My on-going efforts to master a second language have been well supported by family and friends.
Daughter Janice, who is currently upgrading her French thanks to a program offered by her employer, has given me several on-line resources as well as encouraging me to watch a series on Netflix called Au Service de la France, a parody on chauvinistic cigarette smoking government officials of that country during the 1960's.
Friend Mario has given me a few of the French textbooks he used back when he was in high school in Montreal. One book actually displays a cross section of the mouth and throat with full instructions on how to pronounce certain letter combinations. For example, to pronounce sounds like kr or gr, it says to put the tip of the tongue against the lower front teeth and then slide the back of the tongue from the palate to the uvula.
Yikes! I didn't even know I had an uvula.
Luckily for me, sounding out French words like cravate and gris is not my problem.
On the lighter side, a pickleball friend, whose French is of the 1.0 variety, sent me this wonderful little blague as an encouragement.
A stuffy Englishman learning French with his wife took her to Paris to practise the language. He took her to an upscale restaurant for a full-course meal. When his soup arrived the Englishman discovered a fly floating on it.
Indignant, he called to the waiter, "Garcon, il y a un mouche dans ma soupe." The waiter thought quickly of a way to deflate this irritating Englishman. "Monsieur",il a dit, "ce n'est pas un mouche, c'est une mouche."
The wife thought this absolutely incredible. Turning to the waiter, she exclaimed," Mon Dieu, what fantastic vision you must have!"
I'm now realizing that if it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes at least two villages to resurrect a language.
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