Tweet18-02-2011 om 16:42 by Sueli Brodin

My Brazilian friend and I were having our weekly French conversation lesson two weeks ago when the doorbell rang. It was the postwoman who had a package for me. When I wrote my last name “Brodin” on the receipt, she asked me if I was French and then with a smile on her face, she said in French: “Quelques amis et moi avons décidé d’organiser des tables rondes de conversation française à Maastricht pour francophones et francophiles. Cela vous intéresserait-il de vous joindre à nous?”



My friend heard her and rushed to the door. “Je peux venir aussi?”



Myriam, the postwoman, couldn’t have chosen a better meeting place than Café Jour de Fête on the Market square. She told me that she had searched in the telephone book for all the cafés with a French name in Maastricht and had checked them out one by one by bike. When she saw Café Jour de Fête, she knew she had found the right place: “Ce sera ici”.



The café is named after Jacques Tati’s film and has a definite French flair about it. Myriam told me that its owner is very fond of French culture and might even join us next time, because he speaks French too : “Notre initiative l’a beaucoup enthousiasmé!”



Fourteen people showed up last Tuesday evening, including several of my friends whom I had managed to alert through Facebook and Twitter, all of us avid French speakers. We introduced ourselves and started talking right away, in French of course, and no one switched to Dutch or any other language.



The conversation topics were endless since most of us had never met before. We switched seats several times around the table to go and talk to new people. The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly and everyone seemed grateful for the opportunity to meet with fellow French speakers. We talked eagerly and laughed a lot too and it felt just like being in a café in France with a bunch of old friends.



I speak French every day with my husband and my children, but it’s a simplified form of French. I use words they know, and I make sure to pronounce them slowly or at least to articulate well so that they will understand me easily.



Bon appétit!

When my sister rings me from Paris, I need a few minutes to adapt to her turbospeed French. I also notice that I have forgotten certain words or that I don’t know how to say certain things in French, because I have learned them in Dutch and don’t know their translation. I can see that the lack of regular practice has taken its toll and this is something all the French native speakers that evening at café Jour de Fête said they experienced too.



We talked until late into the evening, about all sorts of topics, Maastricht’s French heritage, our connection with France and interest for French culture - “Quels sont les mystères de la Cathédrale de Chartres?”,  and helped each other out with forgotten words:  “Y-a-t-il un mot pour 'klokhuis' en français?”

And in the midst of our happy chatter, I suddenly noticed the music playing in the café. I let go a smile when I recognised Gérard Lenormand’s voice singing “La ballade des gens heureux”.

Join the French meetup group every 1^st and 3^rd Tuesday of the month at Café Jour de Fête, Markt 32 in Maastricht.
Next meetups: 1^st March, 15^th March, 5^th April
More information: tablerondemaastricht@hotmail.nl

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