Isabelle in Doha
A French expatriate in Qatar from March 2008 to February 2009Archive for english
I must forget the English i learnt in school…
I started to learn English in fifth grade (the “cours moyen 2″ or “CM2″ in France), with very simple sentences like “this is the river”, “this is Cathy”, “look! Cathy and Richard are in England!”. In France, we learn English like it is in the books, infortunately not the one that is spoken. We learn to write and not to talk. I rarely had to use my English, except during my journeys.
Now that i live in Qatar, i must forget the English i learnt in school and start using the English spoken language!
I notice the lack of words i have! Words like “coat-hanger” – that i did not even learn before i found it in the dictionnary! I had to show it and say “this thing” to the cashier! When it comes to speak, i often make weird sentences, without verbs or just… bad! I just need to practice, make mistakes over and over again…
How to begin…?
To begin, I would like to introduce myself.
My name is Isabelle, i am a French citizen from a small town near Paris, 36 years old, married to François, mother to Iris, 3 months in 8 days.
I usually work in a city hall as an archivist, a municipal archives service manager. After the birth of my daughter, i chose to stop working, took a parental leave and followed my husband to Doha where he took charge of his new job.
When we decided to leave for Doha, I searched the internet for websites and blogs written by expatriates to learn about it. And now, i would like to share my experience and discoveries with other people, future expatriates or not.
I am writing in English to be understood by more than just the French speakers and eventually, to try to improve my English… so please be kind with my mistakes…
