| As
I became older, my English started to become more
developed than my French as my education both at school
and in the social realm was now in English. I
was still not allowed to speak English at home and I
began to see that I was sometimes struggling to find
words to express myself. When I would use an English
word, my parents would tell me to stop speaking
"Franglais"(Francais-Anglais/French-English ). My parents’ insistence that my siblings and I continue to speak only French at home gave us the advantage of bilingualism. When we visited the relatives in France, they were surprised that my brother, sister and I sounded like regular French kids and had no accents. Similarly, my friends here in the U.S. always forgot that I was not American because I spoke English like them. When the World’s Fair came to our area, I became an interpreter/translator and hostess for the French Government. I was recognized as being the most bilingual since the French who came with the French Government spoke English with difficulty, those who already lived in the USA had French accents, and the Americans who helped out spoke French with English accents. I was told with amazement that I was perfectly bilingual. This, as I found out, is not always a good thing and can lead to another level of cultural and lingual inadequacy. |
When we visited the relatives in France, they were surprised that my brother, sister and I sounded like regular French kids and had no accents. Similarly, my friends here in the U.S. always forgot that I was not American because I spoke English like them.
I was told with amazement that I was perfectly bilingual. This, as I found out, is not always a good thing and can lead to another level of cultural and lingual inadequacy. |