Monday, March 14, 2011

Bonjour tout le monde!

Gone are the days where the only French I know are “oui” or “non”. Or the notorious chorus of the hit remake song “Lady Marmalade” by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim Mya and Pink. “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?” I don't think so.

Sometimes it's the New Year hype which inspires a person to become better or to try and reach for one’s dream. There’s simply this feeling to go for it and make things happen. So while the motivation is still there, why not learn a new language which typically appears in bucket lists. You may want to try one of the three so called romantic languages: French, Italian and Spanish. Otherwise, study the dead language Latin where the three originated from. It is fascinating how languages are inter-related. In fact they share words such as “bien” meaning good in both Spanish (bi-ehn) and French (bi-ahn). Well it may be too late for Valentine’s but you sure do have time for next year’s to practice it.

Lesson #1: In case you don't know yet, there are no French fries in France! This is because they call it “pom frittes” or simply “frittes” and it really originated from Belgium.

Lesson #2: Paris, France is well-known for being the “City of Love” maybe that is why French is considered the most romantic of language. Although I think none of the three would let one of them officially win. On a still related note, it is quite funny that according to my teacher they don’t really know why the “French kiss” is attributed to them. He said maybe because they are amazing kissers.

On the other hand, I didn’t take a class in Alliance Française de Manille to study fun facts. I was there to learn this beautiful language and lucky me, I got a real French to teach me. My teacher named Charlélie forewarned us that French can be very fun at start; I think everything is anyway. It started with learning how to say different nationalities and how to introduce ourselves of course! We felt like we were going too slow paced but foundation is important. Later on, we found ourselves dealing with numerous ways of saying hellos and good byes. While conjugating words are a necessity but there's that tempting I-couldn’t-care-less feeling. It might be a bit complicated but patience is the key. None of us want to embarrass ourselves by having the wrong grammar. I'm pretty sure the sweat will pay off. The French also have their own numbers which stop at soixante-neuf (sixty-nine) and from there you have to either add or multiply like quatre·vingt (4 x 20) for eighty.

With regards to understanding, sometimes you feel like you do. Otherwise you could consult your handy dandy French pocket dictionary. As for the way you pronounce the words; just listen carefully, let the sound linger and you will get it. No need to pressure yourself. It will suddenly become natural. You'll find out when and which words are being pronounced silently. If your tone is going up or done.

What I loved the most about alliance is that it is a school but it didn't feel like one! For our class, there were no assignments. No peer pressure and that anxious feeling that you might fail. Mistakes were acceptable. You are in a small group where everyone gets a chance to participate. The teacher isn't intimidating, he's goal there is to teach and not to grade. You're studying because you want to; not because you have to. There's that willingness to learn.

It was a breather for school life. I'm used to being in a classroom with more or less 40 people and everyone is my age. Age is just a number, true that! It was fun being around with adults for a change. People coming from different professions; artist, journalists, teacher, doctors, yuppies, students and etc. It made me wonder what and where would I be when the time comes. It makes you think of your own future, if you'll be doing something you love and God knows what else was on my mind.

Alliance is not all about learning French. I also don't have to go all the way to Musée du Louvre to see art. The school itself hosts art exhibits of Filipino artists such as Arturo Luz and Ambie Abano.

But only in Alliance where you'll see a Chanel book in the religion section. It was right beside a book about Moses and several bibles. I know Chanel's life work is worthy to become a fashion bible and a religion for fashionista, however; it is still weird to locate it there.

Since I enjoyed learning, I seek help online from Google Translate and Babel Fish. And if a French talks to me more than I could understand, there's “je ne sais pas” meaning I don't know to back me up. See, that was just four magical syllables as easy as A, B and C.

There's nothing better than feeding yourself with new knowledge. Together with the learning experience throughout the journey that creates self-fulfillment. Whatever reason you have. It can be something you've always wanted, maybe for work or simply because it's romantic! If you can, go for it! Coming from a famous French saying, “C'est La Vie!”

posted by: mars @ 3:20 AM

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