Friday, January 15, 2010

English or Francais ou Viet!

I had my French class this morning and I have found that Elementary 1 is moving at a much faster pace than Beginners. I am going to have to pull my finger out if I want to keep up. I am enjoying it though and it is definitely a challenge. The main problem is that I am pretty rubbish at languages in general, English included, and my life these days seems to be revolved around nothing but languages.

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I am learning French. On Saturday and when out and about in Hanoi I am speaking Vietnamese and every other day I am teaching English. I am now starting to mix up the languages which is confusing everyone; me included.

I asked Celine a question this morning half in Vietnamese and the rest in French. When I realised what I was saying my reply was in English..........."SHIT!" or was it "MERDE!". I just don't know anymore......Arrrrhhh.

I got a taxi the other night to go and eat some dog on the last day of the lunar calender with a mate. I was chatting away and the poor driver had no idea what I was going on about. I was asking questions in broken Vietnamese, responding in French and changing to English when I knew he was as lost as I was.

Regardless of all the confusion I think I am gradually making progress in all three languages. I came to Hanoi still trying to work out the difference between a verb and an adjective in English and now I not only know the difference but I can name a bunch in all three languages. How awesome is that?

I am lost in the languages at the momentbut it does make for an interesting day.

In no particular order......

Goodbye
Au revoir
Tam Biet

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