Multi-lingual
August 30, 2008
I started French lessons this week, only two years behind schedule. When I got this new permanent position at my current place of employment, one of the conditions was that I be willing to learn French with the goal of becoming fluently bilingual, and they were willing to help: I could take some time off of work for the lessons, and they would pay for it. That’s a great deal for someone who actually likes languages and who thinks her father’s advice is pretty sound. So, why did I put off my French learnin’ for so long?
I become timid when I have to speak French with fluent French speakers, but only if I know their English is better than my French. If I think my attempts to speak French will be less difficult and allow us both to understand one another, then I will stammer out my few phrases. If, however, I think hearing me speak French will cause the other person to cringe inwardly at every misstep, I’d rather they speak English.
I have had two classes so far. They are private lessons, which is really great: I have the teacher’s attention for the whole hour and he can correct my many errors (and I make so many!). He asked me what I enjoy doing as a hobby and I told him I have a website that I update and after avoiding giving him the link during the first lesson I gave it to him and he says he will check out the blog and be able to gear our discussions towards things that interest me and concern my life because apparently it will be easier for me to have conversations about things that I am familiar with.
Let’s hope he won’t become dismayed when he brings up house hunting or my single status and I burst into tears.
LOL @ ur last statement. I want to start learning french too, but just because it sounds so romantic. There are a lot of podcasts on itunes, but i just haven’t had time to look through and pick one. I don’t think my goal is to speak it fluently, i just want to understand a little bit and be able to say some phrases and that type of thing.
I love getting to see people’s handwriting. Good luck with the French lessons! That’s something I wish I’d done with my time in Ottawa. I only picked up the odd word here and there, along with “Je ne parle pas francais.” ;-)
That’s great!!
I took a few years of French in school, but I’m sad to say that I have forgotten almost all of it.
Whenever you want to practice, feel free to stop by my blog, or check out my blog roll for: Ms.Sula and Tin-Tin. They are fluent as well…
I love french… took it for years in school… I can only do simple sentences though with all that training I had… so I downloaded some podcasts from itunes to help me refresh…. although now I want to focus on spanish… Try to speak french everyday for an hour… everything you can think of saying… whatever you’re thinking try to translate to french… hopefully that helps… and definitely the podcasts from itunes can prove useful too (try Coffee Break French)… best wishes chicka
Bwahaha! Joomy, you should totally make him feel awkward and strange by bursting into tears. Nothing better than heaving sobs to make a stranger feel out of place.
I did this to my driving instructor (Accidentally) and to this day, I am sure this is the reason I got my G2 on the first try.
Go for the glory.
Si tu veux, tu pourras pratiquer ton français aussi souvent que tu le voudras avec moi : )