Monday, April 18, 2011

Language Struggles

I am feeling pretty hopeless about learning French. I have French Rosetta Stone, which I could be doing more diligently,  I  watch TV in French, and am currently reading the scriptures in French, but its not enough. I know I am learning because I find that I can read French pretty well, but when it comes to listening, comprehending and speaking French, that's a different story.

I have a group of moms in the village and we get together once a week for play group and to talk about whatever women talk about. I sit there feeling really dumb not saying anything because I don't understand the conversation and I don't think that anything I have to say is worth spending 5 minutes just to get out one sentence. I worry that this makes me seem really shy and boring. Sometimes one of the girls will translate into English what is being said, and I just feel so out of place. But I really want to know the language and interact on a more personal level with them.

A big part of me wants to just tell everyone that I no longer speak English, so they will have to speak to me in French, and maybe I will start to pick it up...I just don't feel like I have enough of a background in French to drop English all together. 

Sorry this is so boring, its just been on my mind a lot.

2 comments:

Tiffany said...

Maybe you should go knocking doors and try to convert someone to the gospel; that apparently does wonders for language learning! totally kidding, but good luck

Betty said...

Let's see--you've been there 2 months and you want to speak French like a native? I can understand: I dream of going to sleep one night and awakening being able to play piano like a professional--without practicing! See, I can totally understand? You'll get there! Love ya, G'ma