I thought coming here would have done the trick, a simple hop off the plane, get immersed and by a few weeks, a month tops, all of my language would find its way back to me. I had been in French immersion for 4 years in elementary and at one point could write, read and speak without having to think about it. Although it's fair to say I’ve neglected my French (in the approximately 16 years between then and now), trying to get it back is very frustrating. I have good days and bad ones.
I’m pleased when I feel I’ve done my most convincing French accent, and other days I’m disappointed that I can't even eavesdrop proficiently. Sometimes I put on an exaggerated Anglophone accent (usually when I’m lost and don't want to appear creepy) but also in stores when I want special treatment, or when I’m too lazy to understand the quick colloquial responses - people usually articulate and speak slower than they would normally when they hear someone struggling. This kind of made me wonder how often foreigners had put on their accents for me back home - hoping for and hopefully receiving the same kindness. I also wondered how much this little 'trick' enables slow progression? Here again my friends have helped me out so much. They aren't fooled by my laziness, and instead press right along as though I understand them perfectly, and I do my best to look as though I do- enough anyhow to, at very least, pick up on the social cues to know when to chirp in appropriately (laugh, give sympathy, this is good/bad, she's being funny/ this is serious etc..). After faking it for a while, I felt I could understand more, but then maybe that's because they were building on stories I’d become familiar with.
Breakfast at the youth hostel was a good time to get in a few quick conversations, and fun to get to know some folks a bit better day by day. I also met a friend who, although motivated to learn English, understood my desire to improve my French and so she reads my atrocious emails and responds to the barely coherent texts. I’m really so grateful for these exchanges. Oh yeah and let me not forget the friends who helped me translate my CV - such a daunting task!! not only the language, but also the template was quite different. I also needed to include things like age, nationality, marital status and a picture - there's some controversy about this last one. Some thought it was old-fashioned to include it, others insisted it was necessary. In the end I left mine out due to lack of space (one pager) and because I was advised that the shot I’d chosen wasn't professional (the head shot to the right - just perfect for a blog coincidently). I absolutely could not have done this alone. Thank you Lucie, Valerie and Florence! I remember looking at my CV, thinking how the heck am I going to get this done, and I didn't really want to do it. I delayed and thought shit - if this is sooo tough, how do I expect to work in French? This might hav( been my first indication that getting my French back wouldn't be breezy
If I’ve stored my French understanding someplace, it sure is taking its time to come back to me and in the meantime my time here is quickly passing and soon I’ll be home again and wondering how to retain the French I did learn this year. So here I’ve jotted down as many tips as I could think of, some I’ve tried, others that've come recommended. What I’d really like to know is what has or still does work for you. Common share your secrets!
1. Vacation or move to France or French speaking areas
2. Take French classes (Alliance Francaise is supposed to be the best , but it ain't cheap!)
3. Join a conversation group
4. Make French friends (ones that wanna speak French)
5. Read in French (this was painful for me at first. I started by circling all the words I didn't understand on a page, translating them, picking a French synonym, and then re-reading with my hints when needed)
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6. Journal in French (even if it doesn't make sense at first)
7. Teach your mother tongue language (for me it was the first time I’d broken down my language in terms of its structure and grammar - all helpful to then understand how these things work in another language)
8. Watch movies/ TV. (experimenting with subtitles)
9. Listen to the radio (you can even stream from the net). This one was suggested, but are there any good on-line Quebecois channels?
10. Listen to music and then find and make sense out of the lyrics (in gr.8 core French, we had to listen to RochVoisine's "Helen" I still love this song)
11. Talking tapes/CD ROMs – Rosetta Stone's the way to go
12. Train your dog and only communicate in French - you risk looking like a snob, but whatev.
13. Date a francophone
14. Mimic a French person speaking English - bonus* watch yourself in the mirror.
15. Try French recipes – try Googling "recettes francais"
16. Books on tape – So you can listen to the text and follow along in a book. This however does not exist in the Toronto public library, I tried, but they're reserved for the visually impaired.
17. Read bi-lingual books (the ones that have French on one side and English on the opposite page - discovered this here, designed mostly for French people learning English, but obviously works the other way around).
I agree! I will put your ideas into practice to improve my French! : )
ReplyDeleteThe worse half of j&k here. Your language tips have been helpful. Over the past month I have had some small conversational victories speaking Lao. What I have found (surprisingly) useful has been the Lonely Planet Phrasebook. It has words and phrases that are likely to often come up in conversation or other types of verbal transactions, which has given me some confidence to converse. Of course, that is probably much too rudimentary for your needs, but it has been a good resource for me. Keep up votre grande aventure dans la langue!
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