Ah bon?

“So what is it like having to speak French all the time?” is a question that I get pretty often when I talk to friend and family back home. To be honest there are good days and bad days, good conversations and bad conversations. After being here for over 20 months, I feel pretty confident in my day to day speaking abilities but it’s easy for me to get tripped up on pronunciation and sentence structure. When learning French or any new language it is best to learn from the things that are around you and what you need to be able to talk about, and I am surprised by the range of my vocabulary. I could probably list more parts of the reproductive system in French than in English, but couldn’t tell you the French word for escalator. I know the word for machete, but not fast food. I can talk the benefits of sending girls to school, but I have no idea how to talk about the benefits of sending business suits to a dry cleaner.
I am amazed at how some of the people in my stage came in to Togo with no French at all and basically fluent now. Learning languages is easier for some people I guess, but I am able to do work in Togo. On Saturday I went to a nearby village with my site mates, and I delivered and hour-long presentation in French on gender equity. If any incoming trainees are reading this and are worried about learning French all I have to say is DON’T WORRY. I find that most Togolese are very patient with us and the ones who criticize our French are not worth working with in the first place.
One of the challenges to learning French in Togo is that there is a wide range of French amongst the Togolese. French is the official language of the country and the language used in schools, so most people have a strong foundation in the language. But there are over 40 different local languages in Togo, so for most people French is their second or third language. Children don’t start learning how to speak French until primary school, and there a many older Togolese, mostly women, who can’t speak a word. So sometimes when I am having a conversation with someone and nothing is getting across I am always wondering.... “Is it there French or mine?”