Saying it Twice

Merededieu

 

 

Growing up bi-lingual doesn't just happen. It takes dedication, a great deal of patience and repeating words, over and over again. French Husband spoke French to the children, and naturally, I spoke English to them.

 

When Chelsea was three years old, she said with sweet reflection at the dinner table, "Mere de Dieu." I glanced over at French Husband who was beaming with pride. He whispered to me, "Chelsea said, Mother of God, in French she is praying."

Chelsea repeated, "Mer-de…Dieu!" Then she started to giggle. I leaned over to French Husband, and asked if I was missing an inside joke or something? He shook his head no but studied Chelsea with a very stern look.

"Mer-de... dieu." She giggled louder.

Next, she went on to say with the sweetest little voice, "Mere de Dieu." She repeated this over and over, once with a sweet voice, and then Merde Dieu with a stern voice giggling at the end of each round. "Mer-de  Dieu.  Mere de Dieu.  Merde Dieu. Merde Dieu. Mere de Dieu…"

 

 French Husband, was speechless, a tad shocked. Chelsea was hearing the sounds of the words "mere de," which means, "mother of." Then saying them quickly together mere-de, realizing she was saying, "merde," which means shit in English.

One of the best things about being a bi-lingual family was moments like this. 

Beaming at French Husband I said, "At least I know she didn't learn it from me."

 

 



Comments

5 responses to “Saying it Twice”

  1. These things always make me laugh!
    My husband used to say something that I thought was “singe” when he was annoyed. I thought it was adorable, to say “monkey,” the way people say “mince” or “mercredi” instead of “merde.” But he was saying “saint dieu.”
    Our kid would talk to me in English and Papa in French. If something was said in French and I replied or reacted, my kid would give me a stern, “I wasn’t talking to you!”
    For a while, our kid thought that adults spoke English or French but kids spoke only French–after all, that was the situation in life here. We were on the plane to the US and a little American boy was just in front of our kid. They made faces and soon made friends, but my kid insisted on speaking French (but English to me). Eventually, the little boy complained to his parents that the kid in the next row had seemed nice but was crazy.

  2. Love it! Wishing I could have had a bi-lingual learning as a child.

  3. That’s hilarious. I never would’ve thought the French version of that word would be spelled “merde”…..that sounds so innocent compared to our version!

  4. Diogenes

    Too funny Corey! It’s a wonderful asset for Chelsea and Sacha to have two languages.

  5. Just brilliant, it is little moments like these that we cherish forever. Having bi-lingual children is incredible, I feel so proud of our children every day, but I do know it is one of the best gifts we could ever have given them, even though ours had to learn French at school rather than growing up in a bilingual family.

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