The Language Portal team had the pleasure of sitting down with professional basketball player and two-time Olympian Katherine Plouffe. Not only is Katherine a talented athlete, she’s also the co-spokesperson for this year’s Rendez-vous de la Francophonie (RVF)! You might think that, with a name like Plouffe and a role like RVF spokesperson, Katherine is a Francophone, but in fact French is her second language. During our conversation, we learned about Katherine’s unique journey learning French and how she’s using her second language to forge connections in both her personal and professional life.
Learning French in Alberta
Katherine grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, in an Anglophone family. Though the French language is part of her ancestry, the language was lost between her great-grandparents’ and grandparents’ generations, a loss that Katherine is currently trying to remedy. Katherine is one of five siblings in a sports-focused family. She and her twin and teammate Michelle were inspired by their older sister Andrea and followed in her footsteps onto the court.
Katherine’s journey learning French in elementary and secondary school mirrored what she considers the “basic Anglophone experience” in western Canada: core French classes in which she learned the fundamentals. But these early learning experiences are what she feels laid the foundation for her subsequent learning.
Learning and advancing in the world of basketball
And while her journey learning French in school was typical, her journey in the world of basketball was anything but. After winning two provincial championships, she went on to earn a full scholarship to Marquette University in Wisconsin, where she studied communications. In 2015, she was off to France for a seven-year stint, playing professionally at the highest level. During this period, she also played in her first Olympic Games.
Learning French in France
When Katherine arrived in France, she knew right away she wanted to learn French. It was important for her to fully experience her new home and to connect with her teammates. She wanted to build community, especially with the younger players. Going in, she thought, “I’ll learn some French; hopefully, they’ll learn some English, and we can bridge the gap of communication.” Katherine dove in. She used apps, worked with a tutor and studied verbs and grammar.
She also asked her teammates to speak to her in French and then quickly questioned her decision as she grappled to understand. But she needn’t have worried. Her teammates were patient and gracious with her. And they were also more than happy to correct her when she made a mistake!
Learning a second language: Dealing with the challenges
What Katherine found most difficult was expanding her vocabulary and expressing herself accurately. “You have a fraction of the vocabulary to express yourself. So that’s just very humbling when you learn another language because you’re doing the best you can.”
She remembers one of her teammates had a magnet on her fridge that read, “An accent is a mark of bravery.” This spoke to Katherine because she had been striving to make her accent sound as French as possible. The magnet helped her let go of this.
“You start where you start,” says Katherine. “It’s never perfect, but you have to act on it so that it’s actually ingrained in your memory.” She’s grateful that she took the time and effort to learn: “I’m not fluent for sure by any means, but I’m grateful that I have a language to communicate with a new scope of people.”
Learning a language, building a team
Katherine feels that learning French was a major asset in helping her perform at her best professionally. “It allowed me to perform, I think, at a higher level because my teammates trusted me. I built relationships with them, and we had trust between us. And when you’re in a team competitive sport, you need trust. The teams that don’t trust each other, that aren’t connected, will not perform well.”
Learning and connecting in Canada
After playing professionally in France, Katherine moved back to Edmonton. The city has a vibrant Francophone community, but Katherine hadn’t had much contact with the community before learning French. When she returned, though, she says her ears were more open to the language. She felt her awareness broaden, and she was able to connect with more people.
Now that she’s back in Canada and more plugged in to the Canadian Francophonie, she hopes she can bridge the gap for others who want to take part in activities in the Francophone community. For her, it’s all about connection: “Connections in general have exponential potential. You don't know where a connection will go. You don't know where the effort of meeting someone and getting to know them will go. And I think that's the beautiful part of connecting with people all over the world, but specifically in your own community.”
Passing on what she’s learned
When asked what her role as RVF spokesperson means to her, Katherine says she’s honoured to have been chosen, even though she doesn’t feel she’s the most fluent French speaker out there. She believes it’s the values she embodies and her desire to serve the community that connect her to the RVF. She says, “Connecting with people is the common thread. I’ve been saying it so much, but to connect people is unifying. Despite all the ways we’re different, we can always be united; we can always unite around some kind of common ground.”
Katherine is looking forward to learning even more about Canada’s Francophonie, and she’s also looking forward to being able to pass on what she’s learned in her life to the younger generation. She says she’s like “a turtle on a fence post.” She didn’t get where she is alone. There were many people supporting her and helping her reach her goals, and she wants to do the same for others in both of Canada’s official languages.
