patrimoine
the parisian translator at work found out today that i'm half francophone. intrigued, she immediately asked for a demonstration, saying she found quebec accents "cute", but the quebec french translator was standing there, and i found myself too self-conscious to do it.
the thing is, i haven't had a full french conversation in almost a year and a half. when i left montreal, i'd been living with francophones for almost two years, i'd been dating one, half of my co-workers spoke french, as did most of the other people i saw day to day. my accent wasn't perfect (and certainly not by quebec standards), but it was better than at any other point in my life.
of all the things i expected to feel upon moving to ontario, culture shock was not one of them. i don't think i realized how important my french heritage was until i moved to an area where it wasn't the norm.
at the same time, i think it has to do with more than french specifically. i've always existed in a bilingual environment, and thinking today of the cities i that interest me most (san francisco, new orleans, montreal), i've realized that a big part of it has to do with their cultural diversity.
when i stop and think about what it would be like to only understand one language, it's like imagining what it would be like to see out of only one eye. i hate winter, but it's also important to me for my mythical future children to grow up aware of their heritage, and for that reason i can't see myself ever straying very far.
if only my primary school teachers could hear me now...
the thing is, i haven't had a full french conversation in almost a year and a half. when i left montreal, i'd been living with francophones for almost two years, i'd been dating one, half of my co-workers spoke french, as did most of the other people i saw day to day. my accent wasn't perfect (and certainly not by quebec standards), but it was better than at any other point in my life.
of all the things i expected to feel upon moving to ontario, culture shock was not one of them. i don't think i realized how important my french heritage was until i moved to an area where it wasn't the norm.
at the same time, i think it has to do with more than french specifically. i've always existed in a bilingual environment, and thinking today of the cities i that interest me most (san francisco, new orleans, montreal), i've realized that a big part of it has to do with their cultural diversity.
when i stop and think about what it would be like to only understand one language, it's like imagining what it would be like to see out of only one eye. i hate winter, but it's also important to me for my mythical future children to grow up aware of their heritage, and for that reason i can't see myself ever straying very far.
if only my primary school teachers could hear me now...