Learning languages isn't easy
May. 18th, 2004 12:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
la_rainetteI checked my calendar today, and was brutally reminded that my father-in-law arrives in one month exactly.
My father-in-law is the most charming guy on earth. He's sweet, cultured, funny and great with the kids. He has no practical sense whatsoever, which makes his visit a bit of a challenge, because he's bound to break something that he will not know how to fix - and my practical sense is limited too: I may not break anything, but whatever gets broken I won't be able to fix.
And he is from the Old School, from way back when no-one expected you to be able to speak any other language than French. He once swore to me he would never learn English (he also belongs to the overwhelming majority of French people who do not like the English because of common history, and the dislike is entirely mutual. Whereas I am the ultimate oxymoron: a French Anglophile, meaning that I get to take abuse from both sides).
Now that we have moved to Toronto, and since he sees no reason to dislike the Canadians, he has decided that learning English might not be such a bad idea after all. So he bought a method: a tape, and a book with the text.
"I'm making a lot of progress", he stated proudly. Oh yes? Great! Great! Can he say something, anything, to me in English?
"Well, no, but now, when the guy on the tape speaks, I now know where we are in the book," he stated proudly. And went on and on about how the English don't pronounce the way they write, and it is so obnoxious *g*
If the poor guy could, I'm sure he would pack us up and send us over to Germany where the spelling and pronunciation wouldn't dare not match, because it is all about "Ordnung und Disziplin" and there isn't much room for exceptions.
No wonder you guys have spelling bees. We French have the dreaded "dictée", which combines complicated words with obscure grammatical points in an obvious attempt to make you stumble (because French spelling only gets complicated once you get to the sentence level). There are even dictée international competitions, which are usually won by non-native speakers, because they pay more attention to the grammar.
But English? Is one of the most difficult languages to speak well if you're not native. So few rules. So many exceptions. *sighs happily* That's probably why I like it so much.
My father-in-law is the most charming guy on earth. He's sweet, cultured, funny and great with the kids. He has no practical sense whatsoever, which makes his visit a bit of a challenge, because he's bound to break something that he will not know how to fix - and my practical sense is limited too: I may not break anything, but whatever gets broken I won't be able to fix.
And he is from the Old School, from way back when no-one expected you to be able to speak any other language than French. He once swore to me he would never learn English (he also belongs to the overwhelming majority of French people who do not like the English because of common history, and the dislike is entirely mutual. Whereas I am the ultimate oxymoron: a French Anglophile, meaning that I get to take abuse from both sides).
Now that we have moved to Toronto, and since he sees no reason to dislike the Canadians, he has decided that learning English might not be such a bad idea after all. So he bought a method: a tape, and a book with the text.
"I'm making a lot of progress", he stated proudly. Oh yes? Great! Great! Can he say something, anything, to me in English?
"Well, no, but now, when the guy on the tape speaks, I now know where we are in the book," he stated proudly. And went on and on about how the English don't pronounce the way they write, and it is so obnoxious *g*
If the poor guy could, I'm sure he would pack us up and send us over to Germany where the spelling and pronunciation wouldn't dare not match, because it is all about "Ordnung und Disziplin" and there isn't much room for exceptions.
No wonder you guys have spelling bees. We French have the dreaded "dictée", which combines complicated words with obscure grammatical points in an obvious attempt to make you stumble (because French spelling only gets complicated once you get to the sentence level). There are even dictée international competitions, which are usually won by non-native speakers, because they pay more attention to the grammar.
But English? Is one of the most difficult languages to speak well if you're not native. So few rules. So many exceptions. *sighs happily* That's probably why I like it so much.
