Learning French

Last week I saw a professor who I had not seen since soon after I arrived. He complimented my “improved” French. Unlike most compliments to my language skills, I took his seriously since there was an implied, albeit modest, insult--my French was not so good when I arrived.

Whenever someone compliments my French, I recall a wonderful story my friend Jake told me a couple of years ago. After more than a decade of living in Japan and finally mastering the language, he no longer receives any compliments. However, years ago, when his Japanese was mediocre, he told me, he would get compliments all the time. Perhaps people in his case, as in mine, are trying to be encouraging. I can appreciate that. But, based on his anecdote, I think the ultimate compliment will be when people stop offering them.

Even though I started studying French in high school more than twenty years ago, until last year I had never visited a francophone country (other than a weekend in Canada about 10 years ago). So I realize that my French is improving significantly (and my Lingala as well).

The other comment I get is a bit more specific--that I speak French “well for an American.” This is a nice point of departure for a discussion of the notorious monolingualism of people from the US, often seen as part of our provincialism. It is not so much that I speak French well, but that Americans are not known to learn other languages. Therefore, my ability to say something and my obvious effort contradict what I fear is our well-earned reputation.

Here, everyone is at least bilingual. Almost everyone in Kinshasa knows French. People usually know at least two national languages (that of their region of origin plus vehicular Lingala as spoken in Kinshasa). And often add a local, ethnic language to the mix. Plus many people, especially at the university, know some English. Most can read it well, and speak with mixed results. Then, among faculty, there are folks who know Flemish, German, and Chinese, depending on where they went to school.

Last night, some friends (not professors) and I were discussing Congolese language facility--people here are known to speak “good” French, which to me means it is easy for me to understand, and can pick up English pretty well--and the consensus was that it is the result of their being raised multilingual from childhood. It makes sense to me. The 5-year-old son of one of the friends explained that he knows French, Lingala, Tshiluba, Kiswahili, and is learning English, Spanish, and Italian in school.