Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
I've tried tapes, books, lessons, dubbed Michael Caine films, watching French television
(surely the hardest, cruellest of all ways to learn French) and reading the local newspaper. It's
all in there apparently, it just stubbornly refuses to come out in any coherent form whatso-
ever, and then I lose confidence. As a stand-up comedian, my job is all about communicating
with people quickly, so if I'm talking to a French person and they start to look at me like a
budgie looks at a mirror, a mixture of fascination, confusion and a total lack of comprehen-
sion, I start to stutter and panic and the whole shaky construction of my conversation begins
to collapse. I even said to Natalie and the boys that we should set aside one day a week at
home as 'French Day' so that I can learn more.
'But Daddy,' Samuel said, 'when you're here we want to be able to talk to you.' Yeah. That
hurt.
The fact that both Samuel and Maurice are completely fluent in two languages without a
hint of an accent in either (and that, shortly, Thérence will be also) is a source of immense
pride to Natalie and me, and people often congratulate us on our children's abilities. Really,
though, it's their work, their desire to communicate. They switch effortlessly between being
English boys who can speak French and French boys who can speak English, and most of
the time the only way you would know that they have an English background is when their
'eccentrically' dressed mod-dad comes to pick them up and they have to translate something
for him.
'Your daddy is funny,' one of Maurice's school friends said once. I don't think she meant it
in a good way.
