International accents, learning French

I was staggered one day last winter when in Belize.  I was talking with an American man and a young man from Liverpool.  The Liverpool chap had a very heavy Liverpuddlian accent.  My accent, I’m afraid to say, makes me sound like Princess Anne.  What staggered me is that the American couldn’t hear the difference.  Not hear the difference ?!    I found that amazing.  On reflection, however, I told him that – actually – I couldn’t hear the difference between the Canadian and the American accent.  I was assured there was very little difference.  By this time a Canadian woman had joined our group and she, rather to the irritation of the American, told me that her accent is softer.

The discussion continued in this vein for a while (we were sitting at the bar of our son’s budget hostel in Hopkins – lovely – the bar is up under the trees where it is cool and there are a lot of young people from all over the world) and an Australian joined us.  Surely, I said to the American, you can hear that his accent is different ?  Nope.  No way.

Having been in France many years I can now tell a “working class” accent, I suppose.  Certainly in this area.  I can also tell accents from the south of France where they have a delightful twang.  France does have regional accents, of course, but they are not as pronounced as the British ones.  Or at least so it seems to me.

As always, just as they pop in to my head (accents – the other sort of accent – missing):-

un clin d’oiel – a wink

rouler au pas – drive dead slow

une ordonnance – a prescription

en revanche – on the other hand

eternuer – sneeze.  In French this is a verb and not a noun.  We Brits have the luxury of being able to sneeze ( a verb) and to do a sneeze (a noun).

rien n’y fit – there was nothing for it

une petite voix – a small voice, ie you don’t sound on form: tu as une petite voix

abonnement – subscription (to a magazine for example)

au fond de mon lit – huddled up in bed

figure-toi – mark you

drolement – particularly, eg he was particularly rude: il etait drolement impoli

un particulier – an individual person (as opposed to a firm/company)

mere poule – motherly

le cadet de mes soucis – the least of my worries

chanceux – lucky. One would usually say “il a de la chance”, or “quelle chance!”

hot on his heels

la vache ! – blimey!

le footing – jogging

un beau coup de crayon – good at drawing

un beau coup de pinceau – good at painting (pictures)

sacre bon – this food is sacre bon – ie excellent.  Or sacre mauvais or whatever.

forte – fat.  Une femme forte: a fat woman.  This sounds better than une grosse femme/une femme grosse, which is unkind.  I suppose in the UK we’d say “a cuddly lady” …?

le grand trot – canter (for a horse). Trot is trot (pronouned tro) and gallop is gallop (pronounced gallo)

Catherine Broughton is a novelist, a poet and an artist.  Her books are available as e-books from this site, (click below), from Amazon/Kindle, or can be ordered from any leading book store or library.   Catherine Broughton spends her year in either the UK, France or Belize, and travels a great deal.  Her travel stories and sketches from around the world are on http://www.turquoisemoon.co.uk

https://payhip.com/b/tEva    “A Call from France”

https://payhip.com/b/OTiQ    ”French Sand”

https://payhip.com/b/BLkF    “The Man with Green Fingers”

https://payhip.com/b/1Ghq    “Saying Nothing”

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8th Wonder of the World in Belize

I am a regular visitor to Belize. I love Belize, and my favourite spot is Hopkins.

So, I was interested to see today that the Great Blue Hole off the Belize coast is being voted the 8th Wonder of the World.

For this blog in full and more please see http://www.turquoisemoon.co.uk/blog/8th-wonder-of-the-world-in-belize/

Having a Baby in Belize- The Birth of Khaya

I had a few different options for where to have my baby. I knew I did NOT want to have my baby in a Belize public hospital as I had heard stories about the treatment of birthing mothers and I did not want to be in that situation. I wanted to have my baby in a safe and caring way. I wanted to have control over what happened to me during the labour and I did not think a public hospital here in Belize would give me the experience I was looking for. My three options were: 1. Travel back to Canada to have a hospital or home birth. 2. Have the baby at a private hospital in Belize City. 3. Have a home birth with a midwife I had found by an online search. We decided not to take a chance with going to Canada if Luckie had problems getting his visa. I did not want to get stuck last minute making a plan B. I had been getting my prenatal care at the private hospital in Belize City which was a very good facility but still a hospital with policies and proceedures that did not really allow me to have everything I wanted. So we chose to go with the midwife. I really wanted to have a water birth and we had met with the midwife and really liked her. She is a woman who worked as a midwife for many years in Canada and the US, highly qualified and experienced with more than 1500 births. She and her husband moved to Belize to retire but she continued to catch babies calling herself “midwife without borders” travelling all over the world delivering babies. I had contacted her and she was available at the time of my due date.

For this blog in full and more please see http://www.turquoisemoon.co.uk/blog/having-a-baby-in-belize-the-birth-of-khaya/

The Funky Dodo

THE FUNKY DODO backpackers hostel in HOPKINS, Belize.  On the Caribbean sea, budget accomodation with a bar and restaurant.

For this blog in full and more please see http://www.turquoisemoon.co.uk/blog/the-funky-dodo-belize/

Belize- The land of opportunity

Anybody looking for a New Start in life should try Belize.

And Belize needs you !

In particular Belize needs young people who will bring trade in to the country.

For this blog in full and more please see http://www.turquoisemoon.co.uk/blog/land-of-opportunity-belize/

Belize Part 11- Placencia

So, we decided we need to have a holiday from our holiday.  And here we are in Placenica.  Goodness, now is the time to buy!  Quite a lot of properties, ranging from shacks to gorgeous villas, to plots of beach-front land to village centre plots, are for sale.  I prefer Hopkins by a long shot, but Placenica is very nice too.

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Belize Part 10- Health Care



Belize does have a National Health system and all nationals are entitled to free medical care.  The standard of care, I am told, is inferior to the standard in Mexico and in Guatamala, both neighbours, and quite a few people will travel over the border if they need operations or specific care.  There are several very good private clinics and insurance is inexpensive.

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Belize Part 8

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Belize Part 7- St Ignacio and the Spanish Lookout.

 

 The first time we visited St Ignacio, three years ago, it was much like many of the little towns dotted all over this part of the Americas, ie a small, slightly tatty Hispanic town.  The only place for the likes of us to stay was in the Royal Casino Hotel (with price tag to match), and it was really the only place to eat too.  Recently, however, the town has been spruced-up and there is even a pedestrianized area where one can sit out to eat or drink of an evening – a must in any warm climate.

For full blog and more please see www.turquoisemoon.co.uk

Belize Part 6- A small yellow flower

I sketched this little flower when I was out on one of the cayes just the other day.  When I had finished I asked a man sitting on his upturned boat what the flower was called.

For full blog and others on Belize please see www;turquoisemoon.co.uk

Belize Part 5 Baron Bliss

 

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Belize Part 4- Dangriga

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Belize Part 3



We have just returned from three nights on Tobacco Caye.

The cayes (pronounced keys) off the coast of Belize are small islands situated either on the reef or between the reef and the mainland. It is most certainly well worth visiting a few, but (for me at any rate) they are not necessarily the best of what Belize has to offer.  I say that because so many tourists flock to the cayes, yet Belize is so very much more than that.

There are hundreds of cayes, all basking in the Caribbean sun, but many are uninhabitable.  They offer, on the other hand, good habitat for many bird species, and a great deal of marine life originates in the shelter of the mangroves that dot most of the islands.  The barrier reef runs alongside many of them, 185 miles long, and rich in sea life.

The largest of the cayes is Ambergris, accessed by water bus from Belize City.  We stayed there some three years ago and loved the selection of restaurants and shops … not that there is a lot, but there is more than on any of the other cayes.  The sandy beaches are clean and the accomodation good.  We took a boat trip from there out to a reserve where we went snorkelling in with nursing sharks, extraordinary fish, turtles and rays.  It was amazing.   So far Ambergris has managed to maintain its original feel despite the tourism, but it is now just a question of time.

Tobacco Caye is more easily accessible via Dangriga.  You just go along to the Riverside Cafe and ask for somebody to take you out.  There is usually somebody, certainly in the mornings.   A 30-minute ride brings you to the little island – perhaps half a mile at its widest point and boasting some fifteen or so beach cabanas, in varying standards, where you can stay.  I won’t mention the name of the place where we stayed because I couldn’t recommend it*, but suffice to say it was very very basic, backpacker standard apart from the private WC and (cold) shower.  Not that we minded.  It was only for three nights after all.  But it really was very basic.

The other cabanas or guests houses are only marginally better, though really very quaint, and just the thing if you enjoy snorkelling and simply lying in the sun.  Snorkelling from Tobacco Caye is probably the best option in that you can wade in directly from the beach, or off a jetty, whereas for the other you really need a boat to take you out.

One tip I’ll give you is to take your own food.  Many of these places offer three meals a day included in the price, but the food was also very basic and not in large quantities.  We both felt hungry almost all the time.  As it was only for three nights it didn’t matter, and I quite enjoy eating “local” stuff, but I was well aware that I’d be sick to the back teeth with it if we were staying longer.  There is just one tiny shop which sells almost nothing, and a bar which sells beer, coke, rum and a variety of spirits.  It is an ideal place if you enjoy just lying about, reading, doing nothing.

The people, some of whom live there all year round, are lovely.  So friendly and pleasant and smiley.  Well, Belizeans are.

* I am against giving bad reviews on Trip Advisor and the like. I feel that is very unfair and extremely rude. So if there is nothing nice to say, say nothing – at least on internet!

For more about Belize see www.turquoisemoon.co.uk

Belize Part 1



In many parts of the world when you mention Belize people reply “where?”

For those that know Belize, a tiny country on the Caribbean coast just under Mexico, many people think of the islands of Ambergris and Caye Caulker and the legendary Blue Hole.  The country is famous for scuba-diving and snorkelling, being on the barrier reef, and being lush with exotic sea plants and sea creatures.

But Belize is massively more than that.  Extraordinary Mayan ruins, exotic plants and animals, stunning views and lots of interesting little towns …. all on the Caribbean ….

My favourite spot is the coastal area of  Hopkins and vicinity, a little Garifuna village on the beach, still boasting its traditional way of life.  Garifuna (in a nutshell) is like Creole, but not Creole.  They are friendly, cheerful, happy people who will greet you as you pass and whose children are safe to play outside in the streets long after dark.  There are several eateries where you can try out the local dishes, and there are also several European and/or American restaurants too.  We like eating at the German- run “The Frog”, cheap and cheerful and very good, or at Iris’s, owned by a South African lady called, not Iris,  but Maureen.   A little further along, heading south out of the village, there are more up-market restaurants and some excruciatingly expensive hotels and villas.

In Hopkins itself the cheapest place to stay, if you are young and happy to rough it a little, is The Funky Dodo, a backpackers’ hostel owned by a young Englishman, William.  Dormitories and private rooms are funky and quirky, with an excellent bar up under the treetops and a small restaurant being built as we speak.  For us, we are too old for places like The Funky Dodo and we hire a beach cabana for the duration – there is a great selection to choose  from.

When we first visited Hopkins, three years ago now, the beach was awash with litter and stinking seaweed.  Most of the litter was plastic that had come off various boats and been washed ashore and, just as the Garifuna people have started to understand the importance of cleaning up their beaches, so the rest of the world needs to understand the importance of being so sooo careful when disposing of plastic.  Expatriat residents of Hopkins, and there are quite a few, organize beach clean-ups several times a year and most areas are now garbage-free.

I think one of the things I particularly like about Hopkins is that, although it has retained its traditional culture and values, it has also made way for the modern world which – inevitably – includes tourism.  Each year there are improvements – an ATM this year! – making it a lovely place to stay, be comfortable and enjoy ……

Tomorrow the Mayan ruins.

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