Friday, April 10, 2009

Seesaw Wheat Oof

It's a wonderful feeling when something you've been patiently, albeit sporadically trying to learn, starts to show results. It could be anything from learning to drive a standard transmission car (which I've been teaching my oldest) to a new quilting technique to studying a foreign language.

For a few years now, I've been teaching myself French with the help of books, videos and some coaching from my son, who's studied three years of French. Periodically, I visit websites that have mini French lessons, and I practice my pronunciation. French is very similar to English in that the pronunciation has little or nothing to do with what is written.

I was following a link to the Paris newspaper, Le Figaro's, website with an article (in French) about a contest judging the best flan of Paris. There is also a short video showing the judging process, so I watched and listened to see what I could pick up. I picked out "texture" "cream" "color" "golden" "bakery" and "food store". Then I heard this phrase "Seesaw Wheat Oof". I knew I recognized those sounds. What could it be? I kept repeating it to myself. Sees - that's six. Wheat aka huit - that's eight. And Oof is ouef - egg. Six a huit ouefs! Six to eight eggs! I have a lightbulb going off over my head moment and it feels awesome!

No comments: