Learn French

Où est la plage ? Une bière, s’il vous plaît. J’ai deux sœurs un chien et non, je n’aime pas le fromage, merci.

To be English means to have spent a life constantly bumping into French. You learn a little in school, see a little on TV. Everyone knows a few words, and it’s generally written as a second language on CVs.

The upside of the exposure means that for anyone who does want to learn it, it’s easy to get opportunities to practice - France being so close being one of them. Compared to English it’s grammatically very similar, and has a wide range of similar words. The pronunciation isn’t hard to master and if you struggle, you’ll still be understood.

FRENCH IS A GOOD 2ND LANGUAGE FOR AN ENGLISH PERSON

French is also a language that fancies itself as the global language, sometimes even more so than English. So you’re kind of edging your bets by learning it.

It’s a language of the European Union and the sole language used for the deliberations of the Court of Justice of the European Union. It’s a working language of the UN, and by some accounts is set to become the next global language (because of Africa).

Background

I studied French at school and did ok. I dropped it for college and picked it back up doing a GCSE refresher course at university. Once I left university I decided I liked it and wanted to take it further.

Progress

I now consider myself pretty fluent in French, in speaking, reading and writing. I could use some formal training to improve my written French but I’m otherwise comfortable holding conversations with any French-speaking person.

After the GCSE refresher course, I bought an A-level French study book and worked through most of it. I found someone to practice with on Yahoo Chat and eventually went to stay with his family in Switzerland. I went every year during my 20s and picked up most of my ability talking there talking to friends and exploring.

I consider French my strongest foreign language. I understand most things and can write with confidence in most contexts. I never did any further formal education but I’d like to at some point. I’ve spent the most time using French when travelling and in work.

French also helped me to understand grammar. I learned about a lot about English grammar through trying to understand how things worked in French. It helped prepare me for learning other languages.