It’s important to learn the language
To the editor:
I’m dedicating this letter to all the young folks out there whose older relatives can speak French, and also to those English-speaking folks out there with French spouses. I don’t care whether you live in the Valley, Caribou, or Presque Isle. The topic I’ve chosen to write about is not irrelevant, and should not be ignored any longer. For too long, this kind of thing has been neatly swept under the rug, because it’s dirty and no one wants to see it. It needs to be seen.
I have a friend, a very close friend, in fact, whose elderly father is currently struggling with dementia. I’m not talking here about simple short-term memory loss. I’m talking about something much more serious. And guess what! The man is slowly but surely losing his ability to speak English! Gee, isn’t it a good thing he taught his kids French long ago when his mind was still working? Now he won’t have to speak to his own children through an interpreter, because they can speak French. That was a man who used his head! Many others have not.
I once knew a man who married into a French family, but never learned the language. “I don’t need French!” he used to say. “My wife speaks English.” Like most dutiful French wives, she never pushed the issue. She eventually developed Alzheimer’s, and slowly but surely, her English disappeared. The man found himself unable to communicate with his own wife without the help of an interpreter, and this reduced him to tears. The mistake is still being made.
It’s too late for some folks, but it’s still not too late for everybody. If you are a bilingual parent with young children, teach them both languages! If you are from an English-speaking background but marry into a French family, learn the language! You might never need it, but in the event that you do, at least you won’t be sorry. Soyez bilingues, soyez heureux, ne restez pas niaiseux.
Caribou
