Learning the language

Speaking French is key to getting the most from your new life

The French language can be something of a siren call – beguiling and beautiful in equal parts, yet also having the capacity to strike sheer terror into even the bravest of souls when it comes to putting it into practice.

While it is possible to live in France without speaking French, truthfully it will be a pale imitation of the rich rewards your new home could bring with a little effort and application. You will get so much more out of living in France if you can chat to your postman (facteur) or shopkeeper (commerçant), while apéro time with your new neighbours (voisins) will be infinitely more enjoyable if you go beyond exchanged pleasantries and tell a few stories.

As well as creating new connections, the realities of life in France will mean that you need French to call out the plumber (plombier) or tell the mechanic (garagiste or mécanicien) your car needs a service (révision), to get your medicines at the chemist (pharmacie) and, most likely, to deal with paperwork. From filing your annual tax return to joining a local club, there are plenty of forms to complete.

The good news is that the human brain is quite capable of learning other languages, at any age – well over half the world’s population is bilingual if not trilingual.

Even better is that as an English speaker you actually already know thousands of French words without realising it... from à la carte, au contraire and café, to peloton, prêt-à-porter and tête-à-tête to cuisine, bon appétit and à la mode.

In fact, more than a third of all English words have their origins in French.

Manage your expectations

No matter your level or your prior knowledge, there will be a method (or more likely, a blend of methods) to suit you. Successful learning is driven by incentive – identify your ‘why’, and you’ll find you naturally fuel your efforts.

Equally, if the scale of the task appears daunting, break it down by setting a first aim scaled to what you want to achieve – it could be as functional as building up the confidence to have your first interaction at the boulangerie, for example. No matter how far-off your goal seems, taking that first step is essential.

How long you should expect to get to a reasonable level will depend on your parameters of reference (prior knowledge, time and resources available, etc) and what you want to achieve – decide what you want and commit to it.

Tracking your progress in a way that works for you can help – regular time and effort invested will also enable you to look back and gain perspective to see how far you’ve come. The nature of learning is that it is very much a two-steps-forward one-step-back process – while the human brain often focuses on the negative (ie. mistakes made), it is easy to forget that at the same time you are also taking on and absorbing a great deal more than you are likely giving yourself credit for.

Above all, do not worry about making mistakes – they are an important and necessary part of the process. Everyone makes them, and you will too – in linguistic terms, learner errors that lead to self-correction are one of the best ways of making language ‘stick’.

Reader question

I feel my accent is really noticeable when I speak and I want to get rid of it. How do I improve my speaking so that I sound native?

Wanting to sound more ‘native’ can be a good goal for a language learner but should not be your focus too early in the process, as it can be a sidetrack and inhibit you if you are worrying about it.

For non-native speakers with an accent it is far better to express yourself with correct French and be understood, than it is to be placing your efforts in trying to ‘sound’ French at the expense of communication.

You should only focus on making your accent sound more native (if you wish to) once you are at an upper-intermediate level and able to have a fluid conversation without making many grammatical mistakes.

It is possible to take lessons to improve your French speaking, including your accent, either in classes or in one-to-one tuition. You will want to focus on typically French sounds as the French ‘R’ and nasal vowels, your intonation and aspects such as silent (non-pronounced) letters or syllables, or liaisons and enchaînement which relate to the way certain words run into each other in a spoken phrase.

Do remember though that if you can make yourself understood and are being well received, you’re already doing a great job – the rest will follow.