OK. Remind Me Again, What Language Do I Speak?

 

Eh bien, it's Wednesday, so I must be French today.  Je suis un homme français aujourd'hui.  I know because I rushed to update this blog first as opposed to my Italian one, http://dailyitalian123.blogspot.com/.  As all my thousands of followers (dream-on, Guillaume :)) know, I have a severe case of multiple language personalities and I could wake up on any give day a vieux chevalier, vaquero, o un cavaliere disinvolto.  Pour maintenant, j'suis un gentilhomme français.  No, I'm not a lunatic; I'm only exaggerating (a little).

I think I'm vulnerable to this disorder (dis-ORDER)  

1. because I'm not a very orderly person, and
2. because I'm eager to get to the point where I can carry on a reasonably complex conversation and understand responses in that conversation in at least one language besides English.  

For some reason, it's hard to pinpoint, I'm finding Italian slow-going and that getting even a tiny bit fluent in it would take much, much longer than French or Spanish.  Besides, I'm way ahead of the game in French, because I had four years of formal in-class training in it and have at least partially maintained my skills with it over the years.  As for Spanish, its pronunciation and its compact grammar just seem to make it easier for English speakers to absorb.  When I carry on made-up conversations with myself (Watch it, now!  Je ne suis pas un lunatique) in French, I don't have to struggle to get something out, even if it's not perfect.  When I attempt to do that in Italian, it seems much harder.  Some of that has to do with Italian's quirky rhythm and tones, the very thing that makes it so beautiful.  Syllables in specific Italian words can be stressed just about anywhere, and if you learn the incorrect stress, then it's hard to undo that habit.  French, for the most part has very consistent stress on every syllabe equally, though with a slight emphasis on the last syllable.  I could, I suppose, just learn to read Italian and set French as my 'working' language.  

But I know that though I feel this way today, tomorrow is Thursday and I may wake up Italian, or Spanish, or maybe even German.  Guten Tag!

A la prochaine...