Salut!

Thought I’d come clean and share one of the downsides to my French learning experiences with you, just so you’re not under the illusion that it’s all plain sailing. I suffered a bit of a setback in the fourth evening class which made me realize that I need to be a bit more realistic when setting my learning targets!

The tutor asked for volunteers to do a role-play; she would be the shop assistant, we would play the customers. Don’t ask me why, but I thought I could handle it no problem. We played a scenario where I went into a charcuterie to buy various meat products. I was doing fine with the basic pleasantries, but when it came to thinking up three different products to ask for, I dried up after asking for saucissons, and started gesticulating wildly whilst trying to change things into a French version of English!

My instinct was to run out of the door and never return, but I knew that wasn’t going to solve anything. I was grateful to the rest of the class for helping me to laugh it off, and to be fair, they all said my accent was very realistic. The tutor made some recommendations for resources which might be helpful for putting conversations together. Apparently, there are a couple of online resources which I haven’t tried yet which are well respected in the business. I’d heard a lot about the ‘Rosetta Stone’ system, but it’s pricey – I’m going to ask at work if they’ll invest in it for me. The other one, ‘Rocket French’, is more affordable, so I’ll treat myself to that. They both have some free trial materials on the web which will keep me busy.

I’m trying to keep the positives in mind – after all, I’m only just halfway through my learn French fast experience, and still have over 3 weeks left before jetting off to Paris. Onwards and upwards!

Ciao!

Nic

Salut!

So, the evening classes have finally begun, and I’ve realized the whole point of my efforts to learn French – in other words, to communicate with other people! I was so nervous before I entered the room for the first time because I could hear a couple of people chatting away in fluent French – I thought we were all supposed to be beginners here! It turned out to be our tutor talking to a young French student who’s doing some work experience at the college, and who’d offered to come and lend a hand with the class!

For me, half the battle of learning French is getting away from the idea that I have to understand all those boring grammatical rules which did my head in at school! The tutor assured us that we were going to concentrate on vocabulary and phrases which we could use in everyday conversations in France, and that she’d “slip in” the grammar along the way without it dominating the conversational emphasis. Phew!

Quite a few of my fellow students were there either because they wanted to be able to use French for business purposes, or simply because they were fed up of going on holiday and not being able to put across even the most basic ideas. It was great to know that I’m not the only one who feels a mild wave of panic sweep over me if I’m faced with having to order a taxi or decipher a menu in France, and I found that it was useful to be able to ask our tutor specific questions related to the vocabulary I’ll need for my business trips.

The only downside that I found with the evening class was having to wait for some people in the class to catch up to the rest of us. It turns out that, perhaps thanks to the revision of my dim and distant knowledge of French from my school days, I know a bit more than I think! I found this a bit frustrating, but on the other hand, I enjoyed the lively bits of conversation I managed to engage in. The coffee and croissants were especially welcome!

A bientôt!

Nic

Salut!

Well, this is it – I’m finally taking the plunge and putting aside my fear of foreign languages to have a go at French. Why? It’s not really something that’s been top of the agenda before, but for my new Sales job with a major cosmetics company, I need to be able to use a bit of the lingo. To be fair, I will get some nice all expenses paid trips to Paris in return for all my studying – it’s more of an incentive than I ever had at school!

Question is how to go about this mammoth task? A friend of mine swears that her father learnt from some of those language tapes; he just used to switch one on every night before he fell asleep, and snore his way through the whole thing! Bet the sleep talking was quite entertaining.

I’ve checked out a few online French learning materials, and I’m feeling a lot happier now that I’ve played a few vocabulary games. It’s pretty surprising how much I remembered from my time in the classroom. The flashcards and word searches helped to jog my memory on the French words for members of the family, everyday items around the home, and colours – especially handy for the lipsticks and eye shadows I’ll be selling!

I reckon I’m going to do some more visual stuff before moving on to listening and – horror of horrors – speaking! Thing is, I’ve only got 8 weeks to learn enough French to get me by on my first business trip to Paris, so I’m going to have to start learning quickly. I might enrol in an evening class to get accustomed to the sound of French again and give me a bit of a lift with the oral activities. I’ve also seen a couple of online courses which would be good because I can fit them in around my work…I’ll keep you posted on my progress!

A bientôt!

Nic