Franglais of the best kind

September 19, 2008 by Barbara.

Reid was listening to a book-on-cd while we drove home last night (thanks again, Uncle Roger) and had trouble getting on of the pages turned. She asked me, “Can you ‘pose’ it?” And I reflexively said, “Do you need me to pause it?” Reid replied, “I need a ‘pose’.” And then I understood. In French, the word “pause” is pronounced “pose” and Reid is spending most of her waking hours in a French environment. This is the first real sign that she is retaining what she hears. I have been having the same trouble for a couple of months. Of course, I also incorporate English words into my French sentences in class and that isn’t considered at all cute, though sometimes we laugh if the pronunciation is extremely French but not good enough to make it a French word. I wonder how Ken will fare with Reid’s and my franglais* when he returns?

One of the women in my class has a daughter who describes her school day and school friends in French because she attends a French-language school and the rest of her life in English. Melissa’s kids are in an immersion program and don’t do this. Of course, they’re only spending about half their time in French - and that’s why I want Reid to acquire language rights to attend the French school system. I sure do hope that she’ll have the necessary French skills by the time she is done kindergarten.

*Franglais is the mixture of French and English words in a given sentence and is practically its own language in Ottawa-Gatineau.

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