The Lauren Daily Experiment: The ?, ?, ? Problem

I love that I'm bilingual. I love that I can speak, read, write and understand two languages. It's part of me, and my family, and I feel a pretty strong connection to my French Canadian roots. I'm proud of my French heritage and culture. But it's a pain in the ASS to translate my resume!

Why would one translate one's resume you might be asking. Well, when applying to a French speaking job, one submits one's resume in French. Because yes, there are establishments that are uniquely French speaking.

Here's why it was such a pain in the ass:

Reason 1: I already wrote my cover letter and resume in English (for another job) today. So when I sat down to write the French equivalents, I had all the English words stuck in my head and I was unconsciously trying to translate word for word. Which doesn't work. Plus, it takes so much longer to actually finish anything. Writing in French while thinking in English: NOT GOOD.

Reason 2: My French writing and speaking have suffered from lack of use. I've been at an English university for five years. Number all the grammar rules there are in English, multiply by five and you have all the French grammar rules. Now, take all the English exceptions to those rules and multiply by twenty five, now you have all the French exceptions to grammar rules. If you aren't faced with them constantly, they're impossible to remember.

Reason 3:?Speaking of grammar rules, I discovered that I have no idea how to magically make my Mac French. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to write "e" with an accent aigu. Or an "a" with an accent grave. And forget spellcheck. I couldn't figure how to change that either so everything is underlined in red or automatically changing to the closest English spelling. I actually miss the days when I was in high school and all you had to do was ALT130 and the "e" accent aigu would appear. It was pretty funny to watch me typing in high school. I spent almost as much time hovering over the number pad holding down the ALT key as I did the actual letter part of the keyboard. HOLY CRAP I JUST FIGURED IT OUT! "Option" IS "ALT"! And you only have to push the letter! Huzzah! ?, ?, ?! Mwahahaha! I'm unstoppable now!

Believe it or not, that was in fact a realtime discovery. Well, as I was writing it... not as you're reading it. Because I already figured it out. At 11:31 PM. Unless you read minds...

I'm going to end on that note. For all you French Mac users (okay, only the tired ones like me who weren't able to figure this out sooner) there is hope! There is a solution! It is the "Option" key!

Bon soir!

Lauren.

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