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Degemer mat en Bretagne! | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5778 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes  Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 1 of 13 14 July 2011 at 4:01pm | IP Logged |
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I'm visiting Brittany, the northwestern Celtic part of France, for three weeks with my family. This log is going to be a language-centered travel journal about my experiences in this part of France.
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| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5778 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 2 of 13 14 July 2011 at 4:05pm | IP Logged |
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9.7.11 - Saturday
First day in France. Jetlagged and exhausted to the extreme after 32 hours of wakefulness, including a brief midnight sojourn in the Reykjavik airport to watch the sun set, and then rise again about ten minutes later. Arrived in Paris with the family at 6 a.m. and managed, by trial and error, to get a rental car and get the heck out of the city. We made our merry and mishap-laden (and steadily groggier) way towards Brittany, stopping to see the Chartres cathedral, and finally arriving at our gorgeous little rental cottage on a small farm just north of Quimper at about 8 p.m. We were greeted by the enormously charming landlord, who managed to entice conversation from me which my sister later described as "dazzlingly fluent-sounding." Sum total of interactions with the feared French in their own language today: - a jolly storekeeper in Chartres; we all ordered food and drinks in more or less broken French, and she beamed and chatted back in French without once dropping into English. - another jolly storekeeper, also in Chartres; we dropped in just to buy water but ended up talking briefly with her, and my father reminisced that the lovely scent of her boulangerie reminded him of his childhood visit to France fifty years ago. - a very obliging young postman, who, upon hearing that we had lost our way, hopped back in his delivery truck and led us all the way to the turn we had been supposed to take. - a casher at Lidl, who repeatedly commented "oh la la…" when hearing that we had just arrived from the US that day, and when I interjected a politely deprecating comment about the state of our collective French, she very pointedly said "C'est déjà très bien!" - our new landlord, M. Bothorel, who spoke carefully and clearly for us but didn't constrain his choice of topics and, being an amazingly friendly and welcoming fellow, made it quite a joy to practice one's French with him. After we had spoken with him a bit, both sides started excusing their own limited abilities, but M. Bothorel protested against my self-assessment of my father and me, saying "But you already know all the words in the dictionary!" All these exchanges took place entirely in French, and every aspect of them surprised me pleasantly. I try not to be prejudiced, but I've heard several horror stories about the French (Parisians in particular) not having any patience with imperfect attempts to speak their language, and the positivity and warmth that greeted all four of us at every step of the way was wonderfully unexpected. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5778 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 3 of 13 14 July 2011 at 4:06pm | IP Logged |
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10.7.11 - Sunday
Today we went to a "pardon" (religious procession) in the neighboring village of Locronan, supposed to be "the most beautiful town in Brittany." It was indeed lovely, although I feel uncomfortable in places that are so obviously oriented 100% towards tourists and their money. That, compared with what I saw as a commercialization of these people's spirituality, made my experience there not exactly thrilling. However, I did get in some more French-speaking. - very brief conversation with a crêpe-seller; - asking a few storekeepers where to find things in the village; - ordering more crêpes (hey, we're in Brittany, after all!) and drinks from various eateries; - jolly conversation with a waiter in the last crêperie. This last exchange was the best. My father had greeted the waiter in slightly rushed tones, but later in our meal, as we were all talking to him, he said (in French, of course): "When you relax, you speak French very well!" He told us that he has been learning English himself because he wants to travel around the world, but after saying just a few words in English, he returned to French, and even taught us all a few new words. I've been amazed at how absolutely everyone we talk to here is perfectly willing to speak to us in French, and doesn't just immediately switch to English, even those who work in tourism. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5778 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 4 of 13 14 July 2011 at 4:07pm | IP Logged |
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11.7.11 - Monday
Today's Monday, so hardly anything is open. However, while walking around a small village center (Plogonnec) to admire the church, we met two very friendly young men, a native Breton and a visiting Colombian. I spoke a few brief words in Spanish with the Colombian, and some French with the Frenchman, who then taught me how to say "Welcome to Brittany" in Breton, coaching me carefully on the pronunciation when he saw I was genuinely interested. It sounded something like "Degamer mat a vo Cornouaille." (Anyone able to correct my spelling of that?) At one moment, including the four of us in my family and the two guys, a sum total of four languages at once was being spoken: English, French, Breton, and Spanish. Later, we asked a jolly old woman for directions to the supermarket, which she gave us very clearly. Overall, I'm finding that French is a lot easier to understand than I had anticipated. My sister, who previously claimed to hate French, today told me that she's starting to really like it. She was also excited to find that she understood a lot more of what M. Bothorel said when he dropped by the cottage with a few books for us this morning. He's turning out to be an absolutely dear fellow, and the farm is gorgeous – I feel so lucky to be here. So, speaking today: - French and one phrase of Breton with the Breton fellow - Spanish with the Colombian guy - asking old woman for directions 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5778 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 5 of 13 14 July 2011 at 4:08pm | IP Logged |
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12.7.11 - Tuesday
Today we went to Quimper, the biggest town in the region and the capital of Finistère (or, as the locals call it, Cornouaille). It was very very touristy, at least west of the cathedral. I spoke quite a bit more French, though: - quite a sizeable conversation with a fast-talking woman at the post office, from whom we bought two phones and three SIM cards; - asking for directions from an elegant gentleman who ran a graphic-novel shop; - entertaining conversation with a very jolly produce-seller in a market, from whom we bought lots of fruits and vegetables (I told him we wanted to make a vegetable soup, and he recommended a certain type of potato called, I believe, "de la Binche" potatoes); - ordering food at a crêperie near the center of town; - asking at a few different places for barley ("orge"), which I was proud to notice people could understand when I said it on the first try, even though it was clearly a word they weren't expecting to hear from us Americans (they kept asking "Pour les animaux?" and we said "Non, pour nous! Pour la soupe!"). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5778 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 6 of 13 14 July 2011 at 4:10pm | IP Logged |
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13.7.11 - Wednesday
This was a beautiful sunny day, so we went to the beach at Beg-Meil, near Fouesnant. It was a great lazy summer day, spent lying on the white sand, reading and writing as clouds drifted by and waves crashed on the beach, and hearing children squealing in various languages as they ran in and out of the cold water. Speaking for today: - brief conversation with M. Bothorel, who dropped by to give us some tips about local Bastille Day celebrations and taught us that "feu d'artifice" means "fireworks"; - a successful conversation with a "France Télécom" employee in a phone store, where I explained that we had inserted our SIM cards but were unable to figure out our phone numbers; - with an employee at a "biscuiterie" in the town of "Forêt de Fouesnant"; - with an ice cream vendor in the same town (she told my sister and me that we speak "very good French" and then added that she couldn't speak any English); - asking for a restaurant recommendation in Bénodet from a relaxed store-owner with a cool accent (he said about a crêperie he liked that it was "Pas mel, pas mel"); - ordering sea-food crêpes at the "pas mel" crêperie. My sister and I also encountered a disreputable-looking fellow on the street who shouted "Très bien! À poil!" at us – an interesting new expression to learn (haha). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| troglodyte Diglot Groupie BrazilRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5365 days ago 53 posts - 69 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishC2 Studies: Italian | Message 7 of 13 14 July 2011 at 4:20pm | IP Logged |
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Alors, maintenant, je suis jaloux.
Quant aux histoires d'horreur, j'en ai aussi entendu, mais quand je suis allé à Paris l'année dernière, elles ne se confirment pas. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5778 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 8 of 13 15 July 2011 at 10:51pm | IP Logged |
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14.7.11 - Thursday
We just stayed at home and relaxed today. In the afternoon, while we were having tea on the terrace, M. Bothorel came by and checked in on us. He's so friendly and intelligent – he seems to know everything about this area, and speaks quite a bit of the Breton language, as well as a bit of English – although he refuses to speak any of the latter with us (a language-learner's dream!). At one point he was talking about the similarities between Breton and Welsh, and I asked him if he can understand the latter. He said he can, a bit, but that it looks very different on paper. He also imitated the way it sounds to him, making a lot of throaty "rhrhrh" noises. We spoke with him for quite a while, and then he went away and came back with a bottle of Breton cider and a very nice locally-brewed beer as "apéritifs" for us. What a generous fellow! Speaking: - conversation with M. Bothorel on various topics. --- @troglodyte: C'est très bien que les Parisiens aussi peuvent être plus sympathiques que l'on avait pensé! Peut-être j'y irai un jour... 1 person has voted this message useful |
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