Cameroon: L'Immersion

I noticed that I've now been writing the Harrigan Report for 6 months, and have covered a wide variety of topics -- Irishness, dog shows, kids' chores, foreign languages, astronomy, etc. I'd like to think that's a sign of a creative mind, and not a symptom of adult ADHD.

Hey, look -- a squirrel!

Now where was I? Oh, yes -- initial Peace Corps training in Cameroon.

After recovering from my early GI distress I rejoined the ranks of the living and started in on French class. Our whole math/science program was headed for western Cameroon, the English-speaking area, but it was in our interest to learn at least some French for navigating through the rest of the country.

It was an intense 5-week program, with 6 hours of class time plus homework each day. Each class had only 2-4 students, grouped by fluency in French or facility with languages, so there was no hiding or slacking off. Our teachers were all Cameroonians, they were mostly secondary school French teachers, and they quickly became our friends.

I also got to know my fellow trainees (stagiaires) -- most of them straight out of college, idealistic, and a little nerdy, so I fit right in. It was a definite bonding situation, with the 20 of us knowing (without being told) that we'd be each other's key support for the next 2 years.

A couple of guys were bridge players, and they taught the game to a few of us in our free time. It quickly became a collective obsession, and we wound up playing throughout our time in-country, whenever four or more of us got together somewhere.

After two weeks of French class we had a fun "immersion" ceremony the following Monday morning. The training director explained that for the next three weeks we were to speak nothing but French, in the classroom or out, daytime or nighttime, weekday or weekend -- an intense (but effective) way to learn a language. He said, "You may even start to dream in French. Bad French, to be sure, but French nonetheless." We all raised our hands and swore to be true to the immersion for the next three weeks, signed a pledge, and had a ceremonial glass of red wine, even though it was only 9am. And then -- awkward silence. There was plenty to say, we just didn't know how.

We were an earnest bunch, even by Peace Corps standards, so we followed the immersion pretty consistently. The bridge players even learned the card suits so we could keep playing: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades, and "no trump" are trefle, carreau, coeur, pique, and sans atout. Most frustrating for us learners was our inability to kibbitz between hands, as we tried to figure out the hand that had just been played, who did what and why, etc. We'd ask "Pourquoi..." and stumble our way to as much understanding as we could get. Mealtime conversation was similar.

French speakers know that a lot of words are cognates of English, i.e. almost identical to the English word, like "immersion" -- just spoken with a French accent. During one bridge game Tom N. (who had no foreign language ability at all) was so excited about a hand that had been played that he tried to ask a question using cognates, but instead was really just talking with a French accent: "But whan I play zee king why deedn't you cover wiss zee ace?", or something like that. We all paused for a confused second and then burst out laughing, and someone explained to Tom that he'd been talking like Pepe Le Pew.

We would often venture out from the campus into the town of Mbalmayo at night, for a snack and/or a couple of beers. Beer is the unofficial national beverage of Cameroon, so there's plenty of it, and it's pretty good. These forays gave us the chance to practice some more French, and also start to get a feel for the country and the people. More on that later.

After our three-week immersion was over we breathed a collective sigh of relief, jabbered away in English like we'd been on some desert island, and got ready for the next part of our training. Some of us tried to maintain what we'd learned as we moved off into the English-speaking part of the country, but for most people the French quickly faded away, unfortunately. Quel dommage.

Pat