Saturday, April 28, 2007

A quick post, a quick reflection :)

Greetings, family and friends! :)
So, I don't usually get to come online on saturdays, but as I'm here, and as there's a small issue to reflect upon that I might forget otherwise, it's sharing time! :)
Now, it's a sad but true fact that there seems to be a foreign language center in my brain, and that as I'm learning more and more Fante, my French is becoming less and less automatic. Now, to be sure, I don't think I've actually forgotten anything, or not any more than usual ;) but now when my French speaking friend Maddy (not Mardi - alas, I was wrong ;)) speaks to me, it's harder for me to respond in French. I'm used to pulling Fante responses out of the air now, but it makes me sad that this yields slower communication with him, when he has so few people to speak with in French already.
But honestly, I speak so much better in French than in Fante. I know so many more ways to express myself. I know I'm not fluent, but at least in some way I'm approaching fluency. People ask me how I'm doing in Fante, and I'm not quite sure how to respond, because I'm certainly learning and applying new things all the time, but still I'm not speaking Fante... I'm just communicating certain things in Fante. I know how to say where I'm going. I know how to say that I'm feeling well. I even know how to say where I'm from, where I live, and how to ask for a reduction in something's price, but I don't know how to say "he's nice", or "where can I find this", or even "how do I say ___?" Of course, I could ask someone, but it's hard to be a visual learner in a setting where most people don't write their Fante. It makes it more tricky for me to remember, and put things together... but eventually they do come. It's just a matter of being extremely patient, listening hard, asking questions and practicing. My mother's taken to showing me off recently, speaking to me in Fante when others first greet me in English. It's nice and I appreciate it, though the gaps in my knowledge always eventually become apparent.
Recently, though, I have learned how to say "I miss you". I still have no idea of the spelling (this is just an educated guess), and I suspect that the word "fyew" might be related to the word for beautiful, but I apparently haven't asked the right person yet. Here it is.
I miss you = Maa fyew (pronounced Mah fi-ohw)
Maa fyew.
Thanks for caring :) I'll write again on thursday, if at all possible.
Love,
Rachel Rose

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rachel,

Maa fyew.

Mommy

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