Wednesday, 19 January 2011

Lost in Translation





Quick post. Two funny(ish) things that have stemmed from my inability to speak French have happened whilst I've been here in Montpellier. The first was last Tuesday, my first day in school. The teacher was introducing me to the class and asked if I had come via Paris. I thought she had asked if I'd visited Paris, so I said yes. I did not come via Paris. She then asked me if I had come here by plane. (En Francais, aeroplane in avion.) I thought that she has asked me if I had ever been to Avignon. I said no. So my first lesson learnt was two fold. 1). My ability to understand French isn't that great. 2). If I can think of any way to respond to a question in French, even if I can only think of lie, if I can say it in French, I will say it.


The second thing happened in school with my teacher again. We were talking about a lesson that I was going to be teaching that afternoon and she asked me how long it would last. My answer was this "a peu pres trente ans". That mean's about thirty years. I wondered why Francoise (the teacher, how French is her name?!) looked a little bit surprised and confused. Then I realised that basically I'd just told her that I'd prepared a little English lesson that shouldn't last any longer than about thirty years. I think that she think's that I'm a moron. 



On the upside, Montpellier is beautiful. The weather is beautiful. And now that Mr.K is here, all is right with the world. (Apart from the fact that I missed my Mom's birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday Mom!)


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