Pretending to be French.
I can fake a French accent in English. I have heard it enough.
I can set the table like a French person, I can make all the facial expressions of a French person.
I can fake being French pretty well, years of fitting in will do that to a person.
Though I do not have that French-ness that is undeniable hard to describe yet is evident and tangible throughout France.
Oui?
My English accent will never go away. Which doesn't bother me because I cannot hear it. And when I need to pretend I am a tourist and not a expat I put the accent on thick... For example in French I said, "But police officer, excuse me, but I did not see they red light?" The police officer shrugged his shoulder, and said, "Zut, a Tourist!"
They say if you learn another language before you are 18 years old or so, it is possible to speak without an accent. They say if you learn a language before you are 8, chances are that you will always speak that language forever.
Okay.
I have an accent, I started to learn French when I was thirty years old.
But, like I said, I can make French expressions with my face convey that I am speaking or and that I am French...
Really.
Oui.
If you wear a beret, you will stand out.
If you wear stripes you will stand out too, unless you are in the south and it is summer.
But who cares it is so adorable and French!
Doesn't my doodle look French? It sure doesn't look Austrian, nor African, or Texan.
Pretending to be French.
I like crepes.
