Learning A New Language
Leaving your native country and settling in a different country of your choice, can be an exciting adventure. My Mother tongue is English. I was born and bred in England, but have always had a passion for the French Language. I’ve always maintained a general interest in languages, especially the outside influences on local languages, especially slang.
Learning French at school definitely gave me a good grounding in French, but in the early days, my spoken French was catastrophic.
Spending a year out in France at 18 years old did help me on my way, but there was certainly lots of room for progress.
A few years later, I came over to work in France with a French company in a concentrated French context: a great way to make rapid progress in the language-learning process.
I can’t say it was plain-sailing, but again, being of a tenacious nature, I kept at it.
Learning a language is a journey, not a destination.
Jean Brunet
Several years down the line, with a French wife and French bilingual/bicultural kids, I’m so grateful that I have been able to integrate into the French culture. Reading French books, newspapers and magazines and having a predominantly French entourage have hopefully helped me gain a diverse and deeper knowledge of the language. However, I continue to discover new French words and terms on a regular basis.
The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing
Voltaire
Most of my day is spent speaking French, but I do regularly speak in English in the working environment.
Shameless Inversion Of Language
At home, it’s definitely hybrid: With my wife, it’s mainly French, unless we’re in Blighty, where she holds her own in English. With the kids, we pass from one language to the other and freely and shamelessly throw in words ad hoc from both languages – language inversions.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH, you might say.
I’m fine with this and so are they.
Occasionally at work, based on the people around me, I also throw in a French word in mid-English-sentence or an English word in mid-French-sentence.
For years now, I’ve been thinking in French, but I only count in English! Nothing original about that, I suppose.
When I first settled in France, my French came on in leaps and bounds, which is understandable. I did hit a few plateaux on the way, but progress continued over the years. I can safely say, I have been bilingual for years.
However, from day 1 of settling in France, my English level plummeted to murky depths of language attrition.
I’ll go into more detail on this in a different blogpost…
I’d love to hear your feedback on your experience of learning a language and how well you’re able to swap from one language to the other.
Like to read about Slang In Everyday Language ?