french class

In the past few years, I’ve been taking classes that require a lot of reading and writing; literature and philosophy mainly.  This semester, however, I find myself in a completely different type of class:  Elementary French I.  It’s proving to be quite the interesting experience.

My classes leave me excited in my heart and mind, but exhausted in the face.  For over two and a half hours every week I’m forming shapes with my mouth that until now have been completely unfamiliar to my facial muscles.  Now, I’m not totally unfamiliar with foreign languages.  I’ve spoken Polish since I can remember.  In fact, it was actually the first language I learned.  My mother has told me that as early as three years old, I was able change from speaking Polish to speaking English without missing a syllable, and I knew who would understand which language.  I also took Spanish for two years in middle and high school and received “A”s. 

One would like to think that prior foreign language experience would be a benefit to learning yet another language.  Well…yes and no…

Speaking both Polish and Spanish, I can roll my “r”s with the best of ‘em.  It wasn’t until I met my husband who never took a foreign language lession in his life to discover that this rolling talent is not possessed by one and all.  Now, this fabulous skill is proving to be a small obstacle to my tongue when learning the French “r”.  Totally different concept for my whole mouth.  To acquire the correct sound of the French “r” I have to produce a noise that’s a cross between a grunt and a gargle.  As I practice this sound, I’ve come to realize that when Americans are trying to impersonate (and make fun of, which we Americans do so well when facing something different than ourselves) a stereotypical French speaking person, it’s this precise grunt/gargle sound that makes up the caricature.  The other sound I seem to have an issue with is the French “e”.  The best way I can remember how to pronounce this vowel is to pretend that I can’t think of anything to say.  In other words, uhhhhhh……… 

French is a gorgeous sounding language, when you’re pronouncing it correctly.  Now that I’ve started to get over the above obstacles I’m facing new sound challenges as letter combos come into play.  What fun.  But seriously, I am truly enjoying this class even if my facials muscles are cursing me out.  And as I become better at pronunciation, I must admit that I feel quite cultured if not a bit pretentious.

~ by dirtworshipper on October 19, 2007.