“Traveling and living in a country where the common language is foreign to you is totally no problem”
– *cricket noises*
It’s mid-afternoon and my taxi car is nearing the area of Vieux Limoilou in Quebec City. The original route of a 30 minute walk and bus with baggage from the airport had been cancelled due to a torrential downpour. As it turned out, weather in Eastern Canada in the summer can be unpredictable, and these things happen.
Finally having arrived à la destination*, my roommate greeted me warmly, en français*. It was one of the first few interactions I had had in the city, and as I rummaged my head in search of various sayings, words, phrases taught to me by my French Immersion teachers I began to realize what the following few months had in store : speaking reaaaaaallllyyyyyy slowly so I have time to translate sentences and words in my head, challenges working with lab equipment using protocols in French, confusion as to what’s actually in that yellow no name brand French labelled box at the grocery store.
Well at least the cheese identification was not as challenging, but it did not make me feel like I was walking the aisles à l’épicerie* in a foreign country any less.
My take on what it’s like to face a language barrier when traveling about may or may not be what you experience. Here are some thoughts that I frequented during my time in Québec: