Living in Two Languages"When I married a Frenchman and moved to France, I slowly slipped into a French-speaking pattern. Only when the children grew up and left home, did I have the space to venture back to an English-speaking pattern. It took awhile to adjust and make the edges fit, then one day I found myself American once again. Pierre appreciates the variable metamorphosis, like having both wife and mistress. And I have the choice, will I live the coming day in French or in English?..." This essay was first published in the Christian Science Monitor. Read it in one of the following anthologies: "Cupid's Wild Arrows," edited by Dianne Dicks (Bergli Books, Basel, Switzerland, 1993); "Two Worlds Walking," edited by Diane Glancy & C.W. Truesdale, (New Rivers Press, Minneapolis, 1994); "A Woman's Europe", (Travelers' Tales, 2004). |
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