Je Parle Français

I had my first class at the language school today. The mother of my host family drove me into town and pointed out the train stations (a subway that they call the "Metro") and bus stops I needed to know to get home. The trip back was very easy, 5 min on the Metro and 30 min on the bus. Only about 200 m or so to walk.

I was prepared for negotiating a big foreign city but was quite surprised when the teacher started talking in French to our absolute beginners class. Not one word of English, she just kept on explaining in French and miming until we claimed to understand. It's really not easy to understand when a French word is defined in terms of other French words! Not really knowing what's being asked of me is the worst bit. Once I get enough French to follow the instructions I'll be a good student.

I did get by. The podcast lessons I'd been listening to helped a little, especially with the pronunciation. But the words themselves I'm understanding via Italian. (I only really have a smattering of Italian but compared to my French I feel like Luigi Pirandello.)

Compared to the teachers, other Montréalers are really very good with English. Getting a taxi from the airport yesterday was no problem. I asked the driver, "Parlez-vous anglais?" and he looked at me as though that were a condescending question. So I figured I could just speak to everyone in English. My first purchase went fine but he was already speaking English with the guy in front of me. But I think I may have annoyed another shopkeeper. I spoke to her in English and she replied in French -- just the price, I understood -- but when I gave her too much money she said, in French, "No, I said..." She didn't realise that my problem was actually with the Canadian coins! I will try to say as much as I can in French when talking to strangers from now on.

I also saw my first snow-mobile today. Just in a showroom but it's still a very Canadian thing and quite foreign to me. I saw my first beret yesterday on the plane before we even got to Quebec. (Not the first time I've seen one, but the first time I've seen someone wearing a beret non-ironically!)