Cultural Post #4

After taking French for 3 years in high school and 1 year at CU I was overwhelmed with the lack of retainment I had. The worst part of it is, the more confidently you respond to a question the more natural the speaker is with their answer; then I would have to admit that I could not in fact speak French that well. Yet for some strange reason, every time Chantel and I would go to our favorite Chinese food place, my French was suddenly perfect and I understood perfectly what they were saying and how I should respond. From ordering certain foods, to telling them to heat the food up, telling them that I wanted our food to-go and even understood the price of things. My confidence never lasted though, the second we walked into a different restaurant I couldn't even begin to speak French. All other places Chantel and I would awkwardly stare at each other, hoping the other would have the confidence to start talking first. After about 2 weeks in Paris though I decided it was time to bite the bullet and start trying at least. At first its really embarrassing when you try to speak French and people simply reply in English, or just begin speaking in English before you even have the chance to say a word in French. Like the fear of speaking French in general I eventually got over my embarrassment. When people spoke to me in English I just swallowed my shame and responded in French. I don't know if people were more annoyed by this or not, but I figured that any try was better than nothing. The best feeling though was being able to hold on conversations with people, and I came to realize the more I tried the more I remembered from my years of French. When I could go into bakeries and order things without any English at all I felt like a champion of the French language. More than showing me that language really is a use it or loose it skill, this trip showed me that if you fail miserably at first if you continue trying (without shame sometimes) you'll become better at something. Sometimes people want to help you, other times they stare at you like you're a babbling idiot and can't understand a word you're saying, maybe they'll look at you like you're the most annoying american to walk the face of the Earth, but eventually it will get easier and all the work will be worth it.