Most people who know me have no clue that English isn't my first language. But it isn't; my first language was French. I started speaking French when I was two years old, and English when I was four. My father wanted me to learn French so I could have more opportunities in Canada. I attended French schools until Grade 5; then, we moved to Ontario. I still held onto my French for a while, all the way though high school, but after that I simply never used it. Fast forward over thirty years, and it's barely there.
I can mostly follow a conversation in French now, but I lost the knack for thinking in the language. That's the key to any language, really. You have to be able to think using the concepts and words of that language. You can't just translate in your head, unless you're one of those incredibly rare polyglots.
So, I've decided that this year, I'm going to get my French back. I'm going to do this in a couple of ways. I'm watching some online videos to get my mind trained in thinking in the language again. I'm also picking up my study of Latin. Why Latin? Because it's the most fundamental language of Western civilization, that's why. French is a modified, vernacular form of Latin. French borrowed a lot of words from Latin, almost directly. So, learning Latin will help bring back some of the French I lost, as well as helping me to get some of the French I never learned. Even when I was still top of my class in high school French, my vocabulary was no better than that of a ten-year-old, since that's how old I was when I stopped using it regularly.
Living and working here on Prince Edward Island means coming into contact with quite a few French-speakers. Being able to communicate in that language will help in my dealings with them. Besides, I still love French, and it would be fun to watch Montreal Canadiens games in the correct language again.
So, it's off to French lessons once again. It should be fun; I can't wait to go on this linguistic adventure.
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