"I understand French a little."
Our attempt to learn French continues, and it seems to get funnier each day. Our recent adventure in learning the "eu" sound (as needed in the sentence above) reminds me of a great story my Father-in-law Tom and Mother-in-law Thea often tell. When they were living in France Thea, who is Dutch and therefore is more familiar with the sounds made in French speech, tried often to help Tom learn French pronunciation better. There are 2 sounds for "u" that the French make that are very hard for the American ear to distinguish. So there were endless times when Tom would say something and Thea would attempt to correct the "eu" sound. One day Tom said something, pronouncing the "eu" wrong, and of course Thea automatically corrected him
"U" he said.
"Eu" she said.
"U" he said, trying to stay calm.
"Eu" she said a bit more forcefully.
"U" he said, not able to stay so calm.
"Eu!! Eu!! Eu!!" she exclaimed in exasperation.
Tom looked at her with concern, "are you having a problem?"
Needless to say she is feeling very exasperated with OUR current serious mispronounciation of this particular sound right now. So, you will often find us walking through the house practicing our "U" sound, and each time we say "U" you'll hear from another part of the house "Eu!!!" It must just drive her nuts.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment