I've been living in a francophone
country for over two years at this point and in those two years, I
probably used my french skills a handful of times (usually in cabs in
Dakar). Then, I started working in an office where all the
documents, meetings, and a majority of conversations are in French.
I couldn't depend on my Pulaar skills to get me by like I did when I
was in village (as most of my office doesn't speak Pulaar), so it was
time to brush up on my French skills.
Two other third year, non Dakar based
volunteers joined me in Thies for an intense French seminar. It was
a great refresher course and reminded me how much I've forgotten
French grammatical structures and the correct usage of tenses. I
took French in high school and a semester of it in college to fulfill
my requirements, but since then, I haven't had many chances to
practice. I used to speak French sporadically with my roommate, but
other than that, french left my life. I'm a prime example of how not
using a language is the easiest way to forget it. These days, I've
begun to forget Cantonese, my first language and a language I studied
for 13 years (i'll be honest, my English isn't great either- have you
read this blog...).
French class was amazing, but
exhausting. A lot of class was breaking the habits that we've
acquired in country. Despite being a francophone country, most
people don't speak french correctly. There are a lot of Senegal-isms such as adding “quoi” aka “what” to the end of every
statement. Our teacher was so patient with us and stressed the fact
that we were learning proper french and not “Sengalese French”.
Now I speak French fluently!! Just kidding. But hopefully at the
end of these two year I'll increase my level from intermediate to
advanced. I am confident in my abilities because I enjoy learning
languages and am submerged in a French speaking environment at work.
Until then, thank goodness for Google translate. =)
A bientôt!
Bisous
Peace
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