Parlez-vous Ininimoowin?

Recently, I have been spending a lot of time in northern Quebec. I have met many great people and I have made a few new friends. The change in scenery is very enjoyable.
There is something wonderful about crossing the Quebec border from northern Ontario. I always feel more like I am driving into France from some non-French speaking European country.
I have done that a couple of times. Although the border is only a few hours away from just about anywhere in northeastern Ontario it seems as though I have traveled to another country when I reach Quebec.
Of course I am still trying to find my way with the French language. Although I have met many great people, I feel I have had to try their patience when it comes to communicating at the most basic level. I speak only a few words in French and understand a tiny bit more in
Thankfully, Quebecois are very accommodating when I try to speak their language and I fall short. They help out.
It is not a new feeling for me to be lost in a foreign culture. You see, English was once like that for me. I had to deal with the same situation when I was a teenager in Timmins and attending high school. Back then, of course I knew and understood English but I seldom spoke the language.
I had spent my early elementary school education learning the basics of English from the age of five or so. At home we always spoke Cree.
Although I was always considered outgoing and bright back in Attawapiskat, I found myself in my first year of high school in Timmins as silent as a mute because I was too shy to say anything. I knew and understood everything being said around me. However, I had never practiced how to properly pronounce the words or to carry on a conversation in a completely fluent way.
Much of the time I was afraid to make a mistake and myself and my Cree friends felt somehow less than perfect in this new and very competitive world.
I met many wonderful people and I am so thankful for all the help and support they gave me. The problem is that I moved locations and of course schools several times during my teens and that made everything more difficult. My life seemed so temporary. By the time I finished high school, I still felt very uncomfortable with the English language. Strangely enough I found myself better able to express myself in the written word rather than the spoken word.
I felt more comfortable writing because I did not need to speak aloud and I also had to time to think about the words I needed to express. Cree people at the best of times are generally shy and quiet.
Cree was my first language and it was the way I communicated with everyone I knew for much of the first decade of my life. Everyone in Attawapiskat spoke Cree back then and it was abnormal or even strange for us to hear any of our relations or friends speaking in English.
I always enjoy being able to speak with friends and relatives in my Cree language.
Our culture is built on fun and much of the time, a simple word or phrase can present the silliest images that will set us off giggling and laughing. Take for instance Kapehshishin-chen O-pah-nah-chee-sah, which basically translates as “his plaid pants.”
It’s a practical description in English but a silly image to describe in Cree that can set us off in fits of laughter. Usually the phrase will lead to talking about a memory or event that involves someone’s plaid pants. To non-Cree people this seems completely ridiculous but that is a matter of culture.
You can claim that you have a good command of a language when you can tell a joke and understand a joke. It has taken me plenty of trial and error to find the proper humour in the English culture.
I still try to mix my Native humour into conversations with my non-Native friends. Most of these efforts end with my friends wondering what I find so funny while I laugh to myself.
In the French culture, I have found that the best communication that I have been able to share has been laughter. Laughing and having a bit of fun with others seems to be something the Cree and French cultures share. Considering it has taken me more than 25 years to learn the English language, I am trying to be patient as I ‘commence a parlez Francais.’www.underthenorthernsky.com