is truly something. I think part of our success with comprehending French is its melody. Honestly, I hear the "music" of French in my head. Claudine is particularly good about "singing" to us and it is her voice/song I hear the most. Just because I can hear the music doesn't by any means mean that I can respond with the same lilting quality. Au contraire! I probably sound like I'm holding my nose, but I honestly don't have the brain space at this age to think about my sound, as I'm just trying to make a selection from my limited vocabulary to construct a sentence with more than three words.
While Spanish does trip me up at times, it has also helped me immensely in understanding the structure of the French language. I am certain that I am as far along as I am in large part because of my Spanish, and funny enough working my way through French is improving my Spanish.
The last few days I feel that I've turned a little corner and I've been able to follow along with conversations and somewhat respond (again, there's a lot of Spanish thrown in, but hey!) It's nice to have the confidence to engage in the dialogues that are formulaic (and, thus, helpful) between myself and a shopkeeper. This is particularly helpful as we will go to no fewer than three different shops for our daily provisions (fromagerie, boulangerie, marche.) Being able to actually participate in these dialogues rather than just say the simple Bonjour/Au revoir is quite enjoyable. Not that I'm ready to discuss politics or anything of the sort, but when I was asked today if I had a smaller denomination of a euro, I knew what the clerk was asking and I was able to reply. Today I really lived on the edge when I made a hair appointment and then communicated how I wanted my hair cut. The woman who washed and cut my hair was lovely and very helpful and patient. To these people I would like to say "merci beaucoup!" I know it is frustrating to listen to someone mutilate their beautiful language and I know that sometimes you just want to smack someone on the back so they can "get it out," but I've yet to encounter an exasperated person, and for that I'm very grateful.
Speaking of learning a language it's now time to resume my studies. It's not all fun and games here in Paris!
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