Reid has been counting in French for me lately. At first she insisted that I say the numbers 1-11; she would chime in at “douze” and then I would have to continue. Reid rolled “douze” around in her mouth as though she were tasting it and very much enjoying the taste. More recently, though, she has consented to count from 1-30. She tends to miss “seize” (16) and “vingt” (20) but she hasn’t incorporated a French equivalent of the “eleventeen” that appeared when she learned to count in English. Reid likes “vingt-et-un” (21) a lot; it may have even surpassed “douze” if popularity contests were held for numbers. I’m sort of impressed that Reid not only understands the one-to-one correspondance between the numbers in English and French but has also started to play with patterns involving a switching back and forth from English to French. The teacher may not like it but I think it is an interesting accomplishment.
All of this counting supplements the great French accent that she puts on English words. She produces a credible “eur” sound for English word that would ordinarily end with “ar” or “er”. For example, I asked if she knew the French word for “day care” and she responded with “dayceur”. That is wrong, unfortunately, but it’s easier to learn new words than develop an accent. (Having spent the last 6.5 months in French training I know this very well!) All in all, I’m optimistic that Reid will turn out to be a “French girl” just as she thinks I want.
