mister vidar

a new jargon

You'd say that after nine years of France, I would be fluent in French with my English in tow, and probably have an accent when speaking Tagalog. The bitter truth is that my French have stagnated at a little below the intermediate level. Then my English is deteriorating, and my Tagalog, my mother tongue, needs a little more effort of remembering words. In the end, with juggling three languages, my level of fluency has been questionable.

My written French still needs the dico & the Bescherelle (dictionary for verb conjugating), I speak using more familiar words like boulot instead of travail (work), using quoi at the end of sentences & still not always sure with the gender of things. So sometimes I can grope for words in the middle of conversations. My English is suffering with ocassional invented words. Just recently with the word submission, I just naturally spelled it submition. My business English needs ransacking. And no, I don't have an accent when speaking Tagalog. It's still intact although sometimes words take a little longer to come. I guess, the vocabulary is the most affected. One time, I had to ask my husband what the English word for trier (to sort) is.

I speak English with my husband, speak French with the rest & speak Tagalog with Filipino friends. I actively use three languages everytime. It feels more natural now than 5 years ago but when you start spelling submission as submition, like a whole new jargon, you really start to wonder if your brain is really getting old for such tasks. And it's not that I don't have practice. I guess it's really just a question of putting more effort.

And I wanted to learn Spanish.

*I had to also learn Italian during my training in hotellerie & the language never lingered after

le baiser

Watching the movie "Singles" the other day, they had a scene with the most famous kiss. A kiss caught on print that makes you believe that kind of love, that love that once have swept you away. I love this photo.

Le Baiser de l'Hotel de Ville, Paris 1950 - Robert Doisneau

Back in 1950, this was not a stolen shot but an assignment for Life Magazine about lovers in Paris. The photographer, in search of his subjects while sitting in a café down Invalides, noticed a beautiful couple. He approached them & learned that they were young amateurs of the theater. Et voila! The beautiful kiss.