Accents and the Stories they tell!

We were in Montreal over the weekend with my brother and his wife. Like camping, a weekend in Montreal is fast becoming a summer family tradition!

Our primary reason for visiting Montreal is ASid who is in a French immersion program. We believe it is a wonderful opportunity for him to practice his French. As a parent, it is also a means to find out if he has really learned the language!

This time around, I actually took a trip down memory lane to the time ASid first started communicating with us. At that time, I was adamant he would speak NO other language than English. I was afraid he might have an accent like me!

There would be days where I would be reading a book to ASid and would want to skip pronouncing a certain sound since I got it wrong every time...I did not grow up with that sound! There would be days I would wait for Craigley to get home so he could read a book and impart the correct pronunciation to our child.

Now, all that seems excessively unnecessary! Recently, ASid said that something seemed "pho-rein" to him...a few seconds later it hit me that he meant "foreign"! And all those years ago, the lengths I went to get this child to speak proper English - Canadian English...and he speaks it really strangely! At least, he is truly bilingual in a very Canadian sense of the word :)

We will be back in Montreal next summer but I may never know how many words in French ASid is mispronouncing!

Notable Note 1: In the car, ASid complained that his brother “scrinched” him. Apparently, a “scrinch” is a pinch with nails instead of fingers! This pinch has been named “scrinch” since it leaves a scratch afterwards. I actually googled to see if such a word exists and I found “scrinchables”…interesting…

Notable Note 2: In Montreal, twice we came across pianos that have been seemingly abandoned. The first time, we saw such a piano – ASid actually played some music! Only the second time in 2 months…at least, he was inspired at that moment in time. That is probably the point of the seemingly abandoned pianos. I like that!