First off the bat, the language barrier was definitely one of the biggest challenges I faced during this experience. Yes, I anticipated that there was the presence of the French in Montréal and I did my time learning it back in Melbourne (admittedly, with Duolingo). Also admittedly, I found the idea of learning a whole new language completely tedious, especially when the language called for a completely different enunciation skill set that I was used to.
Prior to Montréal, I’d been able to pass off my travels with languages that I had known for life; English and Tagalog. My initial thought before leaving Australia: Pffftt! Everyone speaks English. I only really need French if I wanted to impress locals. Though that was mostly the case, it wasn’t always. For some reason, I was the only one out of the people I knew who had come across Quebecor locals incapable of speaking English, and I’ve had to play the whole grunt and point routine.
What’s worse was that a majority of my roommates were French, and spring BBQs meant me standing in the corner, trying to pick up on the joke that had everybody laughing, screwing my brain really hard for the grammar that I had picked up in the 3-4 months of my elementary French course. Yet, this did not put me off wanting to learn.
Being the clueless person at the parties that I was only motivated me to persist in my language education and work further on my French even when I have returned to Australia. It has only made me realise how necessary language is in sorting out differences and making personal connections with strangers, and has given me a new passion to look forward to on my return home. I mean who knows…maybe once I am able to speak English, Tagalog and French, I can also pick up some Spanish lessons…
J’espère bien!
