french? anglais?
This week (Aug. 19-27) I have the privilege of taking a seminary level course at the Institute Biblique de Nogent, a small city on the outskirts of Paris. It is on a subject that is very interesting and helpful to my work, but...ummm...it lasts about 8 hours a day, and did I mention that it is ALL in French?! My conversational language skills are progressing, but this level of a class would still be hard if taken in English because of the depth of study. My notes are a melange...one sentence will be in French b/c I can't translate fast enough in my head and then be ready to hear the next one...the next sentence will be in English b/c I got the general idea of a few sentences and then can't take the time to translate it back into French for writing...well, you get the idea. By the end of the day my head is tired. A girl asked me today if I was understanding everything , I lauged and said "No". I wonder how long it takes before you really understand every word someone says in your second language because I think it will be a while yet for me to dream of that. At least I am interacting and learning from some interesting people :)
posted by Bethany at 4:55 PM
2 Comments:
Ya know Bethany you're learning a third language...ya already know English, Texan and now French. Talking about bilingual!!!
Keep up the good work!!
o~\o
Yeah, I wonder if there is such a thing as becoming "fluent" in a second langauge. Only because other people have done it do I know it is possible. I have pretty good conversation skills and better grammar than my boss who has been here six years and I still find myself saying "huh?" more times in a day than I would like to admit. It seems like even when I understand every word things often still make no sense to me. Anyway, you aren't alone!
Lindsey
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