Updates from Al

Well, well, well… the last couple of weeks have been quite an adventure, to say the least. To begin, I would like to formally announce that I’m looking for work in and around Montreal. I got the news last week that there just isn’t any money in the budget to maintain my position, so at the end of the fiscal year (May 31) I’ll be handing in my keys and bidding a fond farewell to my little office space. While this is hardly the sort of news I wanted to hear, I was only ever promised a year here so getting an extra 2 and a half months is actually pretty decent. So if any of my readers know of any jobs for Anglophones out there (and though I shouldn’t NEED to emphasize this, I will anyway: NO CALL CENTRES), please feel free to drop me a line.

The next blow to the ol’ ego came last night in the form of a rather thin envelope from McGill’s Department of History. Contained therein was notice that I had been rejected from the Masters program and that my interest in the “highly competitive” program was appreciated. Um, thanks for that, I think… so I guess that clears up any fears I had about how I was going to pay for the MA, huh? Oh well. The next challenge awaits, I guess.

So let’s try and end off on a positive note, shall we? Last night I had the final exam for the French to English Translation course I’ve been blasting through this term. It’s hard to believe that 12 weeks have gone by so quickly, but evidently it has. Now I don’t know if I just got handed something different from everyone else in the room or if my classmates are just far more cautious than I am, but I was done that exam in record time. Sure, I had to look up the occasional word, but otherwise the translation seemed to write itself. All told, in a 90 minute exam, I was done in 45 minutes—and that includes the time I spent re-writing my rough draft! So either I tanked it or I rocked that baby til the break of dawn. We’ll be getting the results back next week, so I guess I’ll find out then if I’m as clever as I believe I am at the moment. Maybe I’ll get lucky on the English to French exam after Easter? Anything’s possible, right? Til next time…

Avril Lavigne, Supporter of Core French Currculum Reform

As I was reading through an article on Avril Lavigne’s new multilingual single “Girlfriend” and I couldn’t help but laugh. Apparently the folks in marketing thought it would be a brilliant move for her to record the chorus in 7 different languages in an attempt to further break through overseas. Not a bad idea. But that’s not the thing that made me laugh.

Y’see, one of the languages chosen for the song’s reworked chorus is French and, despite her VERY French name, Avril doesn’t speak a word of it. This led the journalist (Karen Bliss) into a line of questions that prompted Lavigne to lament the fact that her parents never put her in French immersion classes when she was younger. Considering she’s a high school dropout, I’m not really sure how much good any immersion program would have done for her.

Bliss then takes a timeout during the article to indict the current core French program, saying,

“Considering how Canadian students are required to take French classes from public to high school, it's ridiculous that one doesn't graduate with at least an ability to have a conversation en francais. The curriculum needs to be changed.”

Naturally, this was accompanied by an appropriately supportive quote from Napanee’s former pop punk princess:

“It's so bad," Lavigne agrees. “No one knows (it). Yeah, we had French class every grade, but we didn't do anything. It's not very good at all.”

I don’t disagree with the content of what she said; I just find it funny that anyone would try to use Avril as a means of promoting French language education. It brought to mind the words of the late, great comedian, Bill Hicks, who said,

“When did we start listening to prepubescent white girls? I must have missed that meeting.”

Let’s not hold Avril up as a role model for today’s youth, okay? If anything, she should be used as a warning to anyone thinking of dropping out of school. Yes, she made it. Good for her. But statistically speaking, you won’t make it, so stay in school so you can make something of yourself. But that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong. Til next time…

My Mind is Blank

We’ve hit March 15 and my mind is still a blank. My parents decided to take advantage of March Break this past week and drove up from London to see little ol’ me. As much as I hate to admit it, I do miss my family occasionally. Sure, it was pretty tight quarters, but it’s the price one pays to have visitors in a one bedroom apartment in Montreal. They were able to entertain themselves while I was at work, so I didn’t need to play tour guide.

I also got back the results of my English-to-French midterm and, while hardly spectacular, was well within the low ‘B’ range, which is fine by me at this point. This course was a good litmus test for me and my fluency in French. It showed me that, though I’ve got a reasonable grasp of the language, it’s going to take longer than the duration of this course for me to approach my own demanding performance standards with respect to mastery.

I also recently got the chance to attend a lecture by Sherry Simon, who wrote a book called Translating Montreal: Episodes in the Life of a Divided City (I just ordered a copy of it, by the way). Her observations have prompted me to read her book, since it seems that she took a different look at Translation. To her, translation becomes a tool of cultural contact and exploration (hmmm… sounds like a theme I can support) rather than a replacement of one text with another. I’m curious to see what direction she takes with it.

Alright, I’m off. Til next time…

Loose Ends

Consider this post as Al’s way of tying up some loose ends. The last couple of weeks I’ve been more self-absorbed than usual and, to be honest, haven’t had much to say au sujet du Québec. But for those who are interested in the daily happenings of my routine, I wanted to let you know that, yes, the bank did manage to correct my balance and return to me the money that had been scammed by those evil card skimmers. And no, there were no bounced cheques in the meantime, so all is well in that respect.

I continue scratch and claw my way through my English-to-French translation course with varied results. I had thought that I was finally turning a corner last week when I received back my first ‘A’, only to be smacked back to reality this week when I got back a ‘C’ right before the midterm. Nothing like a confidence booster right before the midterm to get your mind in the right place, eh?

My French-to-English class has been far more consistent, in terms of performance. I’m holding down a pretty solid ‘A’ average, which will help me pull up my average from that nastiness in the other class. But to be honest, I’m thinking that I should cut back to one class at a time while working full-time from now on. Sure, it would be nice to get it out of the way sooner than later, but I’m finding myself feeling a bit burnt out trying to juggle everything. As Morgan often advises, it’s best for me to take fewer courses and really get my head around the concept, rather than doing a half-ass job.

Alright, that’s all for now. Til next time…