18 July 2009

The Importance of Hand Gestures




Last night I really stepped out of my comfort zone. As I'm sure I've mentioned before I'm an extremely shy person, especially when I only know one person in the whole room. Well, last night I met up with Nick's (my cousin) friend. Keep in mind that I don't know him or his friends and I barely speak French, or as his girlfriend pointed out to everyone I met, I am fluent in Franglish. (him and his friends speak a little bit of english) Well, I have now mastered the art of hand gesturing and how to have a full conversation through arm waving, nodding, and facial expressions. 

To give you an idea of how my night went when one of the guys offered to buy me a drink I said no thank you in French, he asked me why not, I said that it would put me to sleep because I was so tired and drinking would not help me (I said this in both English and French). He had no clue what I was saying so I pointed to the drink said no pointed to myself and then made a motion like I was going to sleep. Weirdly, he understood - they would do the same kind of thing like a motion with a camera and whatnot. 

 I have never had that much fun! seriously. I hope I'll begin to interpret the superfast version of French that I still struggle with so I can have a real conversation!

xox

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous19 July, 2009

    Just keep working on it! Think how fluent you will be at this time next year!

    I am all about the art of the hand gesture. I have perfected it. Everyone taunts me because I talk with my hands. But, it works, doesn't it?

    xoxo

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.