Despite having a degree in
French, and despite having lived in la belle France for a decent amount of time,
my English accent remains a persistent problem. However much I try to disguise
it, my accent always reveals my foreign nationality, and is often instantly recognised as specifically English. Although there was a point where I
thought I was making progress with my French accent this was short lived. After working two months
as a receptionist in a French camp site, one of my colleagues told me that although my accent
wasn't exactly French, it certainly wasn't English. This was, at the time,
great news, and I was feeling pretty proud of my progress...until she informed
me that instead, my accent made me sound Russian. I have no Russian relatives,
and I have never even been to Russia. In fact, the most Russian thing about me is that a vodka cranberry takes my fancy
on occasion.
Poor pronunciation comes with a
poor accent and this has on occasion provoked some pretty interesting
situations. My housemate and I now have around 3 litres of cooking oil in our
kitchen, because I attempted to ask for more noodles when she was popping out
to the supermarket one day. I pronounced
nouilles - noodles in a way that you'd
perhaps say l'huile - oil. Another time, after a night out in a local bar
which had a jungle theme, I was explaining that there were men walking around with
snakes around their neck. In this case, I had everyone thinking I'd spent the
night in a bar filled with Christmas trees, because I had pronounced serpents - snakes, as sapins - Christmas trees. However, that
was nothing compared to the most serious case of mispronunciation I have made to date.
This occurred the first time I met my housemate's Dad, who asked me what my Dad
did in his job. Not knowing the vocabulary for 'Traffic Policeman' I that I
could make myself understood if I said he was a 'Road Policeman'.
Unfortunately, I pronounced the French for road - route in the way they say erection - rut. Telling your housemate's Dad that your own Dad is an 'erection
policeman' isn't exactly what makes for a good first impression. Merde.
The comprehension problems do not
end there. With English being such a dominant world language, it is no surprise
that the French have adopted English words into their everyday vocabulary, such
as 'weekend' and 'parking'. Yet you'd be wrong to assume that pronouncing these
words with an English accent would be correct. I recently learnt this one hungover-day when I
tried to order a smoothie with a Nutella
crêpe in a café...
Me: "je prends un smoothie
et une crêpe Nutella, s'il vous plaît" (I'll have a smoothie and a Nutella
crepe please)
Waitress: (looks confused) Vous
prenez une crêpe Nutella et....? (not catching my choice of drink)
Me (slowly repeating myself)
" un smoothie, s'il vous plaît"
Waitress looks at me. She clearly
has no idea what I'm talking about. I then used the ordering
trick popular amongst English tourists; I pointed to the strawberry and
banana smoothie on the menu. The instant comprehension was visible.]
Waitress: "Aaaaah, un
smoooooziiie"
Me (at a loss): oui... un smooozziiie, s'il vous plaît....
Ironically, in France I am harder
to understand when I pronounce my English 'th's correctly, than if I were to
order un café, for example. Similarly,
if I were to order a brownie, it would take more than one attempt if I were to
pronounce it in the standard English way. 'Brownie' in French should be
pronounced "broooonie" (think Carla Bruni). Really, there is no hope.
Whether I attempt a French accent or proudly pronounce words in my own accent, my nationality
is evident;I am no fille française.
Never being able to pass as a born-and-bred Frenchie does bother me at times,
particularly as it can detract from my credibility, yet overall I don't think this should necessarily be a negative thing. The fact that some people can never disguise
their native accent, however well they may speak a language, is something to be
embraced. It forces us to remain loyal to our roots, however far, and for
however long we may stray from them.
