Post 9: French or English?

   That is a good question... Actually, the best way to answer it might be to write the first pages in both languages and see what I prefer. I believe I can write in both languages, but the fact of the matter is that they are very different languages, and that I will write them very differently, just as I speak them very differently. There is no such thing as literal translation, and crude words are much more acceptable in English. I don't use them nearly as much in French. English is in some ways a simpler language. For example, there seems to be more words in French, and there are many specific words in French for things that are expressed in colloquial English by two words, a basic word plus an adjective or adverb: a "red bird" is called a "cardinal"; a "small pond" is a "mare", a "large pond" is an "étang"; "going up" is "monter, "going down" is "descendre", "going forward" is "avancer", "going back" is "retourner", "going on" is "continuer", "going off" can be a bunch of different things, "back up" is "reculer"; "hair" can be "poil", "pelage", or "cheveux;  a "ball" can be "balle", "ballon", "bille", boulet", "bal"; "ice" can be "glace", "glaçon", "verglas"; "sweet" can be  "sucré", "doux", "gentil"; "soft" can be "mou" or "doux",  etc...)
   On the other hand, there are actually more words in English, as there are often two words for the same thing, a more common Anglo Saxon word, and a more sophisticated French word, and there are a lot of scientific and technical words that other languages have borrowed. As a Frenchman speaking fluent English, I feel sometimes at an advantage over the ordinary American because I know all the common English words, as well as all the common French words that have become fancy words in English... 
     The problem if I write in French is that nobody here will read me except may be Serges, and he will tear me up!