Pardon my French

I love ballet.

I love watching performances and classes, and participating in classes.

I also love the the Behind the Ballet Barre scenes- costumes, props, etc.

However, the one thing that I absolutely cannot stand about ballet is the language.

In first and second grade, I had some basic French.

For high school, my parents encouraged me to take Spanish since we were living in Southern California at the time.

So, I had three years of high school Spanish, a little practice with my Spanish speaking friends, and then audited three or four classes of Spanish in college.

I love the simplicity of the Spanish language, especially the easy pronunciation and readability.

Now, hearing French terms in class is difficult enough for me to interpret.

Trying to later look the terms up is even more difficult because the spelling doesn't always match the pronunciation.

And, to make things more difficult, I have trouble hearing the correct pronunciation anyway.

My friends in high school thought I spoke Spanish with a Southern accent.

At least they could understand what I was saying, ever so slowly.

With French, let's just say that I've been laughed at by my children and ballet instructors for my pronunciation.

On one occasion, my instructor liked my pronunciation better, even though it was incorrect.

Let just say,
"Pardon my French"