Week 3: Becoming Trilingual

October 17, 2020

¡Que onda! Wait shoot, wrong language. Quoi de neuf! 

Just in case you don't speak Spanish or French, what's up! It's been another great week in the online MTC, so let's get started! Can't believe I'm already halfway done with the MTC, I guess time flies when you're having fun. I know I've already talked about how much I love my teachers and my district, but I just want to reiterate that they are seriously amazing! During a one-on-one tutoring session with one of my teachers, Frère Bennett, we both agreed that "the people really are the highlight," and that's true for more than just the MTC. He challenged me to look for ways to come closer to those around me, and that was truly inspired advice. Charity is one of, if if not the, most important attributes we can have, and I hope that during my mission I can truly learn to love others as Christ does. I'd invite all of you to look for ways this week to show your friends and family the love you have for them. The second great commandment is to love thy neighbor as thyself, and I know that as you try to do that you'll feel happier and more loved yourself!

Our district has been part of an experimental language separation program, so almost all of our classes for the past two weeks were in English. This week, though, we switched entirely to French, which honestly hasn't been that bad. If I had to describe my experience with French so far, I'd say it feels like falling asleep in Spanish 1 and waking up in a weird fever dream where everyone suddenly forgot how to spell or pronounce words properly haha Here are just a few examples of common letter combinations and their wacky pronunciations:

tion - pretty similar honestly, but it sounds more like "sea own" 

ai - sounds like the a in "ate" 

oi - makes a "wha" sound, as in the word "what" 

ui - pretty much sounds like the word "we" 

in - straight up bizarre, try saying the a in annotate while pinching your nose 

es - completely silent at the end of words

ent - also completely silent at the end of words... for verbs... but not for nouns... yup

er - half silent at the end of words, meaning you pronounce the e but not thet r

ez - also half silent at the end of words

le, de se, me etc. - any word that's just a single letter + e makes an "uh" sound, so, for example, le sounds like "luh" 

The next step once you know how to pronounce words (for the most part at least) is knowing how much of it to pronounce. If that sounds counterintuitive, that's because it is hahaha Thankfully, I found a pretty useful acronym for what letters you don't pronounce at the end of words: French is STuPiD (truer words have never been spoken). The constanants in the word stupid are the most common letters to pronounce at the end of words - so if a word ends in s,t,p, or d you usually don't pronounce it. But, of course, there are exceptions: If the next word in a sentence starts with a vowel, then you do pronounce the letters that are usually silent - which is called "liaison."

I hope you found that little French lesson entertaining! I know I probably made it sound complicated, but French really isn't that bad. Between knowing English and Spanish, I've been able to recognize a lot of similar words, and I have awesome teachers and a dope comp to help me out. It's hard to tell how much progress I've really made so far, but I've gotten to the point that when I read Spanish my mind switches to a French accent, which is weird but also super cool! In all honesty, I've come a long way since I first came to the MTC. Learning a new language is tough, but I know that, if I'm patient and have a good attitude, the Lord will help me. The Gift of Tongues is real!

Love you all,

Elder Jackson