bilingual epitome of incomprehensibility Yeah, I wish. I can hardly speak one language sometimes. 140403 ... epitome of incomprehensibility How to define bilingualism, though? At the store today, I said "C'est combien?" ("how much is it," casually) and after I paid, "Have a nice day." Automatic. I didn't think about the fact that I'd just spoken two languages until I was walking out the door. But I couldn't tell the cashier's first language from her accent. You could tell mine after a minute or less of conversation. I'm awkward speaking French. Sure, I'm awkward speaking English, too, but more so in French. I don't always know what order to put words in, what vocabulary to use. I've read La belle bête Une vie inutile Le collier rouge Moi, Tituba sorcière Anita, une fille numérotée... but that's just what I do. I read books. Slowly. Oh yeah, I read the last book of The_Lord_of_the_Rings in French in high school. I read a French biography of Franz Kafka and he spoke... Czech? German? (It was German. Clearly I didn't retain a whole lot.) So? Balanced bilingual, no. Functional bilingual, maybe. Dysfunctional bilingual! Yes. 220220 ... past i am officially bilingual, but not functionally. at least not speaking casually. i could probably get there fairly quickly, in the right context with a lot of anglicisms about day to day objectives. my favourite take on bilingualism recently was mary simon pointing out that she is in fact bilingual, just her first language isn't one of the two "official" ones here. 220221 ... e_o_i Yes! I agree. It reminds me of what we were talking about in Sociolinguistics a few weeks ago. How multilingualism is *only* considered an asset in North America (in many places, anyway) if the other language you speak is a "privileged" European one. How if you're an immigrant from a poorer country, speaking another language is almost considered a deficit. And I imagine that'd apply, possibly more so, to indigenous. The syntax and morphology of Mohawk seem daunting to learn for an English speaker, but fascinating to talk about. There's a young-ish Concordia prof who speaks Mohawk and who was teaching a class on it. She's not the sociolinguistics one - she's more into abstract theoretical stuff - but you could say there's a sociological component, to get these languages taken more seriously as living languages by the linguistics community. I wanted to take her class, but it would've been just too much work this semester. Hopefully I can take another course with her. 220223 ... e_o_i Sigh. Proofreading: "we were talking about" = not you and I, obviously (here's where Mohawk's exclusive vs. inclusive "we" would come in handy!) but the prof in the class I'm TA-ing "indigenous" should be "indigenous languages" there. 220223 ... e_o_i Also, a woman on the metro_green_line said "Salaam alaikum, madame," to me. 220223 ... e_o_i And if she was from North Africa, her first language might be French or Arabic, but it could easily be neither. 220223 ... past language is so powerful, and i'm torn about settlers learning Indigenous languages when those communities have so few resources to do so themselves. but my eldest is picking up bits and pieces of anishinaabemowem through class activities, alongside his official french days (not lessons but just days in a different language, can you imagine? soon we won't be able to talk around the kids en français because theirs will be better than ours). he'll come home and offer us miigwich before talking about what a visiting educator brought to the classroom, often rooted to what was here before we tore up the land and ordered it so rigidly (not that presettler lands were untended and unordered, just differently so in a way better captured by a different language). he'll name trees and plants in three languages, each with a different relationship embedded in it tempting his mind to open wider. truly it's my cultural_materialism showing, but languages make and unfold worlds. if the littles can learn two and at least parts of a third they will stride be far beyond me. 220224 ... past when i hear there will be a bilingual presentation, it's safe to expect one of two models: the content flipping back and forth between languages but not repeated (assuming a bilingual audience), or the content stated in one language first and then repeated (assuming a mix of unilinguals) on n'expect jamais que she would jump language à langue, mot à word in a beautiful mélange. on must pay proche attention pour understand et trouver the message. 220309 ... past my computer can't decide which "french canadian" standard it wants my keyboard to be in, making typing accented characters and punctuation marks an adventure. 220408 ... past the update promised improvements. if you thought keeping track of two french keyboards and one english was boring, the new improved interface has quatre en français et two in english, all renamed! which reflects the physical keyboard and which your mental keyboard? step up to this angry client email and try to find out!* *for extra fun, the keyboard enabled will switch between the six options while you type and move between programs and documents, so stay sharp! 220414 ... e_o_i Seeing a run-over frog on the road - feeling a tiny bit of sadness for the loss, because there are few around here in the first place - brought my thoughts to "Oh no, why is it écrasé?" Not crushed or smashed, écrasé. 220415 ... past "is...is 'inutile' rude?" "the direct translation into english is 'useless,' so i think so." "but sometimes french seems abrupt when that's just the way it is. like demander for to ask." "why are we all anglos?" 230210 ... past i don't mind working in two languages, but i am somehow terrified of the official processes to verify that capacity. why can't my francophone superior just vouch for me ( « oui, monsieur past peut lire le français au niveau avancé. il fait son travail en les deux langues sans aide. » ) instead of throwing waves of test induced anxiety at me over expired previous results. 230916 ... past "why are you yelling?" "l'examen me demande 'pick the best answer'. c'est vraiment bullshit. il y a deux bons responses. will i not get the job because i decide le 'conseil exécutif' n'indique pas 'votre gestionnaire'? je ne veux pas guess le niveau du personne qui rédige le frigging test." "just keep trying. on doit toujours pratiquer." 230917 what's it to you? who go blather from