Multimedia Story - Final Project Story

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Travelling abroad can be quite intimidating if you’re going to a country that speaks an entirely different language. You may feel like you can’t communicate with anyone!
Maya Boudreau, a junior at LSC, travelled recently to France. After taking 8 years of French classes, she still found it quite odd to attempt to use her knowledge to communicate.
“I thought I had tons of French experience before I went, but once I got there, it felt like I knew nothing,” Boudreau said, “Plus I grew up near the Canadian border, but trust me, the French they speak in France is nothing like the French they speak in Canada.”
She remembers once asking a store clerk where the trash can was. She said, “Ou est la poubelle?” The store clerk gave her a funny look, a little chuckle, and pointed to the trash can. “I still don’t know what I said wrong,” Boudreau said, with her own little laugh.
Despite the language barrier, Boudreau says that travelling is still very exciting. “I loved seeing the monuments, seeing the Eiffel Tower, which was only something I’d seen in photos before the trip,” she said, “My favorite part of Paris was Le Louvre.”
While in France, Boudreau was able to stay with a French family to get the feel for real life in France. “At first, I felt completely out of it, but once I tried, it was much easier to speak with them,” she said, “They helped me a lot, and by the end, I was completely comfortable speaking with them. I definitely still had trouble speaking to people in public, though.”
Some tourists use phrase books, and other tools to help them communicate with people who speak different languages. “I spent years trying to learn how to have a conversation in French, but once I got there, I still had to use key phrases I’d read in books, it’s just so much easier,” Boudreau said. However, the language barrier doesn’t seem to be a problem for her. It’s tradition that if you walk over a compass embedded in the ground in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, you will return to Paris one day.
“Oh, I fully plan on going back!” Boudreau said, “I love it there!”