I like the way French sounds to my ears.  Almost musical with the right intonations. If I could feel the French language, I would say it would be like a bed of pillowy soft marshmallows.

I don’t speak French. I wish I could.  My Indian tongue gets twisted and I mangle the words.  Whatever words I try to say aloud sounds wrong (although it sounds almost like French in my head), and that has stopped me from trying harder with this beautiful language.  I feel my attempts at French is similar to that of the one awful Karaoke singer that everyone wants to shut up.

Until…

My husband and I were in KLCC when I quietly mentioned Blancpain as we walked past the store, and immediately admitted that I wasn’t sure if I had pronounced it correctly. Having been taught, not necessarily learnt, French for six years in school, my husband agreed that he would have said it the same way as I had. As an aside, for some reason, my eyes see and register Blancpain as back pain, every single time. Although my husband has heard this story before, it didn’t stop me from repeating and reiterating my like of the French language and how bad I am at it when he reminded me that I know and use more French words than I realize. Of course, he was right.

While rendezvous, entrepreneur, croissant, chef, déjà vu, souvenir and petite are French words that I am familiar with, I don’t think I can string together a coherent sentence with these words. ‘Rendezvous petite croissant’ will certainly not get me very far in France.

That said, it was fun discovering how much French I already knew and spoke by virtue of speaking English. Apparently 29% of English words have a French origin [1]. While it is difficult to estimate the number of French words that are used in English, at least in terms of vocabulary, if not grammar, French probably has had the single biggest influence on English, arguably more so than even Middle English[2].  Happily for me, this means I already ‘speak’ one-third French. Yeah, right!

Like I said French sounds so good to my ears. I like à la mode (In the way (style) of) especially when it comes after apple pie, café au lait (Coffee with milk) and crème brûlée (Burnt cream). Burnt cream is not a fair translation of crème brûlée. It is one of those understated, elegant desserts that manages to naturally add a bit of theatre and fun to the dining experience, without actually trying. I anxiously wait to hear the crack of the caramel, which never fails to bring a smile to my face, before I dive into the silky soft custard. I enjoy this mini excitement despite being a die-hard chocoholic.

Other words that I have used without consciously associating them with the French language are Grand Prix (Great prize), RSVP = répondez s’il vous plait, (Reply, if it pleases you), carte blanche (white card), laissez faire (Let do) and vis-à-vis (Face to face)[3].

It is always good to learn new things, and mastering a foreign language is a wonderful accomplishment. I watched “Amelie”[5] many years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it despite having to read the subtitles. It would have been more rewarding to have watched and understood the movie in its native language and picked up on all the nuances.

I am fortunate that I am able to speak English. The language opens up so many avenues to gain knowledge, understand and decipher information, appreciate music, art and movies, and communicate with or be one of the 20 per cent or 1.5 billion English-speaking people in the world[6]. As a Malaysian, I also speak Bahasa Malaysia, the national language of Malaysia and Tamil, my mother tongue, which are definite plusses.

I don’t see myself speaking French anytime soon. My simple plan is to keep sneaking in as many French words as I can in conversation, simply because they sound so nice to my ears. And,  thankfully there is a library of words to select from such as avant-garde, à la carte, café, bon appétit, hors d’oeuvre,  chic, couture, silhouette, bouquet, boutique, bon voyage, cliché, en route, fiancé, genre and chaise lounge.

And, my favourite French word of all, Comme ci, Comme ca (Like this, like that).  Hmm…