Féminin or Masculin?

This post is brought on by questions from PreppyGirl, and by the fact that I find it very interesting the differences between languages.

In French everything has a sex (you know in writing this just now, made me realise that could be why the French are so sex driven... wonder if there's any corolation...): a table is feminine, a chair is feminine, a pan is feminine (hum! also all things that women used (back in the old days), more than men!) Whereas a hammer is masculine, a book is masculine, a pen is masculine. Each and every little thing is either of female or male gender. That is why English speaking people are so confused when they start to learn French. How often did I hear someone say "un table" when it should be "une table", etc. Personally I think it's really cute!

In English everything is neutral. That was confusing for me at the beginning. "a table"? Don't need to know if it's feminine or masculine, it's a thing = "a"!
What I thought was hard was certain words pronounciation. English people learning French will face the same challenges.
I must admit, even if French is my first language, I do think it is a very hard language.
So many ways to write the same sound, like è, you can write that sound è, ê, ais, ait, aient, est for one sound!

An American friend now living in Montreal, and who was married to a French-Canadian woman, was complaining about that once. How certain words are hard to figure out, how to pronounce them, etc. To which I promptly responded that it's the same in English.
Why is it that "now" isn't pronounced the same way as "row"? Or "bow" (to bend) and "bow" (violin piece)?
Once you know which is which, you know and it's fine (and don't really think about it, until you have to explain it to someone learning the language). Same for us with the sex of things, we all know that a desk is masculine.

Weird huh? I think so! And then you do like I did and take Japanese classes! Now that's confusing. When you learn numbers the term/word you use is different between an animate or inanimate object. That too, you simply (yeah right!) have to learn that you count people this way, you count pencils that way, etc.
Spanish (for having taken classes for over 5 years) is actually very semilar to French. They are Latin based (which I did a few years of in high-school) and that makes it easy for a French speaking to pick up Spanish or Italian for that matter.

Two years ago we went to Greece for a few weeks and that was quite a shock. The fact that they have a different alphabet makes it even more challenging, but hubby & I both felt that by the time we came home that if we were to be immersed in it a little longer we could pick it up. We both enjoy learning new languages.

One language that I have NOT picked up yet is Hungarian. The "num num tuck, tuck" language! Or at least that's what it sounds like to me! I've managed to learn the days of the week, count from 1 to 10, and "naturally" some phrases that I probably shouldn't know! Hubby doesn't get to speak it often, but every time he does (with his parents) I'm fascinated about how different it sounds and how it doesn't resemble ANYTHING! Maybe one day I'll bite the dust and try to learn it but.... I have my doubts...

At the age of five he spoke 3 languages: Hungarian, English and French. And now when he speaks English you can't tell that he speaks French and vice-versa. ... unlike me! I kept my French accent, and at times it comes out more than others! But I know that my English is also better than a lot of English born people. I'm proud of that. I may put a "h" infront of certain words when I pronounce it, but I know how to write it and what it means.

At home we constantly switch from English to French, but I think we use more English. But when it comes time to let out a big swear, French it is!!!

Ahhh languages, such an interesting topic. Hubby's grand mother used to tell him: "You are as many people as the number of languages you speak"... what a smart lady she was.