Friday 9 March 2012

Là-bas

We have got a French neighbour, who is also an ex-colleague of the BabelDad. G is his 8-year old son. G's mum is British. G understands little French. As many children born in a family where only one parent speaks the minority language, English has taken over in G's family.
G's father has recently been expressing his wish that his son understood and spoke a bit of French.

So we (me, my 3 girls and G) are driving back home, from some after-school activity. I decide that we will only speak French in the car.
G: "I know some French words: vache, cheval"
Me: "Bien" (good)
G: "How do you say 'there'?"
Me to BK1: "Kifach tqouli 'there' en Francais?" (How do you say 'there' in French?)
BK1: "Temmek!" (there, in arabic!)

Knowing BK1 is almost 7, I thought she clearly made the difference between Arabic and French words. I was obviously mistaken.

For the record, "there" in French is "là-bas".


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