French words and I, have had une relation turbulante; we weren’t instant friends- We didn’t hit it off- and certainment we weren’t musique for each others ears! How do you say complicated? Funny you should ask, it is the same word; compliqué, just the accent is différent. As my accent is terrible, our relationship is often a bittersweet nécessité.
Speaking French is not easy for me. The R and U sounds are difficiles to prononcer. When my daughter was three she told my Mother, "You cannot speak French, because you do not have the lips for it." She said this while puffing her pouty lips towards my Mother.
Growing up in a bilingue household, does not apply the capacité bilingue. My family is Portuguese, my parents spoke Portuguese to their parents and often to each other…I heard Portuguese constament, I know a few words:
"Drawer…underwear…boobs…give the baby some milk…dry chicken…dry fart…Godmother…melon head…big butt," as you can read I am not fluent.
If you want your children to be bilingue, you have to have more than the lips for it, it doesn’t happen naturellement. There will be times you will eat words, drink words and cuss words, speaking two langues at home, and on the street, makes you stand out, makes people stare, it is not for the meek of heart. Répéter is a pastime.
Oh c’est horrible et fantastique!
My children are bilingue, without a hiccup, nor a slur, never do they mix their words…et moi?!
(Words that I have slanted are more or less the same in English, though pronounced and written differently.) Studio Friday
Vintage papers dating 1780 until 1895. Vintage sampling of a painting: a pink flower in watercolor.
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