Appendix B

I am willing to admit that in my stubbornness and need to rationalize, analyze and justify, I haven't used all of the tips offered to fully integrate into ma nouvelle vie en France. It sounds weird to say, but I have been here almost 3 months, and while I should be a bona fide frenchie and fluent in French, I am not even close. Maybe it is my natural skepticism and need to play devils advocate, but I am continually puzzled by suggestions that if I completely immerse myself in the language I will be fluent in 2-3 months? Part of this suggestion is to watch lots of French TV... I didn't watch much TV in Canada, and I have to say that an episode of Friends in french is ... well ... foreign; and if you don't find Marge or Lisa Simpsons' voices irritating in english, they are ridiculously grating in french.

I can get by tout seul in France, and have relative ease with everyday activities like transportation, shopping, giving simple directions... and for some reason when out on my own, I am approached for directions much too often for my own liking ... don't people know that I don't know where I am, let alone speak french? I guess it means that I look like a true cultured French femme .... and that is not a bad thing!!

Quand même... a couple of days ago on an english website with information on living in Lyon in english... (okay so maybe this is another reason that I am not fluent yet...), I came across an ad for used english books for sale. After contacting the seller, I went to check out the goods and had an enlightening conversation with the vendor, originally from England, who has been living in France for 25 years! Without prompting she told me that it took her one year to feel fully comfortable and confident in France and to understand and communicate in French! She stated that she knew very little french before moving to France and moved here to work in a lab, so she was surrounded by the language. She went on to describe some of the same confusions I am having and admitted that after 25 years, while she is fluent she still has difficulties with word endings and clear communication at times. I could relate to her initial frustrations of hearing the first and last words of a sentence, while the rest of the sentence runs on into a blur of sounds and syllables.

So the moral of this story is that in the words, advice and experience of another english folk, I am right on track and should be proud that I sound cute when I speak french, and not feel bad or disappointed that I am not rolling my rrrr's or speaking from the depths of my throat.