A while ago I read René Barjavel's 'Le nuit de temps' (or 'The Ice People') and really enjoyed it. However, while in Scotland at Christmas I tried to buy a copy and was unsuccessful. None of the bookshops I tried stocked Barjavel, even though he is recognised as one of the greatest science fiction writers of recent times. Returning to France, a colleague suggested one reason why Barjavel wasn't in print in the UK: He had plagairised the idea for 'Le nuit de temps' from the Australian author Erle Cox who wrote 'The Golden Dome' (or the 'Le Sphère d'or). I'm now in the midst of reading Cox's book and it's really interesting to see how Barjavel really does seem to have adapted Cox's ideas to fit his own book...
And why am I telling you about all this? Well, cos both books are good to read and second because the central subject of both books is a woman who is awakened after thousands of years of 'sleep' in an underground dome. The men who wake their sleeping princess in both books are charged with the task of teaching her modern English (or French) and are surprised by the speed at which she learns and applies her new language.
And so I arrive at the reason I'm telling you all this.. for it is one thing to read in books about how fictional creatures learn and apply language seemingly overnight and quite another to see how Jack's use of language has flourished over the last few weeks. It really is miraculous, having now spent 2.5years with him, to hear him begin to express himself as a little boy. Of course, Jack's learning process is as slow and as decadent as any other little boy or girl's processs but, because I'm experiencing it for the first time, it seems just incredible (and, darn it, not least because I've now spent the last 6 years struggling to pick up and apply French in a coherant manner!).
Here are some examples of new Jack talk:
Yesterday morning he called from his bed 'Maman, tu-es là?'
'Oui, Jack'
'Je veux sortir'
'Je veux changer couche: peepee dans couche'
'je veux manger'
'Maman, tu viens?'
(Maman, are you there? I want to get out; I want to change the nappy: there's peepee in the nappy; I want to eat; Maman, are you coming?').
He know says 'je t'aime' (I love you)... particularly when he's just got something he wanted ;-)
Recently, his Papy JC explained the he was 'français' and that I wasn't. Even though Jack hadn't appeared to be listening, he later looked at JC and asked 'Français?' and then checked with each of us. When I said I was 'Scottish' he seemed puzzled but accepting that the others were French but I wasn't.
Similarly, his Mamy Annette told him something was 'rouge.' When he said, 'No, red' she (obviously as she's French) repeated 'rouge'...to which he replied 'c'est le même' ('it's the same'). So, it may be that our wee lad is beginning to grasp what this whole dual language thing is about!!
Last week, Ben and I took Jack out for a bike ride along the cycle path in the evening sunshine. The walk was really pleasant and ended with us standing by the river by the bakery. 'Tata Lily là-bas,' (the nanany, over there). Jack said pointing in the direction of TL's house. 'Jack école là-bas' he than said pointing generally in the direction of his future school. 'And where's Jack's home?' I asked. Turning around, he pointed at the apartment: là-bas. This game has now developed to include all sorts of places, including the swimming pool and his cousins' house.
Oddly, yesterday, while I was changing him on his table, he looked at the zigzags in the curtains and said 'M, N, M, N'. I couldn't say he was wrong as, indeed, the shapes resembled Ms and Ns. Then, this morning, we glued his name J-A-C-K to his bedroom door. He now gets a silly delight from repeating J, K, A C...and, to tell you the truth, we get a silly delight listening to him.
And so I hope, wherever you are and whatever words and letters are filling your head, that you are well and that your reality often feels as strange and as marvelous as fiction.
