Dairy Journal

As a pre Valentine’s day dinner, I took my boyfriend to a japanese restaurant that received some good recommendations. 

After a great dinner, we went to the bar to pay, and the chef started talking to my boyfriend.

- Where are you from? Russia?
- No, we’re from Venezuela
- ¿?
- It’s in South America
- Ah, great

I didn’t hear the first part of the conversation, my boyfriend told me on our way out and that made me laugh during all our road home.

I was thinking about the chef actually thinking that we were russian. Is it for our very russian brown eyes?, or maybe our extremely russian tanned skin?

I guess I’ll never know.  

Spanish and arabian are, as far as I know (which is not that much) the two languages that have this “j” sound made with the throat, similar to the h+vowel in english (or more like the sound of a very angry cat), but even stronger.

Today, I went to a Staples to try to print some sheets. The girl that tried to help me is colombian, and was the first one that did the right guess.

- Do you speak spanish?
- Yes
- Where are you from?
- Venezuela

And then, she started to speak spanish

- I’m colombian -she said-
- Well, you’re the first one that recognizes me as a latin, everyone thinks that I’m indian or arabian
- Really? It happens to me too, at the Cégep everyone asks if I’m arabian

And I started to think that it’s the “j” thing.

My name is Angela. Everyone calls me Angie to avoid confusions between my mom -yes, Angela- and me. In spanish, g+e and g+i are pronounced as j+e and j+i, with the throat sound. So, as soon as I arrived to Montreal, my name changed. The J sound was changed for a G sound and, in french, the strong syllable is now the last, not the first.

And I started noticing it when my french teacher was assigning teams and wrote my name in the board.

- Does your name have an accent in the “e”?
- No, actually, the original accent is in the “a”, but it doesn’t exist in french
- Wow, your accents are weird
- I know, but at least they have like five rules that never change :P 

And then, I told him how it’s pronounced in spanish, with the J sound included. It was funny.

But, of course, Angie is always easier for all of us, even me, after losing the habit to respond to “Angela”.

I’m about to finish an advanced french course and start an advanced english one. I can understand almost everyone who talks to me in french. But in the two buildings where I’ve been living during my four months in Montreal there is a constant: I can’t understand the concierge.

The concierge of the first building I lived in was really relaxed, so it wasn’t a problem and sometimes he laughed (I don’t know if he laughed of me or with me, but I didn’t care) and he tried again. 

But my current concierge (who always seems to be upset about something, maybe life itself) gets really angry about my “not understanding him”.

Everytime I talk to him, I really do my best, but sometimes it seems to me like he speaks in some other language. So, he gets angry and starts repeating louder and louder. Result: I get nervous and I understand even less.

I can’t imagine how this could be for immigrants who know less french than me. Most of the people in Montreal are really gentle and friendly with non francophones, they try to repeat slowly and clearly if you don’t get them and, as the last resource, they try in english.

But regrettably, from time to time you can also find people like my current concierge. If it’s any consolation, I’ve only seen two people like that in four months. The important thing: having confidence in yourself and your abilities, and try to listen more and more until you succeed. 

Believe me people, it doesn’t sound easy when you’ve recently been in the situation. As me, right now, writing this post.