Dois-je parler français? Oui!

Do I speak French?  You betcha.

I don’t know how many people told me before we left the states that once we got in Niger speaking French would come quickly.  I am happy to report my French has improved greatly after just 2 months. 

You see, I learned the secret of speaking French in Niamey.  I didn’t learn it by spending more time on Rosetta Stone.  I learned it by focusing on one key phrase.  This is not possible in France, only in Niger.  The phrase I learned is “Ca va.”  You won’t find this phrase in any French Phrase book, you won’t learn it on Rosetta Stone, and it won’t be taught in most French classes, but in Niamey, it speaks volumes.  After hearing about it’s wonderful powers I am sure you will want to try it out on your friends at home.

“Ca va” is one of those magical words that means so much.  When I greet people in the morning I no longer say “Bonjour,” as I was taught, now I say “Ca va.”  After you say “Ca va,” the other person will say “Ca va” to you.  If you let someone get the jump on you and they say it first, you have to come back with another “Ca va.”  I learned this the hard way; I thought “Ca va” meant, “How’s it going.”  So I would answer, using my best French pronunciation, “Tres Bien.”  I found out that response is really in bad taste.  “Ca va” has much more value than “How’s it going.” 

You can say “Ca va” for just about anything and people think you know French.  I ordered a baguette by saying “Ca va.”  When a taxi driver cuts in front of you, yelling a good “Ca va” is very gratifying.  If someone asks you if you want sugar with your Nescafe a pleasant “Ca va” response can mean “yes, thank you” or “no, thank you.”

I have to say, it is a good thing “Ca va” came around because my French without it hasn’t improved one “du,” and it is no wonder.  I used to think struggling with the language was due to my basic stupidity but I might have been wrong.  I looked up the words, “are driving” on Goggle Translate.  Mind you I didn’t need to look it up because on Rosetta it was “sont conduit” or something close to that.  On Google there are five choices for “are driving,” conduisent, sont l’origine, sont le moteur, conduisez, and of course poussent.  That means you have to learn 5 different ways to say the same thing.  That means you have to learn 5 different languages.

Actually, it doesn’t make any difference in Niamey.  They don’t use any of these options; they have their own way of saying “are driving.”  They just say “ca va.