You know you are really Canadian when...

[la_rainette]

Your little one won't eat a crêpe that hasn't been doused in Maple Syrup, and your older daughter suddenly speaks in onomatopoeias that you have only ever seen written in comics, and never actually heard before.

I jumped Froglet tonight. "Yikes!" she exclaimed. It may surprise you, but I had never heard that word spoken out before.

And then, two seconds ago, I overheard an enthusiastic "YeeHa!", which admittedly sounds more Albertan than Torontonian, but who cares. We're getting somewhere, linguistically speaking.

You know, I think in French, or English, or German, according to the moment of day, people I have just been interacting with, or things I have been thinking about. I am pretty good at switching from one language to the other, even though it can be exhausting at times, and you can only do it so many times a day before your brain implodes and you are left with one single syllable in your vocabulary. Generally, that syllable is "nghhhn" and left to everyone else's free interpretation, not that you care, at that stage, anyway.

And I actually do not know what language I am thinking in at each moment of the day, I mean, I do not think "Oooo, look, English!" while I am thinking about something. But if I absent-mindedly step on your foot while I am in linguistic auto-pilot, I will automatically apologize in whichever language I am currently thinking in, before my brain speaks up and gets me going in the right direction (hang on, this is Toronto, ooo, let's speak English, or Look, Froglet's school! All French!)

But that is because I am Well-Mannered. My parents taught me to apologize, thank, greet, and I do most of it automatically. It's what I am trying to teach my girls, too, and occasionally it works and they will apologize to a chair they have accidentally kicked. In the most important moments, though, it is All Gone and my many exhortations to "say hi to the nice lady" are met with a deeply distrusful silence.

As far as multilingualism is concerned, the other dead giveaway is the language of pain. We think it comes from our deeply wounded feelings/nerves, but actually, this is another acquired thing. Do you want to know which language I am currently thinking in? Hit me on the head with a great big hammer. If my last words before passing out are Ouch, I am thinking in English. "Aie" or "Ouille", and it's French. "Aua" or "Aua-Weh" would be German.

But then be ready for retaliation. Cos man, that hurt, and vengeance is sweet.

Comments

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

pain, yes, or what language you curse in (of course even people who aren't actually fluent can often curse in a number of languages; but can they do it convincingly, is the question). or what language you dream in.

someone once said you could tell which was the primary language depending on which language you made love in. :-) (not much of an indicator for those of us who aren't big talkers, though.)

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what language I dream in, unless it's a dream about Germany, and then I assume I dream in German, or a dream about friends who speak strictly French -- in which case I assume I dream in French.

And unfortunately, I am not much of a talker in... sorry, that's way too much information already so I'll stop here

[notions.livejournal.com]

It's really interesting, cause I've been thinking more and more in French, and frequently my first instinct is to speak in French, not English. If I'm in French class always, and today I went up to my web design teacher (the period after French): "Est-ce que vous avez --oopsie."
When I call Rach on her cell, she answers "Allo, ca va?" since she knows it's me, and we almost *only* speak in French these days.
My thoughts, I think, switch back and forth, and it's "Ah, zut," or "BLAST" when I realise I've forgotten something, depending on which language I'm thinking in, I suppose. I find it's easier for me to express myself about Issues in French - I don't know why...Language is a strange and fascinating thing.

Are you fluent in German?

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

*nods* Yeah, my mum's German. My grandma speaks no French at all, so whenever we went to visit I spoke German to her. And we visited about 6 weeks every year, plus my mum spoke German to me at home.

I make the occasional grammar mistake, but my accent in pure Berliner, with a touch of Mecklemburg. Whenever I make a mistake in German, people assume I must be retarded, cos I sound SO LOCAL! ;)

How come your French is so good, BTW, and how come you guys actually choose to speak in French together?

[notions.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't necessarily say that it's *good*, but we started french in 7th grade. French I lasted 2 years, then we took French 2, 3, and now 4. The only teacher we've had that was actually French was last year. In any event, that's 5 school years of absorbing knowledge of the language. I tend to botch up verb tenses when I'm just speaking...

I don't know why we started speaking in French - it could be because that was all we were allowed to speak in class last sememster (not that that stopped the flow of English). Generally, only Rae and I know what we're talking about - it's privacy, and understanding. For me, some of it is because I love the language, but a lot is because of the comfort and ease it represents...comfort which developed from conversing only in French with Rachel.

It's like - a language, and a friendship, almost. I dunno...

[terrylj.livejournal.com]

If Froglet is saying "Yeeha!" then she has been watching too many episodes of "The Dukes of Hazzard". If you can imagine any such thing as too much Bo Duke. (Or is it Beau? In the South, it ought to be Beau.)

Yay for Southern influence! I would wave the Confederate flag, except that, like the swastika, that symbol has been hijacked by the racists and would be misunderstood. I'll just stand over here in the corner and sing "Dixie".

Yes, I am not making sense. My brain is fried. My great-grandmother spoke only French until she went to school, where they were whipped if they spoke anything but English. So she spoke perfect English with no accent, but she also spoke perfect French--well, perfect Cajun French. She could easily switch between the two when talking to her family. My brother asked her once whether she thought in French or English. She just gave him a Look and said, "I don't know! I just think!"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_skye_/]

Yes, I agree that the important thing is that you DO THINK. I speak English fluently (Spanish, only conversational) and still? The thinking part sometimes alludes me. Children exacerbate this condition.

When I am pregnant, for instance, I actually loose words. They just aren't there. I can describe the word, just not get at the word itself.
Hand me a...a thing with tines, the thing I eat with? The thing that I poke into food, and then I pick the food up...? Yes, YES -- FORK, thank you!

[terrylj.livejournal.com]

Somebody did a study that allegedly proved that when women are pregnant, their brains shrink. I'm not sure I believe this, but by own experience (which was similar to yours) it might be uncomfortably close to reality!

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

AHAH! So that's why.

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

:D Happens to me all the time after an exhausting day: I can find a word only in whichever language I am *not* supposed to use. With Husband, we've made it simpler: we navigate our way through the linguistic obstacles by using whichever language is closest to the tip of our mental tongue (so any sentence that starts in French is bound to contain a few English words and vice-versa)

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

*dies* I agree. Thinking it itself is good. Your great-grnadmother sounds like someone I would have loved totally and feared immensely at the same time.

Froglet hasn't been watching Dukes of Hazzards (although I think she should. She's the right age to fall for Beau Duke), but I think she's been playing with the guys in her school too much :)

[fire-and-a-rose.livejournal.com]

I'm incredibly tempted to pinch myself through my next few classes that have to do with languages, just to make sure I'm thinking in the right one. Because I was halfway through my Japanese test a few weeks ago before I realized I was answering the whole thing in French. (How I managed this, with the entirely different alphabet and all, I'm still not sure.)

It was most frustrating.

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

*giggles* My mum, who was a trained interpreter in Russian and English before she left Germany, and has since added two more languages to her skills (French and Italian), has a completely faulty language selector. She once explained things to me at great length in Russian (which I do not speak), and sometimes needs to be reminded that if people look at her funnily, it isn't because she's got lipstick on her teeth, but because she is addressing them in what is to them unidentifiable gibberish.

[fire-and-a-rose.livejournal.com]

Lord, your family reminds me of mine. *mum speaks French and Latin, which I don't get, Dad speaks French, Latin, and Croatian, Brother speaks Russian, cause he is, well, Russian* It's sorta a jumble. And then there's me, and I'm the worst of us all, so I guess I can't complain.

But I do. *ashamed*

[seshat1.livejournal.com]

Heh. I know exacty what you mean. I am by no means fluent in any language other than Engish, but my French used to be pretty good. I spent a week out there on an exchange program, and came back thinking in French, despite my lack of vocabulary. That was 3 years ago, and I still do it occasionally now. Very embarrassing when I apologise or say bless you in French. Especially as I get no practise now, and so I can barely remember anything. :(

When I'm done with my degree I am determined to learn it again, maybe even go live there for a bit.

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

But it's good, this is the way you learn best! Having worked as a teacher, I know that one of the tips I always gave my students was, "write down the vocabulary you do have, and then, thinking in the language, try and build sentences with what you;ve got". Not that they would listen, of course. *sighs*

[raesa.livejournal.com]

You think in three languages? Wow, that's impressive.
I've got two. English and French. Depending on who I've been with, I tend to start speaking in one or the other without realizing it. For example, when I meet up with friends after French class, I automatically start off in French... although said friend is trying to cure me by talking back in Spanish.
Although, there are occasions where I only speak in French. With Ally for example. Whether we're on the phone, in person, or occasionally emailing, it's in French. We've managed to mightally piss off a few people in our Calculus class too. It's very amusing.
I like having two languages. Some things are just so much easier to express in French... and sometimes it's nice to be able to rant without unwanted people listening in...
Are you really fluent in German though? That's awesome!

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

That's because my mum's German. I was brought up bilingually, in both French and German, and I am very grateful to my parents. It is one of the reasons why we moved to Canada: to give our girls the same opportunity (and English seemed a more logical choice than German, since we both speak English reasonably well)

I'm amazed that Ally and you would choose to speak to each other in French. How come your french is so good? And how long have you been studying French?

[raesa.livejournal.com]

We've both been studying French for five years. I think the reason that we're able to speak as well as we can is because we both are very interested in the language. We care about it, and we try to learn as much as we can, so it has come fairly easily.
It's pretty funny though. She will call me and I'll answer "Allo, ça va?" We'll have an entire conversation in French while people look at us like "Whoa. It's French."

[muffytaj.livejournal.com]

Heh, sometimes after watching/studying Japanese, I go "Itai!" when I get hurt.

Brains make no sense!

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Well, and here I was thinking you only did that in languages you are fluent in. But then, maybe you are fluent in Japanese?

[muffytaj.livejournal.com]

Erm, depends on your definition of 'fluent'. I dream in in sometimes, usually after I've been watching anime for 3 hours straight.

I can swear fluently in it though, does that count?