Le chien

 

This is our dog. I suppose he has learnt to pray and be thankful for all that is good in his life. Either that, or perhaps he is playing Hide and Seek and is counting to 100 before he comes looking for us.

 

We got him from a dog shelter some years ago. Apparently he was found roaming the streets and was re-homed several times and returned to the shelter as un-wanted. We took a chance and brought him home where he has been with us ever since.

 

He is difficult to live with but with patience we’ll all learn to adjust. I guess he must have had a difficult life before he met us.

 

The thing about this dog is that he has learnt French. Yes … you heard me right. He has learnt French.

 

We have one of those teach yourself French DVD Videos which we play over and again on TV to learn various phrases. As we sit there repeating what is said on TV the dog sits on the carpet watching intently.

 

I’m sure he’s listening carefully and getting the different intonations and accents which so enrich the French language. You can see his ears twitching when certain words are pronounced slowly by the woman on TV. 

 

“Bonjour Monsieur Dupont. Ou est l’hôtel Majestueux?” 

 

Which I’m sure is very helpful and reassuring in case our dog ever gets lost in Paris and needs to find his way back to the hotel. ("Are you in Seine?" I hear you ask ... [I had to get that joke in somewhere]).

 

The thing is … I don’t know whether, in his head, the dog is pronouncing the words correctly, because, he has actually never said them out loud.

 

It could be that in his head the words are all distorted and garbled up because he pronounces them with a doggy accent. Just like we would speak French with a British or American accent, or whatever accent we may have. Conversely, the French would speak English with a French accent, "Allo mes amis ... Zees eez a good day for zee speaking of zee Engleesh, n'est ce pas?"

 

So how do I know if in his head our dog is pronouncing the French words properly if he never says them out loud like you’re supposed to on the Video?

 

But one thing I’ve noticed since he joined us in learning French by DVD. His bark has taken a distinctively French timbre as of late. (Did you notice I put in the word "timbre" in there? This French DVD is quite educational, you know.)

 

He no longer goes “Woof Woof” to scare cats away from our garden. His bark is a more elongated “Hein hein hein woooof woooof you naughtee leetle cats!” as if to say “Oh zut alors! Qu’est ce que c’est ca? Zee cats ave come into zee garden!”

 

I’m not sure the itinerant cats roaming our garden understand him any more.