If there's one lesson I've learned so far here at the WSIS prepcom in Tunisia is that I really, really regret not maintaining and nuturing my French skills from high school. As an official UN event, the prepcom has simultaneous translations in the official languages of the UN -- English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish and Russian. But in reality, much of the one-on-one and small group conversations are taking place in French, Frenglish (a French-English melange) or Frengrabic (yes, a blend of French, English and Arabic). Many of the participants are quite fluent in French, and I've had several situations where a group of us would simply speak in the language we're most comfortable speaking, then assume the rest of the group knew enough French and English to get through the conversation. For example, in conversations I've had with delegates from Tunisia, France and Cameroon, we've just spoken in our language of choice and hoped for the best.
At some times I've actually been surprised that I've been able to get the gist of these conversations in French, but when this has happened, I've obviously given off some kind of misleading nonverbal signals suggesting my comprehension is stronger than it actually is, which then leads to a ramping up of French in the conversation. Then I am lost, absolument.
Nonetheless, it's really amazing being among so many people who are bilingual, trilingual, quadrilingual, polyglots to the Nth degree. The president of the Prepcom, a native Latvian speaker, flows between English, French and Russian without blinking, for example. And of course, it really makes me sad that American schools don't require students to start learning a second language in early primary school. What a lost opportunity.
So as soon as I step off the plane in Boston, next stop, Berlitz -- I really need a refresher course... -andy
Posted by acarvin at June 24, 2004 12:34 PM | TrackBack