yesterday, a french tourist asked us for some directions to a nearby hill. straightforward stuff, follow us, and on that road go straight ahead till you get to the top. and then, as i visualized the answer in my head… i couldn’t say a straight french sentence without sprinkling it with chinese. my french used to be pretty decent, but every time the man asked something, my first reply was in chinese, then i stopped, switched and tried to finish the sentence in french, much to his bewilderment (and my own!). i hope he found his way to that hill.
portuguese/english are the languages i use to think, but chinese is the closest thing to my “second language” these days: when i communicate with a non-english speaking foreigner, i instantly speak in chinese. it’s unconscious and… weird.
which is why i really need to find someone to practice this with, before i forget it all. any tips?
4 replies on “Où voulez-vous aller aujourd’hui?”
Sure, get a new boyfriend… no, just kidding.
Just find a french friend and have a chat once in a while using Skype :)
Come on ! If you’re coming in August, I’ll be happy to speak French with you :) And first lesson: it’s “aujourd’hui”, with an extra u (the spelling of this word is really weird, if you ask me).
I think that finding a language exchange is the best you can do. If you go to the language faculty of the nearest university you are likely to find boards with people advertising.
Secondly, internet radio is a good way to keep your ear in.
I found exactly the same between French and Chinese when I arrived in China and then Chinese and Spanish when I arrived here. Thankfully my Chinese friends here don’t speak English so I quite happily switch between Spanish and Chinese with them now mid sentence. It’s a nice trick :-)
Good luck with the French, I’m sure it will flood back soon enough,
J
thank you nathalie :)