A lot of people don’t know this, but French was my first language, not English.

My parents are both of French-Canadian origin and spoke French exclusively to me until I was about three years old, even though we lived in Maryland. However, they knew well that they would eventually have to teach me English if I was to function in the United States. My mother did this by speaking and reading to me in English. I have to admit that Sesame Street and The Electric Company helped a lot with this endeavor.

Many people my age who took a foreign language in middle or high school began learning it at the age of twelve or later. Although many of the students who did so were extremely intelligent, they struggled to learn French or Spanish.

I always got A’s in French. (I took it so that I could learn to write it and not just speak and understand it.)  I credit my parents for this. Because they spoke it to me at such a young age, learning to read and write it came almost naturally to me.

The time to start learning a foreign language is in early childhood. Preschoolers’ minds are like sponges; they absorb everything and can learn quickly.

Today, living still in Maryland, I do not have many opportunities to speak, read, or write French. When I speak with my mother on the telephone, I speak it to the best of my ability, but my vocabulary is limited. I often text with her in French as well and send her the occasional French email. (I am frustrated that I don’t know how to make accents in Gmail.)

I am proud to say that I do not have an English accent when I speak French; I can roll my r’s as well as any Quebecois. My accent, I have heard some people from France say, is Quebecois. “Pardonnez-moi!”

Have you learned a foreign language? How easy or difficult was it for you?