【话匣子英语】英国人生活在加拿大

 今天做客话匣子英语的是海伦，她来自英国，会讲英语和法语，看她是如何适应在加拿大的生活的.....

Maura: Today, we are going to do a Chatterbox episode¹, and if you’re a regular Culips listener, you know what that means. Sometimes we chat about all different kinds of topics and we also interview people. And that’s what is happening today. So, I’m going to interview a good friend of ours named Helen. Say hi.

 

Helen: Hi.

 

Maura: She is originally from Liverpool, in England, and she’s been living in Canada for about 8 years now, and she has spent some time learning² French as well, because we’re living in the province of Quebec. And that is actually where we met. Isn’t that right?

 

Helen: That’s right.

 

Maura: Yeah. I think it was about 5 or 6 years ago that I was taking a French class with Harp³, and we had some other friends who had taken a class with you. Right?

 

Helen: That’s right.

 

Maura: And how has your French come along since then? Helen: It’s been about 6 years since I started learning French. And I think in Montreal it can be easy to speak English, because not everybody speaks to you in French or answers you in French. My French is pretty good, I would say. You need to keep it up, you need to speak a language every day to improve, to be better at it. But overall⁴ it’s good. It’s pretty good.

 

Maura: Good. Nice. And I know it’s a different experience for people who come from other countries because in Canada, no matter where we are in Canada, when you’re young and you grow up here, you take French classes, so you at least have a basic understanding if you want to learn. But when you came to Quebec, did you have any knowledge of French before?

 

Helen: In England we have to take French for 6 years in school, in high school, and I forgot most of it by the time I arrived in Canada and then I ended up in Banff, in Alberta, where it’s mostly English speaking, but I made friends with some Quebecois people and just wanted to practice my French a little bit so that kind of gave me a good base before moving to Montreal.

 

Maura: So you did have a pretty good base when you got here then.

 

Helen: Yeah, not bad. I found, though, that the French that we learned⁵ in England is from France, so it’s a completely different accent. When I first arrived, I couldn’t understand Quebecois at all. I didn’t think it sounded like French. But now that I’ve been here for 7 years, it’s the opposite. I find I can only understand the Quebecois and the French seems completely different.

 

Maura: I had exactly the same experience. When I was in France and I knew a little bit of French, I could understand the French there and not the French from Canada, and now it’s the same experience.

 

Helen: That’s it. But now I think that the Quebecois French… It sounds more American in a way, because we’re surrounded by North American culture, so in that way, it’s just easier to pick up, I find. The French accent from France is a little bit harder to pronounce sometimes.

1 episode   

n.（作品的一段）情节，插曲，系列事件中之一

参考例句：

• The episode was a huge embarrassment for all concerned.这段小插曲令所有有关人员都感到非常尴尬。
• This episode remains sharply engraved on my mind.这段经历至今仍深深地铭刻在我的心中。

2 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

3 harp   

n.竖琴；天琴座

参考例句：

• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
• He played an Irish melody on the harp.他用竖琴演奏了一首爱尔兰曲调。

4 overall   

n.工作服，工装裤；全面的，全体的

参考例句：

• The shop assistant was wearing a white overall.那店员穿着白色的工作服。
• How much will it cost overall?一共多少钱？

5 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。