There is not only the Montreal Expos that make me a sentimental guy. I am proud to be a Quebecer and a Canadian (in that order, by the way) and want my girls to speak French at all costs. I struggle a lot with that. I really try to not make a big deal out of it, yet, when Catherine does not try to speak French because "It's too hard" I get angry...I also want to give up. After all, why would my girls really need French? French is probably the 4th language in the U.S. (if that). No one here really speaks French and when I mention it, it seems like people say "that's nice", "that's really good" but I always feel they are just trying to be nice.
I speak Quebecois, not French, which also limits our contacts in French around here...French from France is like English from England...it's the same...but not the same. I don't mean it disrespectfully but a hockey puck is "la puck" in Quebec, not "le palet"...And this joke is only funny if you are From Quebec. My girls seem to understand but they do not speak it all that much (OK, the seven month old does not say any words yet), and that makes me sad. I feel I am failing my family, my roots, myself...I don't quite know why. I mean I try right? Is that enough?
Well for me it's not...does it makes me too sentimental for my home country? Am I too nutty? I already have plans to send my girls to a French-Canadian immersion program. IS it worth it? Sometimes I wonder. I feel like I am the only one who cares. I'll give credit to my wife, who encourages me to continue but when visiting Quebec, even my French relatives "practice" their English with my girls. I understand why they do it, but it bothers me...and yet I know why they do it. And I never know how to react. Should I get mad at them for their effort? OR should I just let it go? Last time, I just let it go because I am sick of fighting. And I want to be good. I just don't know if this is romanticizing where I am from or is it a very important issue I should fight for...I just want to do what's best for my girls.
And on another subject, I so wish I could be in Montreal with the Bs-Habs rivalry hitting new heights. A lot of people just switch to their local team when they move but I just cannot turn my back on "Le Canadien". For the records, Chara should have had a 2-3 game suspension with a fine. And I will be Canadiens fan forever...because I am loyal. Which brings me to another point: is loyalty and sentimentality so related that it is one and the same? I don't know if I can deliberate it here on my own blog but I'll take a stab at it and you let me know your thoughts.
I think loyalty comes from some sentimentality. Sentimentality makes you feel "warm and fuzzy", where loyalty fills you with pride...but I think sentimentality may be related to pride also...and it makes you feel like "you owe" whoever you are loyal to something. I think sometimes that where I work is related to both loyalty and sentimentality...So are most of my family and friends...How do we separate both? I really don't know. All I know is I have both and sometimes confuse both of them. Maybe, what I have is a confusion of the English language and I should stick with French just based on loyalty...or is it pride...or sentimentality...Oh well!
To me, loyalty is a form of rationalized sentimentality. Sentimentality stays close to emotions; loyalty tries to remove then. Think about the officer following an order he/she doesn't condone: it's out of loyalty, not sentimentality... But in the end, they are both summarized by what you *feel* is right. Then again, I'm the guy who believe "objectivity is the subjectivity of the masses".
ReplyDeleteAlso, your girls are still really young. Don't rush them too much in 2 languages; one is probably enough to begin with. And if you show how much you appreciate when they make efforts to speak French, then I'm sure it'll have better influence than forcing them (positive reinforcement, I think you know about the concept).
I'll now promise you that I will make efforts of my own to encourage them to use French words with me, then more and more expressions, and with sustained patience, I'm sure the sentences will flow through naturally... But it'll take time, and that's ok... Good things take time...