... and now for some French lessons à la Montréal

(Canada chronicles continued ...)

Je suis ici à Montréal (I am here in Montreal), I mainly seem to be drawn to take photos of signs, maybe because they're in French. A great way to learn. Life is our best classroom.
Maintenant, le mercredi soir, je suis ici dans ce café 'downtown'. (Now, on Wednesday evening, I'm in this café downtown). Just in case I don't go to any cafés to blog or check email tomorrow, I'm pre-shceduling this as Thursday's post.
After buying a drink or something to eat (I bought darjeeling tea), they give you a card with a code to type in and connect to the wireless. Pouvez-vous comprendre le français?
J'aime cette poubelle (I like this dustbin). If I'm reading it correctly, it's basically saying 'hungry dustbin seeks dirty pizza'. Funny. Great idea to get people to throw rubbish in the bin by sticking clever signs like that. I wonder if it will work in Trinidad.

Stop

Because there are others ... think. Slow down. (At least, minus my dictionary and given the context, I would guess that 'ralentissez' means 'slow down').

And who can translate what this French chien (dog) is saying?

Wawa is the name of the company being advertised, but this Montreal billboard also implies that "wawa" is how dogs bark in French (or at least how humans would spell a French dog's bark).

I often wonder if animals in different countries have different accents. I first really wondered a few years ago when I was in Grenada and heard a barking dog, closely followed by a bleating goat, both sounding (to me) markedly different to those in Trinidad.

Has anyone else ever heard or wondered about animal accents?

Salut de Montréal

(Canada chronicles continued ...)Sun coming in through the sunroof on the way to Montreal

Maintenant je suis a Montreal.
Now I am in Montreal.

Je suis arrivée Lundi, la nuit.
I arrived on Monday night.

Je reste ici jusqu'à vendredi.
I'm staying here until Friday.

Donc je vais autre fois à Toronto.
Then I'll go again to Toronto.

Je suis dans un petit café ou il y a l’internet (wireless). On doit acheter quelque chose à boire ou à manger et l’internet est libre.
I am in a little café where there is wireless internet. You buy something to eat or drink and the internet is free.

Je parle français avec personnes. J'aime parler en français.
I am speaking French with people. I like to speak in French.

Je pense qu’il y a beaucoup de fautes dans mon français, mais c’est okay. Je pratique.
I think there are lots of errors in my French but that’s okay. I’m practicing.

Il fait froid à Montréal (plus que Toronto), avec la pluie. “Ce n’est pas comme été,” tout le monde disent.
It is cold in Montreal (more than Toronto), with rain. “It’s not like summer,” everyone is saying.

Montréal est okay, mais je prefière Toronto.
Montreal is okay, but I prefer Toronto.

Coincidence! Comme j'ai écrit ça ... les deux femmes près de moi ont commencé à parler de Toronto. Une femme a dit qu'elle n'était jamais aller là. L'autre lui a dit: "Toronto is huuuuuge!"
Coincidence! As I wrote that, the two women near to me began talking about Toronto. One woman said she has never been there. The other told her: "Toronto is huuuuuuge!"

In honour of my A+ in French ...

Today I went to pick up results of the French finals. I got an A+. Out of the four categories we were marked in, my highest mark was in writing, then reading (comprehension), then listening, then speaking.

To honour my A+ I'm posting the third and final part of the introduction to "Une Bouteille de Lucioles". The next time you hear what happens will be when you are reading the text for yourself on the fresh, sweet-smelling pages ... hot off the press.

Another snippet of my French novel

Continuing the reading of the introduction of my French novel: Une Bouteille de Lucioles (a work in progress).

This time instead of just uploading the audio file on its own (as I did for the first reading), I've uploaded it to Youtube with a still frame of a flower, which is like la peau de la vieille femme (the skin of the old woman).

Translation of yesterday's reading

To know another language is to have a second soul.

- Charlemagne, King of the Franks -
(742-814)

The book cover (for now)
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On the above book cover, I've stated my name as Elspeth Duncan. However, late last year the perfect French 'pen name' came to me. It's my middle name, Blanche (as the first name) ... and a particular French word which came to mind one day as my surname. This word/surname in itself is fascinating to me on different levels because of what it means and how it came about.

It doesn't resonate to write a French novel as Elspeth Duncan. Something just wasn't feeling right. So, when I start back writing Une Bouteille de Lucioles (A Bottle of Fireflies), I will change to my French pen name. I'm sure this will influence the energy, flow and direction of the novel.

Those who don't speak French didn't understand yesterday's reading of the first few paragraphs of the novel's introduction, so I'm providing a translation of it below. (N.B. you will see in the that I refer to it as 'the invitation' rather than 'the introduction').

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The invitation

I am going to write a novel in French. This will be a very simple book. No big words, no difficult phrases. French isn’t my mother tongue. I’ve been learning it for some months in evening classes at the University. The language which I’ve been speaking my whole life is English.

Maybe you’re wondering why I’m writing in French if it’s not my mother tongue. Would you believe me if I told you that I don’t have a choice? I must only write in French. You could say that I was given an order … or perhaps, an invitation; an invitation to discover something that I don’t know yet.

Perhaps all that I’m saying now sounds strange. I understand if you think this. I’ll explain the reason soon. But first, let me ask you something:

What do you think of dreams? Do you believe that a dream can tell you something important that changes your life?

I love to dream. Each night when I go to bed, I know that I will see a free film on the screen of my mind. A dream is a window that opens to a vision of another life which we can’t see during the day when our eyes are open and our senses are occupied by the bustling world.

I’m going to explain the reason for this novel.

It all began one night – last week Monday. I was dining with some friends at home, celebrating a birthday. We finished around eleven o’clock and everyone was happy. A delicious meal, good friends, good conversation, laughter … We couldn’t ask for more.

At one in the morning, after washing the dishes, I went to bed. Soon I was sleeping very peacefully, like a baby in the arms of her mother. As usual, I began to dream. I don’t recall all that I dreamed, but I remember very well the woman who came to me in this vision. I was with some friends, somewhere in a white room when she came. Even though there were ten of us in the room, she didn’t look at my friends at all. You could say they didn’t exist. For her, I was the only one. She approached me, slowly, like a cloud in the sky on a day when there isn’t much wind.

She was very old, with skin like a dying flower: fragile, wrinkled, pale. And her hair, long and wild, rested like a silver lining around her small, intense face.

In a way, I wasn’t surprised or afraid when I saw this stranger who, evidently, had come to meet me only. Something about this old woman was innocent and glowing, almost like a cloud of fireflies in a child’s bottle. And her eyes, green and deep like the sea, contained secrets, stories and something else that I couldn’t understand.

(Continued in the rest of the 'the invitation' before launching into the actual novel)

Ecoutez, s'il vous plaît. Je vais lire de mon roman Français.

Une bouteille de lucioles

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Mes amis ...

This is a short audio file (5 mins exactement) of me reading the first few paragraphs of the (first draft) introduction to my French novel: Une Bouteille de Lucioles (A Bottle of Fireflies) ... which I've mentioned plusieurs fois on this blog.

For those who don't know, I'm currently learning French in evening classes at UWI. One day late last year I was inspired to start writing this novel. I felt it would be a more interesting way of practising, learning and remembering French ... rather than just going along with what was in the text book used in the class. At first I was compelled by it and couldn't stop writing. Then other aspects of life gradually took over and I slowed down ... and haven't been that consistent lately. In fact I've not written anything in ages. As a result, I've only reached Chapter 2. Maybe doing this will stir me to continue.

Please keep in mind (especially those who are French or who speak it fluently :) ... the written words and my delivery of them here are not an exercise in 'perfection'. For now they are what they are and it is a 'casual' reading. My intention is simply to share a first draft snippet of mon roman with you. Peut-être il y aura des fautes ... and I admit that my French pronunciation/reading isn't that hot ... mais anyone who speaks French will understand, which is the important part.

Peut-être this will be an encouragement to anyone out there who thinks they need to be 'perfect' before doing something and sharing it with others. Please don't think so. We all start somewhere, growing as we go and, hopefully, feeling comfortable enough to share something of ourselves along the path of our evolution.

Ecoutez.


This week's Sunday Scribbling's topic is 'Language'

Le Papillon Bleu

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."

- Hans Christian Anderson -
The Blue Morpho (source of image)
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Yesterday evening I went to L'Alliance Française to see a Canadian film called "Le Papillon Bleu" (The Blue Butterfly) by Léa Pool.

Lovely film. A simple (based on a true) story containing warmth, humour, hope, lovely camera close ups of forest insects ... and unexpected suspenseful moments which had me and several other audience members jumping and crying out in our seats. I imagine it would not be as impacting on a small screen.

Amazing to learn in the note at the end that the little boy's healing after visiting the forest is part of the true story.

The true-life quest of a terminally-ill ten-year-old boy who longs to capture the most beautiful butterfly on the planet comes to life on the screen in a touching drama directed by Léa Pool and starring Academy Award-winner William Hurt. In order to appreciate life to its fullest, an ageing entomologist learns that sometimes all you have to do is come out of your cocoon. When the young boy's mother convinces the renowned insect-expert to accompany her son on the journey of a lifetime, the courage that the terminally-ill child shows in realizing his dream inspires a man who has lived his entire life in a lab to get outside, connect with his fellow man, and experience the wonder of nature firsthand.

(Source of summary)

A little environmental French lesson

Source of image
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Hier soir we had a somewhat dificil French exam. The reading comprehensions (two) were okay, but still left room for guessing. The first was about Paris pollution - the main form of environmental 'degradation' being dog owners not picking up their dogs' droppings. The second reading was about the Cannes Film Festival.

The listening comprehensions (two of them) were très dificils. Thankfully they were both mainly multiple choice. I guessed my way through them as the speakers rattled away incomprehensibly at top speed about an author and her books (in the first one) and carbon dioxide emissions, reforestation, bamboo, etc. (in the second one).

For the written part we were asked to write a short speech on the subject of the environment in Trinidad and Tobago - and solutions for the problems. Luckily the vocabulary I had been learning off and remembered most clearly came from the chapters on the environment and recycling. So as soon as I saw the subject, I quickly wrote down all the words I could remember and used them in my speech.

Here are just a few. Some of them I'll link to images, so you can click on them to see what they mean. If you're like me, you remember things better when you see them visually.

Veiller à - to take care of (i.e. people in Trinidad & Tobago ne veillent pas à l'environnement).

Le sac-poubelle - Trinis need to learn the meaning of this word and use it, literally (or rather litter-ally)!

La plage - where much rubbish is left le long de l'eau (along the water's edge) - e.g. des boîtes de conserve, des bouteilles en verre (which sometimes are brisées), des bouteilles en plastique, de la nourriture ...

Le recyclage (what we definitely need to be doing here on a large scale!)

Les déchets (N.B. The photo linked to here is not a TT image. It reminds me of some scenes in Slumdog Millionaire).

The solutions I offered were:
(i) Plus d'education dans les écoles et sur la télévision, la radio, etc.
(ii) Le recyclage
(iii) The people need to become more consciencieux in general (and not just be interested in les fêtes)
(iv) TT a besoin d'un miracle.

Resurrecting my French novel

2nd page of "Chapitre Deux" so far ...
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On Sunday I started back working on my French novel after having done nothing on it for the past month or two. My French on the whole was suffering from abandonment. As a result I was losing touch, losing interest, losing my vocabulary.

But ... starting back with the novel seems to be a good thing, like striking a new match and applying it to the coals, so to speak. The flames aren't flaring yet, but they're glowing. In order to learn and retain, my brain does best when it finds creative ways of applying and experiencing the learning material (rather than just having it on the pages of a text book). Hence the novel.

This is basically how I'm writing it ... whenever we do a new chapter in the textbook, with whatever new vocabulary there is, I include it in the next stage of the novel and allow it to guide the plot. I find that makes it easier to recall and retain the new vocabulary, because I remember the story and the words that I used to construct it. Having a visual mind, I remember how the French word looks on the page (of the novel, not the texbook) and, from the image of it, I remember what it meant when I wrote it.

I confirmed this last night in French class when we were looking at a copy of the front page of a French novel. The word éblouissant was in one of the titles and notre professeur asked us what we thought it meant. I remembered it instantly because I had used it in the novel. I remembered that at the time I had thought "This is my new favourite word". I couldn't remember what it meant until I visually saw where I had placed it in the novel and saw the scene unfold like something from a film:

... inside the big tent, the colourful circus lights, the transfixed audience and the clown coming onto the stage in her dazzling outfit.

"It means dazzling," I said to le professeur.

That's what I mean by remembering vocabulary visually through the novel.

I'm supposed to be reading something at Campus Literature Week (1st week of March). I agreed to do a reading without knowing what I would read! I don't have anything new that I've written/been writing other than my French novel ... so I think I'll read an English translation of a portion of it.

French results

Writing is backwards because I took the shot using iPhoto

Learning from Mistakes

(Final French exams ce soir ... and that's all for French until next year, 3B)
Photo taken with iPhoto - hence reversed writing
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As quickly as I write some more of my French novel I send it to le professeur for him to read and correct whatever erreurs are there. Sometimes when I get back the submission I'm amazed at the pencil marks all over it. Sometimes less, sometimes more. They have to do with spelling, articles (male or female) and sentence construction that is particularly French (as opposed to English). Writing in French involves thinking in French - a whole new structure. It's like approaching 'life' in a whole new way, new patterns, new ways of thinking, being and communicating.

The pencil marks are more informative than daunting. I learn from the mistakes. Doesn't mean I won't make them again, as I've realised ...

In the context of this French novel, I am a small child, learning to walk and talk in a vast new world. I entered all gung ho - without thinking of whether it would be easy or difficult. As I write that, it reminds me of the opening two sentences of Chapitre Un:

La porte vaginale s’est ouverte et elle est entrée dans ce monde. Sa nouvelle vie commençait et elle était prête.

The vaginal door opened and she entered this world. Her new life was beginning and she was ready.

Inspiration in Cancellation

Altered screen shot of part of the introduction of mon roman.

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Hier in French le professeur told us that the Language Centre's Christmas concert/dinner has been cancelled because the person who was organising it is ill. So ... I won't get to read mon roman.

It would have been enjoyable to share some of it in that forum ... but I'm actually glad about the cancellation. I now have a great idea of what to do with my French novel once je suis finis. It is exciting and full of possibilities and I don't think it would have occurred to me had the Christmas concert not been canceled.

Albeit on a much smaller scale, this kind of reminds me of when I went to Canada in May last year to do a course in reflexology (which got canceled unexpectedly 2 or 3 days after my arrival) ... and I ended up receiving a totally different opportunity ... working on a film ... and having a greater overall experience (not only work, but play) than imagined. I was so glad the reflexology didn't happen.

The point I'm making is ... whether large or small, there's inspiration in cancellation. Be open to the great things that are waiting and wanting to happen in its aftermath.

My debut: reading some of my French novel

A photo I took in October - of small decorative lights on the trees during the Greenlight concert
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Today, by chance, I came across what is now one of my favourite French words: éblouissant -(e)

Not only does it sound good, but I love its meaning: "dazzling, staggeringly beautiful".

The French words that I come across and love (their sound and/or meaning) end up in my novel. E.g. When I came across the word "luciole" (firefly) it ended up not only in the novel, but it has a starring role as part of the novel's title.

My new éblouissante will go into the novel today and help to advance the story.

Ce soir (this evening) in French class it will be my turn to speak to the class again on a topic of interest to me. We each have to do that twice this term, for the aural part of our exams in Level 3A. Last time I showed Invisible, then (in French) spoke about the production process and the aftermath - the efforts to get the house built (which it now is).

Today I'll talk to them about mon roman (my novel), what inspired it, the process of writing it and I'll read a bit of it for them. This will also be a practice session of sorts. Whenever I write bits of the novel, I send them to my French teacher (who is French) and he makes whatever little corrections need to be made. His comments so far have been: "Excellent! Vraiment! Toutes les corrections ne sont que de détails!" (Excellent! Really! All the corrections are just details) ... and "Ouah!" (an expression of 'Wow!')

The Christmas party/concert for the Language Centre is coming up on 6th December and each class (French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, Hindi, etc) has to do something. Le professeur suggested that I read about five minutes of my novel (in French) and project the English onto a screen - possibly with images (since not everyone there will understand the French). He said it would be interesting, as "no student has ever decided to write a novel before."

Passionnant!

Mon roman français (my French novel)

To know another language is to have a second soul.

- Charlemagne, King of the Franks -
(742-814)
Text on book is backwards because of iPhoto.
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I bought my new French textbook yesterday for the Level 3A class I'm in now ... and guess what colour it is.

Speaking of 'French' and 'book' ... I am writing a novel (un roman) in French. I am compelled by it and have been working at it steadily since October 23rd when 'it all began to unfold' quite suddenly. It's like I didn't decide to do it. It decided to do me.

I don't know where this will lead, but that is the adventure of it. Writing in another language is interesting because, not being a 'master' of it, I don't have the ability to 'command' it (as with English). It commands me. New parts of my brain and consciousness kick in and I am swept along by a different current.

However, for the past two days I have been what one would ordinarily call 'stuck' ... i.e. I haven't written anything and don't 'know' what to write next. But, given the nature of the novel ... (a) I will not know what to write next until it reveals itself (b) I therefore don't see the moment of not-writing as being 'stuck'.

In a Kundalini yoga class, we follow each posture (where we 'tense' or use the body actively) with a short period of complete relaxation, to allow the energy generated through the preceding action to go where it needs to go in the body and be assimilated.

So ... I'm assimilating the energy of what has been written thus far in mon roman.

Similarly, in life ... if we relax and be patient and trusting in our 'slow' or seemingly 'stuck' and 'unknown' moments ... between periods of active doing and knowing ... instead of worrying about why 'nothing' is happening ... we would flow as and where we are meant to.

When things don't seem to be moving (physically), they still are ... energetically.

All-expenses-paid French vacation for two

The bow on my French prize.
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Take a wild guess as to what my French prize was ... then scroll down to read the answer.

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My French prize is an "Oxford French Dictionary PLUS Grammar and Culture Guide". The woman who went up before me received the prize for French Level 1. Then I went up and received for French Level 2 (the class I was in last year). Then was a woman for French Level 3. We all got dictionaries. They got huge ones (like encyclopaedias), but mine was much smaller (like a thick novel) - 8 inches high by 5 inches wide by 2 inches deep.

One might find that a dictionary is a strange prize, given that most language students already have dictionaries. But, according to the Level 1 woman, the ones we got are "the recommended ones".

When we got back to our seats the Level 3 woman said to me: "But how come we got such big ones and they gave you that small one?"

"Because mine is for traveling with," I said in all seriousness. I then added that I would no doubt find my plane tickets (for two to Paris) between the pages when I unravel the bow.

A good experience, nice to be acknowledged, encouraging to have won something, especially when I wasn't even expecting it.

Immersed in club soda ... and other news

Maracas Bay seen upon arrival through my windscreen .
I like the symbolism of this star and rainbow together: making a wish and getting the pot of gold.

*

Yesterday (Divali) I headed off early to Maracas Bay with my friend Tamara (Miss T) who is here from Toronto until December - shooting footage for a film she's working on. I'll be doing some work on it with her (shooting) in November and, if it's anything like the last time she was here, it will be fun and interesting. We reached Maracas early and the beach was fairly empty (although, being a public holiday, we knew the masses would be descending from around 10 - 11 a.m. - the time we ended up leaving). The ocean was rough, with huge waves ... but in a contradictory way, even though we were being tumbled and scraped along the sea floor, the texture of the water itself was soft and effervescent. It felt as though we were immersed in a huge washing machine full of club soda. Very cleansing and rafraichissant ... to use a French word.

Speaking of which ...

Invitation to awards ceremony (writing appears backwards because of iPhoto)
I got two other invites for two guests, which I gave to mum and one of my sisters.

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In other news:
1. This evening at the 2007/2008 Prize Award Ceremony on campus, I will receive my French prize. I can't remember if I mentioned that while in Tobago recently, I got an unexpected phone call from a woman at the University telling me I had won a prize for French. Finally I'll get to see what it is! Peut-être ... an all-expenses-paid trip for two to Paris?

2. I will be on TV tomorrow morning (Gayelle's early morning Cock-a-doodle-do programme) presenting the cheque (proceeds from the Green Carpet concert) to WORC. We will be giving all concert profits to this organisation, to assist with the vital work they do for injured and orphaned wild animals. Tune in and see what WORC is about. You may be moved to give more - cash or kind (they need volunteers).