You will have been taught that we in French is nous. Whilst true, in spoken French we often substitute nous for on. Since the conjugation for on is always the same as the conjugation for il there is no need to learn the conjugations for nous.
Don't learn any. use the same conjugation as you would for il and elle and just use on instead of nous.
Par example:
Nous y allons
We go there, or let's go
Is replaced by:
On y va
Let's Go
Un autre example:
Nous avons beacoup de temps
we have lot's of time
Is replaced by:
On a beaucoup de temp
we have lot's of time
Encore:
Nous mangons quoi aujourd'hui?
What are we eating today?
On mange quoi aujourd'hui?
What are we eating today?
Thursday, 27 November 2014
Thursday, 13 November 2014
Constructing a Basic Framework in French
What is a Basic Framework?
Think of a framework as the bare bones of a language. Words like: the, have, I, for, not, person, year etc. Phrases like: there is, there are, can I, how are you etc. According to traditional categories these words include nouns, verbs, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions, determiners and exclamations. For our purposes lets just define them as functional words. These are the words that allow us to construct sentences and express ourselves.
Once you get the framework of a language you can concentrate on adding the meat (the vocabulary). More on that later.
Learning A Basic Framework for Conversational French
The traditional way we teach French in England is focused on learning the conjugations of verbs. This is great, but French conjugation is really difficult. Even native speakers struggle with some conjugations, and it's no surprise considering there are 53 conjugations for the verb être (to be), nearly five times as many as there is for the same verb in English. The thing is that when you are speaking it doesn't really matter whether you say vous êtes or vous est, you will be understood either way.
My ethos is that it's much better to learn a lot of words with some grammatical mistakes than it is to learn a few words that are all grammatically perfect. Getting to a conversational level is the most important thing when learning a language. It gives you reward for your work, it inspires you to learn more, and in the process of speaking with people you will slowly learn grammar subconsciously. Sure, at first people will correct you all of the time, and sometimes you will have such bad grammar that it'll be incomprehensible, but sod it. It's better to be speaking and to be misunderstood than to not have the words to attempt to speak in the first place. This guide is focused on getting you a working French vocabulary, and will actively encourage you not to learn too much grammar in the process.
How to Learn
There's no two ways about it, repetition is the key to learning anything.
Studies have suggested that the average person needs to encounter a word between 5 and 16 times before they can retain it 1. So that's what you're going to need to do. It doesn't have to be too boring though. There are hundreds of free apps, programs and videos out there on the net; all aimed at making French learning as interesting and effective as possible.
What's important is how you encounter words. You need to take as active as possible approach when learning your framework. Repeat words aloud and write them down to help cement them in your mind.
If you want to learn it within 2-3 months you need to put in a reasonable amount of time (1-4 hours) everyday. How are you going to spend those hours?
Apps
Apps are perfect for learning a language. Whenever you have a spare five or ten minutes you can pick them up and learn a little bit of French. Apps allow you to break up the learning into bite-size chunks throughout the day. But be careful, you still need to put in tens to hundreds of hours into these apps in order to gain your basic framework. As long as you put in the time and make sure you are using the apps for more than five minutes a day, you should be fine.
So what apps should you download? I'd recommend only two - Duolingo and Memrise.
Duolingo
Duolingo gives free language courses.
Make this a daily routine. Download it on your smartphone. Make a habit of doing a lesson or two here and there throughout the day. Don't worry about cheating by looking up the word, it doesn't matter if you remember every single word. The important ones that structure the sentence will keep popping up anyway and you'll remember them even if you cheat your entire way to the skill tree. If you reach the golden tree then make sure to redo lessons, but you can pick ones that you think are most applicable. You don't really need to learn too many words of things like carpet, colander and cake, things that you don't really need to mention very often and can generally point to when you're in a situation that you need to know the word.
Memrise
Memrise is essentially a fancy flashcard app. There are thousands of French 'courses' - lists of words - to work through.
Once again, download it on your smartphone and try to use it whenever you have a bit of time. Aim to use it at least five times a day.
Books
Simple books are a great way to learn a language. Buy Asterix or TinTin comics. Buy Martine books. Read through them and try to connect the words with what is happening in the picture.
Audio
Michel Thomas
I cannot give Michel Thomas enough praise. He is amazing. Download all of his French courses and work your way through them. If you can listen to music whilst at work then listen to Michel. Listen to him while you're driving, or sit down in the evening and work your way through his lessons. He will get you talking and teach you French in a way that will stick in your head.
Music
A great thing to do is find a song you love and then learn it word for word. Look at the lyrics in French and translate words and phrases that you don't know.
Learning through music is just an extra way to get a word stuck in your mind.
1. http://www.transparent.com/about/second-language.html
Think of a framework as the bare bones of a language. Words like: the, have, I, for, not, person, year etc. Phrases like: there is, there are, can I, how are you etc. According to traditional categories these words include nouns, verbs, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions, determiners and exclamations. For our purposes lets just define them as functional words. These are the words that allow us to construct sentences and express ourselves.
Once you get the framework of a language you can concentrate on adding the meat (the vocabulary). More on that later.
Learning A Basic Framework for Conversational French
The traditional way we teach French in England is focused on learning the conjugations of verbs. This is great, but French conjugation is really difficult. Even native speakers struggle with some conjugations, and it's no surprise considering there are 53 conjugations for the verb être (to be), nearly five times as many as there is for the same verb in English. The thing is that when you are speaking it doesn't really matter whether you say vous êtes or vous est, you will be understood either way.
My ethos is that it's much better to learn a lot of words with some grammatical mistakes than it is to learn a few words that are all grammatically perfect. Getting to a conversational level is the most important thing when learning a language. It gives you reward for your work, it inspires you to learn more, and in the process of speaking with people you will slowly learn grammar subconsciously. Sure, at first people will correct you all of the time, and sometimes you will have such bad grammar that it'll be incomprehensible, but sod it. It's better to be speaking and to be misunderstood than to not have the words to attempt to speak in the first place. This guide is focused on getting you a working French vocabulary, and will actively encourage you not to learn too much grammar in the process.
How to Learn
There's no two ways about it, repetition is the key to learning anything.
Studies have suggested that the average person needs to encounter a word between 5 and 16 times before they can retain it 1. So that's what you're going to need to do. It doesn't have to be too boring though. There are hundreds of free apps, programs and videos out there on the net; all aimed at making French learning as interesting and effective as possible.
What's important is how you encounter words. You need to take as active as possible approach when learning your framework. Repeat words aloud and write them down to help cement them in your mind.
If you want to learn it within 2-3 months you need to put in a reasonable amount of time (1-4 hours) everyday. How are you going to spend those hours?
Apps
Apps are perfect for learning a language. Whenever you have a spare five or ten minutes you can pick them up and learn a little bit of French. Apps allow you to break up the learning into bite-size chunks throughout the day. But be careful, you still need to put in tens to hundreds of hours into these apps in order to gain your basic framework. As long as you put in the time and make sure you are using the apps for more than five minutes a day, you should be fine.
So what apps should you download? I'd recommend only two - Duolingo and Memrise.
Duolingo
Duolingo gives free language courses.
Make this a daily routine. Download it on your smartphone. Make a habit of doing a lesson or two here and there throughout the day. Don't worry about cheating by looking up the word, it doesn't matter if you remember every single word. The important ones that structure the sentence will keep popping up anyway and you'll remember them even if you cheat your entire way to the skill tree. If you reach the golden tree then make sure to redo lessons, but you can pick ones that you think are most applicable. You don't really need to learn too many words of things like carpet, colander and cake, things that you don't really need to mention very often and can generally point to when you're in a situation that you need to know the word.
Memrise
Memrise is essentially a fancy flashcard app. There are thousands of French 'courses' - lists of words - to work through.
Once again, download it on your smartphone and try to use it whenever you have a bit of time. Aim to use it at least five times a day.
Books
Simple books are a great way to learn a language. Buy Asterix or TinTin comics. Buy Martine books. Read through them and try to connect the words with what is happening in the picture.
Audio
Michel Thomas
I cannot give Michel Thomas enough praise. He is amazing. Download all of his French courses and work your way through them. If you can listen to music whilst at work then listen to Michel. Listen to him while you're driving, or sit down in the evening and work your way through his lessons. He will get you talking and teach you French in a way that will stick in your head.
Music
A great thing to do is find a song you love and then learn it word for word. Look at the lyrics in French and translate words and phrases that you don't know.
Learning through music is just an extra way to get a word stuck in your mind.
1. http://www.transparent.com/about/second-language.html
Friday, 7 November 2014
Learn French On Your Gap Year
In this post I will show you how to organise your gap year in a way that will allow you to reach fluency in French by the time you start university. And all without spending too much time studying.
Contents
Why Should I Learn French?
How Am I Going to Learn French Without Spending Time Studying?
What to Do?
Saving Up Money
Volunteering in France
Find a Job in France
Finding a Job By Yourself
Accommodation
Find a Job through an Agency
Travel
How Am I Going to Learn French Without Spending Time Studying?
Most of your learning will come from living in a French speaking country and interacting with friends, colleagues and locals. You will still need to study, but not nearly as much as you might expect.
What you want to do is learn a basic framework of French before you leave England. You want to learn functional words, the words that we use in everyday situations. Words like what, which, if, how, why. Phrases like there was, there is, I can, you can. These are the tools that we need to actually express ourselves and construct sentences in a language.
The details on how to do this are found at Constructing a Basic Framework in French
Saving Up Money
Unless you're so rich that money ain't even a thang, yo. You're going to need some money.
How much money you're going to need depends entirely upon what you plan to do for the year.
In my guideline I have suggested spending two months volunteering. This is because it gives you a cheap and hassle-free way to get to grips with the language, before you go belly-flopping into the deep end. Depending upon where you volunteer you could spend as little as £300 during those couple of months 1.
At the other end of the spectrum you might decide to spend two months renting an apartment in Paris. You're looking at €400 a month for a tiny room in a tiny shared apartment that's in the wrong end of town. €600 is more realistic for a still small, but livable, apartment. And with a caution (deposit) ranging anywhere from €500-800 you will need well over £1,500 just for rent and deposit.
Whether you decide to volunteer or jump straight in there, I would highly recommend finding a grape picking job for the end of September.
Volunteering in France
Planning Your Time Volunteering
It doesn't matter how or where you stay, the important thing is to immerse yourself fully in a French speaking environment. The reason I suggest volunteering over something like couchsurfing or renting an apartment is that it is a lot easier and cheaper.
There are many ways to volunteer in France. For a full review of volunteering websites please check out Volunteering in France.
During Volunteering
So, you have your foundation in French. You successfully arranged a two month volunteering stint, and you've saved up enough money to sustain yourself whilst volunteering with a bit extra for post-volunteer job hunting.
This is where it will start to get tricky. The first day you're probably going to wonder what the hell you are doing over there. Don't worry, it will get easier.
The most important thing you can do during your first week is try not to speak, read or write any English. Let your mum know that you've touched down, sure, but other than that only speak French.
If you've got down time ask your host for a children's book to read, watch French TV or listen to French radio. It's going to be tiring, but by the end of the first week you should begin to feel well on your way to speaking and understanding French.
After this first week continue to limit your English to a bit of facebook every few days. Don't browse the internet in English, don't watch English shows and don't spend hours on the phone every night. The only way you are going to improve your French now is by spending as much time as possible immersed in the language. Make sure that every night you are lying in bed before you fall asleep you are thinking in French.
After your first couple of weeks you should start thinking about what you are going to do when you leave.
Finding a Job in a French Speaking Country
Contents
Why Should I Learn French?
How Am I Going to Learn French Without Spending Time Studying?
What to Do?
Saving Up Money
Volunteering in France
Find a Job in France
Finding a Job By Yourself
Accommodation
Find a Job through an Agency
Travel
How Am I Going to Learn French Without Spending Time Studying?
Most of your learning will come from living in a French speaking country and interacting with friends, colleagues and locals. You will still need to study, but not nearly as much as you might expect.
What you want to do is learn a basic framework of French before you leave England. You want to learn functional words, the words that we use in everyday situations. Words like what, which, if, how, why. Phrases like there was, there is, I can, you can. These are the tools that we need to actually express ourselves and construct sentences in a language.
The details on how to do this are found at Constructing a Basic Framework in French
There are four phases to complete during your gap year.
Saving up money
Volunteering/ Staying in France
Finding a job in a French speaking country
Travel
You have a lot of leniency in the way you carry out these phases. An example of how this might look during your gap year is this.
July-September : Full-time job, save up around £800.
September : Grape picking job in Southern France
October - December : Volunteering on a farm in France
December-May : Full-time bar work in French Alps
May-August : Travel in South East Asia
By the time you leave to travel SE Asia you will be at a very high conversational level in French. If you wanted to progress further then you could travel around Madagascar/ the West-Indies. But even travelling around Asia (or any part of the world for that matter) you will regularly bump into French people, and blow them away with your new-found speaking skills.
The very first thing you need to do is to gain a basic understanding of French, that framework I mentioned, whilst saving up money.
The very first thing you need to do is to gain a basic understanding of French, that framework I mentioned, whilst saving up money.
Unless you're so rich that money ain't even a thang, yo. You're going to need some money.
How much money you're going to need depends entirely upon what you plan to do for the year.
In my guideline I have suggested spending two months volunteering. This is because it gives you a cheap and hassle-free way to get to grips with the language, before you go belly-flopping into the deep end. Depending upon where you volunteer you could spend as little as £300 during those couple of months 1.
At the other end of the spectrum you might decide to spend two months renting an apartment in Paris. You're looking at €400 a month for a tiny room in a tiny shared apartment that's in the wrong end of town. €600 is more realistic for a still small, but livable, apartment. And with a caution (deposit) ranging anywhere from €500-800 you will need well over £1,500 just for rent and deposit.
Whether you decide to volunteer or jump straight in there, I would highly recommend finding a grape picking job for the end of September.
Volunteering in France
Planning Your Time Volunteering
It doesn't matter how or where you stay, the important thing is to immerse yourself fully in a French speaking environment. The reason I suggest volunteering over something like couchsurfing or renting an apartment is that it is a lot easier and cheaper.
There are many ways to volunteer in France. For a full review of volunteering websites please check out Volunteering in France.
During Volunteering
So, you have your foundation in French. You successfully arranged a two month volunteering stint, and you've saved up enough money to sustain yourself whilst volunteering with a bit extra for post-volunteer job hunting.
This is where it will start to get tricky. The first day you're probably going to wonder what the hell you are doing over there. Don't worry, it will get easier.
The most important thing you can do during your first week is try not to speak, read or write any English. Let your mum know that you've touched down, sure, but other than that only speak French.
If you've got down time ask your host for a children's book to read, watch French TV or listen to French radio. It's going to be tiring, but by the end of the first week you should begin to feel well on your way to speaking and understanding French.
After this first week continue to limit your English to a bit of facebook every few days. Don't browse the internet in English, don't watch English shows and don't spend hours on the phone every night. The only way you are going to improve your French now is by spending as much time as possible immersed in the language. Make sure that every night you are lying in bed before you fall asleep you are thinking in French.
After your first couple of weeks you should start thinking about what you are going to do when you leave.
There are two ways to find a job in France - through an agency or off your own back. Getting a job through an agency will be a lot easier, but after spending two months in the country you should now be confident in speaking the language and finding a job by yourself shouldn't be too difficult.
I would recommend finding a job by yourself. You'll earn more money, it will be more of an adventure and in the process you are likely to find a lot more people your own age to make friends with.
Finding a Job By Yourself
The internet is your friend. You will be browsing a lot of websites, and there is going to be some pretty technical vocabulary so make sure Google Traduction is up and handy on a tab.
Before you start applying for jobs you're going to need to have a CV. French CVs are a lot more to the point than English CVs, you aren't going to be telling anybody that you enjoy playing guitar and socialising with friends. At some point I will write a guide, but for the moment here is an excellent guide on writing a French CV.
One of the best sites to use is Pole-Emploi. You can choose the area of France and the type of contract you are looking for in the search button. Make an account.
Other good sites include:
Monster
Indeed
Emploi
Decide where in France you are going to want to live and work before you start searching. One thing to consider is living cost, Paris is probably not a realistic option. You could do it, of course, but it will be a lot more expensive than other cities.
Once it looks like you have assured a job you need to start sorting out your sleeping arrangements.
Accommodation
In France it's pretty common for people to rent apartments by themselves. You could go down this route, but I would recommend finding a flatmate, or coloc. Not only will it stop you from getting lonely in the evenings (aww), having flatmates will also increase your chance of finding a decent social group outside of work. At this point your French is going to be quite good, but there will be a lot of vocab missing. You're going to be picking up words day to day just by having conversations with people, but you need to find these people to have the conversations with. Sharing a flat is great for that.
The best way I can advise looking for a flatmate is through E-Colocation. It's simple, easy to use and has plenty of available rooms for almost all large French towns.
Find a Job Through an Agency
Once again, the internet is your friend. This time though you're going to be looking at different sites to help you secure a cushy no-hassle job provided by an agency.
Travel
Yay, you made it. You've lived and worked in France for at least seven months and speak French fluently and confidently. Your reading and writing skills might need touching up, depending on how much time you've spent reading, but now that you understand French perfectly it will all fit together pretty quickly.
You are free to spend the rest of your gap year travelling with the money you have saved from working these last few months. The destination doesn't matter, you can speak French now! If you feel you want to progress even further than go travelling in the West-Indes, or volunteer in Mali.
If you're a little bit tired of French then go somewhere else. As I've said, no doubt that you will still bump into French people.
1. Based upon free food and accommodation, cheap travel and €30 a week for spending on extras.
I would recommend finding a job by yourself. You'll earn more money, it will be more of an adventure and in the process you are likely to find a lot more people your own age to make friends with.
Finding a Job By Yourself
The internet is your friend. You will be browsing a lot of websites, and there is going to be some pretty technical vocabulary so make sure Google Traduction is up and handy on a tab.
Before you start applying for jobs you're going to need to have a CV. French CVs are a lot more to the point than English CVs, you aren't going to be telling anybody that you enjoy playing guitar and socialising with friends. At some point I will write a guide, but for the moment here is an excellent guide on writing a French CV.
One of the best sites to use is Pole-Emploi. You can choose the area of France and the type of contract you are looking for in the search button. Make an account.
Other good sites include:
Monster
Indeed
Emploi
Decide where in France you are going to want to live and work before you start searching. One thing to consider is living cost, Paris is probably not a realistic option. You could do it, of course, but it will be a lot more expensive than other cities.
Once it looks like you have assured a job you need to start sorting out your sleeping arrangements.
Accommodation
In France it's pretty common for people to rent apartments by themselves. You could go down this route, but I would recommend finding a flatmate, or coloc. Not only will it stop you from getting lonely in the evenings (aww), having flatmates will also increase your chance of finding a decent social group outside of work. At this point your French is going to be quite good, but there will be a lot of vocab missing. You're going to be picking up words day to day just by having conversations with people, but you need to find these people to have the conversations with. Sharing a flat is great for that.
The best way I can advise looking for a flatmate is through E-Colocation. It's simple, easy to use and has plenty of available rooms for almost all large French towns.
Find a Job Through an Agency
Once again, the internet is your friend. This time though you're going to be looking at different sites to help you secure a cushy no-hassle job provided by an agency.
Yay, you made it. You've lived and worked in France for at least seven months and speak French fluently and confidently. Your reading and writing skills might need touching up, depending on how much time you've spent reading, but now that you understand French perfectly it will all fit together pretty quickly.
You are free to spend the rest of your gap year travelling with the money you have saved from working these last few months. The destination doesn't matter, you can speak French now! If you feel you want to progress even further than go travelling in the West-Indes, or volunteer in Mali.
If you're a little bit tired of French then go somewhere else. As I've said, no doubt that you will still bump into French people.
1. Based upon free food and accommodation, cheap travel and €30 a week for spending on extras.
Thursday, 6 November 2014
Volunteering in France
There are many ways to volunteer in France. But in this section I am going to compare the three biggest sites - WWOOF, HelpX and Work Away.
WWOOF France
WWOOF (World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) France is a platform that puts volunteers and host farms into contact with each other. The site holds a directory of hundreds of farms throughout France currently looking for volunteers. The experience will depend almost entirely upon the farm you choose to stay with, but the work will always be focussed around organic production (e.g. cultivating fruit and veg, selling produce at a market, germinating seeds etc.).
Whilst there are exceptions, a driving principle for many of these farms is a strong ecological conviction and a belief in small-scale organic farming. I have spend a combined 5 months staying at a total of 8 WOOFing sites, and do not particularly share these values. No problem. You don't have to be a happy hairy hippy to have a great time at one of the farms. But if you are completely opposed to the ideals, you're going to have a difficult time.
Pros
Cons
- Ecological principles could be a grating point. If you don't believe in global warming, actively love GMO food and believe that organic is a pointless waste of money then you probably shouldn't use this site.
- The information available on farms is minimal. The directory of farms is very basic and the site actively discourages hosts from giving too much information on sleeping arrangements/ size of property etc.
- Your fee only buys you an account for WWOOF France, if you wanted to volunteer in Martinique, for example, you would have to buy a new membership.
Tips
- Spend time researching the farm you have decided to go to and ask a lot of questions over email. Issues such as whether the host is vegetarian/ vegan, whether smoking is acceptable, how much time the hosts have to spend with you, what the sleeping and toilet arrangements are etc. should all be asked through email.
- There are a large variety of hosts available through WOOFing from small family farms to entire eco villages. Think long and hard about what would be best for you before deciding.
- Make sure French is the spoken language of your hosts.
More info can be found at WOOFing in France.
HelpX
HelpX is similar to WOOFing in that it has a large directory of people looking to host volunteers. The difference is that many of the hosts are home stays without a focus on organic farming or any overarching ecological principles. You might stay in an apartment in central Bordeaux, help run a B&B in the Dordogne or find a small organic commune in rural Normandy.
Pros
- Free service available. You can become a volunteer for free, although this limits what you can do (you can't contact hosts directly).
- Cheap, if you decide you want the luxury of choosing which hosts you contact the upgrade fee is only €20. Unlike WWOOFing this gives you access to hosts all around the (French-speaking) world.
- Variety. There is a really large variety of volunteering options available.
Cons
- English dominated, there is a very heavy English presence on this website. This is not a good thing for the purposes of your volunteering. You need to delve into an environment where you are forced to speak and start thinking in French, not one where you are cushioned by your mother tongue. Since you don't want to stay with an English family it is going to take a lot of sifting through hosts just to find French speakers, and that's before you start considering other factors.
- Large variation in rules and guidelines between hosts. Some places you might be expected to work three hours a day, some places six and some nine. Some places all meals will be provided, others will expect you to sort yourself out. Whereas WWOOF has a standardised charter, HelpX has no such charter and the agreement between the host in the site is a lot more relaxed than WWOOF. This can result in horrendous experiences (i.e. working for ten hours a day for little food).
Tips
- Make sure you know exactly what the situation with food/ accommodation and work are before you head out.
- Make sure French is the spoken language by your hosts.
Similar to HelpX, but with even more emphasis on skill related work. All of the hosts list the work they need done and the skills that they are looking for.
Pros
- Huge variety of people, locations and work available.
- One off payment of €23 for two years access to the site.
- Good information on hosts. Hours expected are included on all host descriptions and extensive references are available for most hosts.
Cons
- Many non-French speakers listed on the site.
Tips
- Make sure you know exactly what the situation with food/ accommodation and work are before you head out.
- Make sure French is the spoken language by your hosts.
Of course, there are many other ways to volunteer in France. But these sites are by far the easiest and simplest ways to organise a long stay. It doesn't matter how or where you stay, the important thing is to immerse yourself fully in a French speaking environment. The reason I suggest volunteering over something like couchsurfing or renting an apartment is that it is a lot easier and cheaper.
Tuesday, 4 November 2014
Why Learn French?
There are
many reasons to learn French:
1. It will increase
your employability
2. It’ll change your travel outlook
3. To gain a deeper
understanding of French culture
4. It’ll be fun!
Employability
Yet In the
UK 49% of employers rated French as useful for their organisation. Not only
will you be of value to these companies, but you’re likely to be the only
candidate for the position who could offer them this skill.
It also gives
you a great talking point during the interview. In the UK we tend either to not
learn a language at all or to only learn at university level. If you can say
that you were self-motivated enough to teach yourself a foreign language on
your gap year, whilst doing an unrelated course at university, you won't
struggle to find a good job.
Travel
We all love
to travel. And there are plenty of French speaking holiday destinations.
Whether it's a two week trip to Guadeloupe, a weekend away in Paris or a sixth
month volunteering stint in Madagascar, being able to speak French will make
your trip a lot smoother, a lot easier and a lot more fun.
But it's
not only in French speaking countries that your newly learnt language will come
into use. A recent study found France to be the lowest rated European country
in terms of English proficiency levels.
You will
encounter French people all over the world, from America to Zambia, and many of
them won't be able to speak English well at all. I can tell you from experience
that it is a pleasure to be sat around drinking with your new found hostel
friends, acting as a translator for the pretty French girls who don't zzpeaaak
ingleesh.
Culture
It's easy
to stereotype the French; they love cheese, wine and garlic. The women never
shave their armpits and the men are slimy creeps. Oh, and art. These are funny
observations, and there’s some degree of truth to all of them, but French
culture is much more diverse than any one stereotype could describe.
Learning French will expose you to the full
range of French culture; from the highbrow Cézanne and Hugo, to the very low
brow Nabilla and Booba.
Fun
Learning a
language can be fun! But put down your exercise books and throw away your verb
tables. You're going to be learning from speaking, watching and from listening.
You'll
spend hours laughing over your muddling of coup (hit) and cul (ass). The amount
of times I told someone that I'd caught an ass of sun is phenomenal. Your
mistakes and mistranslations will have you all in stitches, it won't feel like
learning at all, you'll just be having fun with friends and getting on with your
life.
A lot of trade
is done with French speaking countries, and us Brits are notoriously bad for speaking
foreign languages. English native speakers who can speak conversational French
are few and far between.
Learn Any Language to Fluency within Three Months
Alright, so there are a lot of websites that claim you can reach fluency in three months. This is bollocks. The definition of fluency they use is being able to umm and errr your way through a basic conversation, constantly asking what words mean and having to get the person you are speaking with to slow down and repeat what they said.
My definition of fluency is somewhat different - being able to hold a normal conversation at the normal pace. Sure, there will be words you don't know, and you will still have to ask people to repeat what they say. But don't we do this with people when we talk in English? I don't think I could hold a conversation with a drunk Manc for more than twenty seconds without having to ask him to repeat himself at least once.
So ignore websites that claim things like this. Ignore gimmicky 'systems' to help you learn a language quicker, ignore expensive programs (like Rosetta Stone) that will teach you nothing. There is no way to learn to speak a language fluently that doesn't involve hundreds of hours of work and practice. The question is - would you rather put those hours in on the internet, or learn as you work and socialise with other speakers in the country?
In this blog I will be giving you information on how to achieve a basic framework in French that will give you the ability to communicate functionally and effectively in day to day situations. There will be numerous guides and tips on how to most effectively spend your time immersed in French culture once you have achieved this framework (see: Learn French During Your Gap Year ).
In this blog I will be giving you information on how to achieve a basic framework in French that will give you the ability to communicate functionally and effectively in day to day situations. There will be numerous guides and tips on how to most effectively spend your time immersed in French culture once you have achieved this framework (see: Learn French During Your Gap Year ).
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