Enfin, je commence mon blog !

I must begin by first thanking everyone who followed up on my travels in South Africa through my prior blog (http://polyglotte2609.blogspot.com). I've learned quite a bit (blog-wise) and am hoping to keep up-to-date with my posts. In so doing, I'm hoping that writing more often will mean smaller entries (which should be easier for everyone to read!).

With this said, and noticing that I didn't really end my last blog, I shall continue by mentioning that my journey from South Africa back to the States and now to France has challenged me to continue my exploration of my "linguistic identity." It seems to be a phrase that not many know or understand, yet I think it's plain to see that one's identity is wrapped up in large part by one's ability to communicate and interact with others. Though many signals may be non-verbal, much of the relationship is indeed verbal. Ergo, one's culture--i.e., one's "shared" identities with others--is demonstrated by one's ability to express and understand those similarities. Concurrently, verbal communication, I find, is perhaps the best way of sharing, or at least confirming, aspects that differentiate individuals. In short, then, language is undoubtedly intimately tied with culture; to best understand another's culture, one can (and should) do so through the other's language. I like to end such monologues with the following quotation by Nelson Mandela that goes something like this: "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to a man in his language, that goes his heart."

Donc, I am now in France and find myself trying to integrate the French language into my own identity. I'm not sure at what point the integration of French makes French become 'mine' per se, but I can say that there has been little resistance to the language to date. As I believe I may have forewarned readers of my past blog, there are times when it's easier for me to think in French rather than English. This is certainly the case while I'm here within a Francophone environment; as such, I expect even more so this time around to include more French (I'll try to remember to translate). Moreover, I think it's fair to say that some of my English may sound rather awkward or may just be completely grammatically incorrect. I'm not quite sure how to explain that, but it's most likely a result of the mélange (mix) of South African English, American English, British spelling, and French language and construction, as well as phraseology from isiXhosa and Afrikaans thrown in.

Finally, some common French terms I will most likely be using include: 'donc' (as used in the previous paragraph: so) and 'cad / c'est-à-dire' (that's to say; I tend to use it relative to 'i.e.'). I also still use 'hectic,' 'nê' (no? / you agree? / right?), and 'yebo' (yeah / you understand/follow?) quite often in everyday speech.

And now... Finally, I'm starting my blog!