Bonjour, et Merci
Posted: January 26th, 2010 | Author: Shawn | Filed under: language | 3 Comments »
Of the 6912 recognized languages in the world I bet none of their “hello” and “thanks” sound as true to meaning as French. I’m big on listening to how people speak, how they sound and what they say. Bonjour and merci seem to be two words that even if you don’t know a word of French, you would know what they mean.
Comparatively speaking, “Hello” and “Thanks” just don’t cut it. Hello sounds like a kids cartoon character and thanks sounds like an itchy sore.
“Um.. are you okay there, Janet? You’re sure itching a lot.”
“Oh dude, I know. I have the worst case of thanks on my bum. It’s driving me mad! The itching totally distracted me while I was trying to watch the new episode of Hello & Tinkles Go To PooPoo Town.”
See what I mean? As I wrap up my last few days in Montreal I know I’m really going to be sad to go from bonjour and merci to hello and thanks.
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// shawn
I’m about to write a blog post about how living in a bilingual country sucks when you’ve never had the opportunity to experience immersion education. Dammit. I do love the French though, I do, I do!
[Reply]
Shawn Reply:
January 26th, 2010 at 08:01
Realistically though, it’s not a “bilingual country”. It’s bilingual government and packaging and that’s about it. The rest of the provinces are just english, and the rest of Quebec is just french. Actually, Montreal may be the only real example of a truly bilingual location in Canada. This is the only spot in the country I know of where you can speak either language at any time.
And yea, it’s a beautiful language. I just suck at learning languages well :)
[Reply]
Candice Reply:
January 26th, 2010 at 08:04
Hahaha yeah I know, but employment-wise, I could get a ridiculously amazing government job if I were bilingual, and I never had the opportunity to learn because I grew up in rural NL. At least half my friends are fluent in French, it’s depressing.
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