I was born in Mexico. That’s where I spent the first years of my life and where I learned to say my first words. So I speak Spanish fluently, but I went to French school, starting in elementary. My mother, who is from Haiti, often speaks Creole with family and friends and listens to Caribbean music. That’s how I ended up inadvertently learning the choruses of many Creole songs from a very young age. For the past few years, I’ve been attending French secondary school in Quebec. But in the schoolyard, strangely enough, English is the language that reigns supreme. So I started speaking more in English with my school friends. In short, I navigate between four languages. “That’s great,” you might say. Yes, it is, but …
Moments of anxiety followed by great victories
The first few weeks at the French school where I started elementary were really difficult for the little six-year-old Spanish-speaking girl that I was. The teacher demanded that I speak only in French, and I’d have small but very real anxiety attacks when I had to ask permission to go to the bathroom. I must say that I used to cry a lot. And my mother’s “don’t worry, you’ll understand soon” didn’t comfort me. But by the end of the term, I had made spectacular progress, or so I was told. Four years later, when I arrived in Ottawa, I no longer had any problems with French. But even though I went to a French school, the accents were different. I was also overwhelmed by all the English conversations going on around me. Fortunately, I was once again surprised to find that I could understand everything after a few months.
The advantages
“You speak four languages? Whoa! That’s great!” These are some of the comments I often hear when people realize that I can switch from one language to another. And it’s true—it is cool. It’s also true that I have certain advantages over young people who can speak only one language. Whether I’m in Mexico, Haiti, Quebec or English-speaking Canada, I’m not worried about the language barrier.
Being able to speak these languages also gives me access to a wider repertoire of music and film. I understand song lyrics I listen to, which allows me to appreciate them more. If I’m looking for a movie or series to watch, it doesn’t matter whether it’s available in English, French or Spanish.
The disadvantages
Sometimes, I lose my ability to navigate between all these languages. I literally lose my bearings and transpose words or phrases from one language into another. In French, for example, I sometimes call an intersection an esquine (esquina in Spanish) or a traffic circle a rotonde (rotonda in Spanish). I can’t remember how many times my mother has corrected me, but instead of saying au début, I still say au principe (al principio in Spanish), and instead of saying lettre, I still say carte (carta in Spanish). At least I don’t salir the garbage anymore (in Spanish, the verb salir means “to take out,” but in French, it means “to dirty”!).
In English, I can also throw in some weird words that make my friends raise their eyebrows. For example, for the verb to remind, I might use to record, because in Spanish you say recordar. I’ve also embarrassed myself by using the adjective embarrassed when referring to a pregnant woman. In Spanish, pregnant is translated as embarazada.
The limitations
Don’t go thinking that I’m equally fluent in all these languages. Spanish is and will always be my first language. I think in Spanish. I dream in Spanish. Sometimes, I unintentionally create an awkward situation in the middle of a conversation when I start speaking Spanish with English or French speakers. It’s a knee-jerk reaction, and I can’t control the words coming out of my mouth. If I’m in a group with only one Spanish-speaking person, I automatically start speaking in Spanish, without taking into account the people who don’t understand Spanish. Here in Quebec, I often get scolded. It’s impolite, I know, but I don’t do it on purpose. I just can’t help it.
As for Creole, it’s the language I’m least fluent in. The sentences I manage to say are short and awkward. But my pronunciation is pretty solid, and my comprehension is good. I understand almost everything—when only one person is speaking. But when it comes to lively discussions where everyone is talking at the same time, I might not understand anything at all. Honestly, I wouldn’t say that I speak Creole, but I have a good enough foundation to get by in a Creole-speaking environment.
Multilingualism is an asset!
Having heard it so often, I now know that growing up in a multilingual environment is a huge asset. I haven’t decided what career I want to pursue yet, but I’m drawn to communications. And I realize that I already have an advantage if I decide to pursue a career in the language industry.
