Can you find the mot juste? (The right word.) A propos of what? (Regarding what?) Franglais is my bete noir (my nightmare, or at very least my sore point).
At school in England I learned French as a second language and wanted to learn Spanish and German (and the Greek, Russian and Hebrew alphabets, as well as shorthand) but the curriculum didn't allow it.
At university, I was afraid of wasting and losing my French, so in my long summer holiday (which I learned the Americans called vacation, like the French vacances) I was keen to visit Montreal on a trip to the USA and Canada to keep up my French. (Also to find out if I would fall in love with Montreal and one day want to move to Canada to live and work there or marry there or retire there.)
.svg.png)
On the plus side, I kept up my French, and discovered that in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, government employees had to be able to converse and write in French and English to deal with their citizens.
Where can you go nowadays on business or holiday to learn or keep up with a second language? On continental America, you still have bilingual Canada, at least in the capital. We went to the Caribbean and stayed on St Martin/Sint Maarten where one half is french and the other half is Dutch. Dutch resembles German.
In Singapore, which has four official languages, I read the signs in English, Chinese and Malay. It is very slow going, and makes me realise how much easier it is for me to learn Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and German, which I have started on Duolingo.
Here are the countries where you can see, hear, learn or practise two (or more) languages.
BILINGUAL/MULTILINGUAL COUNTRIES (alphabetically)
Canada = French and English
Singapore
On the MRT (train system, mostly underground) you can read and hear announcements in the four recognized languages, English, Chinese (Mandarin), Malay, and Tamil.
UK
England
Government documents on health are often issued in several languages. To recognize words, use a learners dictionary, or for advanced speakers an etymological dictionary.
For understanding and remembering surnames use use the Dictionary of Surnames (Penguin). For first names, I suggest a baby names book. The best for a desk is the huge thick reference work, 50,000 baby names from around the world.
For a little lightweight book to dip into and out of on long train journeys, read, What's In A Name - the origin of station names.
Wales
Road signs and tourist boards information are written in Welsh and English. Railway stations have signs in Welsh and English, sometimes only in Welsh. Trains have information panels in both languages. Bookshops and supermarkets often sell books on Welsh and English, phrasebooks and dictionaries.
Scotland
We had a wee problem. Not a pee problem, a wee problem, a small problem.
Please save, bookmark, and share your favourite posts by sending links to your friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment