My French Language Journey by Debs Phillips
Debs and I connected during an online motivational course where we discovered a mutual love of France. My own challenges with mastering the French language have left me in awe of Debs abilities. I invited her to share her language journey and some photos from her travels to France. Enjoy!
My language love affair started as a high school romance. To be exact, it was during orientation week at the beginning of our first year. Language was a compulsory subject for first year students. We were informed that we would be learning four languages and could choose one of them as an elective to focus on for the rest of our school career. My heart leapt at this news. I had always thought it a very cool thing to be able to speak another language and, in my youthful enthusiasm, I imagined myself speaking fluently in all four languages by the end of the year.
Japanese was first off the language cab rank and it was here that I got my first reality check. “What do you mean there are THREE alphabets?!” Immediately my thoughts of learning another language through osmosis like I did as a child with English went flying out the window on an elegantly folded paper crane. However, I took a deep breath, focused and got on with it. It was interesting but, after that term, I was ready to move on.
If you’re a fan of the movie Amélie, you will know that she shops at Au Marche de la Butte. The shop is located in Montmartre at 56 Rue des Trois Frères, 75018 Paris, France.
German was next and my enthusiasm returned. My grandmother spoke fluent German and I had ambitious thoughts of long and interesting conversations with her in this language. Until, I learned that nouns have three genders and four cases, there are three ways to say “the” and I must be careful about whether I use formal or informal speech depending on who I was talking to. And that was just the start. I was beginning to suspect two things:
1. That each language was going to have its own unique set of challenges.
2. That, to understand the grammar of another language, I was seriously going to have to up my game in English grammar.
The enthusiasm fought valiantly to remain high but lost the battle when something else caught my eye or, rather, my ear. The 14th July was approaching and our school held some Bastille Day celebrations. Some of the senior French students performed a small play entirely in French and, as I watched, I was enamoured. I didn’t understand a word but I desperately wanted to. German class became intolerable. I wanted that relationship to end because I was in love … with French.
Au Lapin Agile cabaret club, located in Montmartre at 22 Rue des Saules, 75018 Paris, France.
Later that term, German and I parted ways and I started French class. By now, I was savvier. I knew there would be difficulties but I was ready to face them. Each grammar challenge only made me more determined. French became my first language love and, by the time the last term started, poor Indonesian did not stand a chance. However, six years later and after finishing school, I went the way of most other people and got side-tracked by life.
Debs, in black, heading into the Metro on her way la fête de la musique, an annual event celebrated on 21 June throughout France.
The years went by and, suddenly, it was 2012. By now, I was married with an 11-year-old daughter and working part time as a medical receptionist. I had been to Paris once for 5 days about 8 years previously and had completely forgotten everything apart from “bonjour”, “merci”, and “je voudrais un café s’il vous plaît”. That experience left me feeling sad and nostalgic about my old French language romance but I had accepted that it was over and I was never going to speak it. I had put it from my mind.
Debs and her daughter taking in the view of Paris from the Arc de Triomphe
Then, one hot summer day, my Francophile neighbour lent me a book titled “How to be French” by Margaret Ambrose and the flame ignited once again. The desire to speak French simply for the sheer joy of it was so strong. This time, I was determined to learn French and I was not going to stop until I could speak real French to a real French person in real France!! But where do I start?
In the Trianon gardens of the Château de Versailles
I approached my neighbour and timidly asked if she would like to learn French with me and she answered with an immediate “OUI”! We searched around and found a language school in the city, paid the enrolment fee and happily traipsed off for our first lesson … and hated it. Our teacher was lovely but the philosophy of the school was to learn French by memorising a script and sticking to it. So, if I were ever in France and I was lost, I could approach someone and invite them for coffee. If I wanted to purchase a metro ticket, I could invite the ticket seller out for a coffee. And when booking into a hotel I could invite the reception staff out for a coffee. After one year we admitted that this was not working. And we were sick of coffee.
La Maison Rose in Montmartre located at 2 Rue de l'Abreuvoir, 75018 Paris, France.
A change of plan was needed. My neighbour hired a private tutor and I enrolled in the Alliance Francaise. Here, the lesson quality was exceptional but, after another two years, I still couldn’t speak. Well, I could but I had zero confidence. I tried another language school. And had the same result. Meanwhile, my neighbour was, by this time, practically fluent. Finally, I hit on the conundrum. It wasn’t the schools, it was me. I was learning when I should be speaking. I realised that I am not a classroom type of person. I also had to admit that, while the desire to speak was strong, my fear of making mistakes and looking like an idiot was holding me back.
Debs’ view from Hotel Regyn’s Montmartre
Around this time, my husband brought home a book called Fluent In 3 Months by Benny Lewis. When I was reading this book, so many pins dropped that my ears were ringing. How did I not know that there are so many ways of practising a language out there! Speaking practice was the key but I needed to work on my fear first. Googling led me to a language course with a difference. Called “Courage to Speak”, it focused on facing the fear of looking foolish. What did I have to lose? I signed up, did the tasks (feeling tachycardic the entire time) and learned something valuable. If I speak French and make a mistake, no one laughs.
Debs’ hubby and daughter relaxing near the Eiffel Tower … perhaps they are practising their French language
Next step was finding a tutor. I decided to give online tutors a try and voila! Having a teacher to myself meant that there was no classroom to hide in, I had to speak. After one year, I was able to claw myself up from beginner to intermediate level. It was an almost perfect situation. I say almost because, even though I didn’t like the classroom environment, I still felt a bit isolated. I Googled around and found a challenge that was run by the author of Fluent In 3 Months. I gave it a try and enjoyed being a part of that community so much that I did another one. I finally found a language learning combination that was perfect for me.
Since then, I have travelled to Paris two more times, the last time by myself and had many French speaking adventures (and even more funny misadventures, which is a whole different story). I’ve spoken French in Belgium and in Switzerland. I was able to use my French skills at work and I have a language exchange friend who lives in Paris who I chat to every week. I now even volunteer as a community coach on the Fluent In 3 Months Challenge.
Debs having in fun in Colmar. If you are planning a trip to France, Colmar is a must.
I have also discovered that, with language relationships, one doesn’t need to be monogamous. One can have many language loves. I started learning Italian before a holiday in Italy in 2019 and am now learning Welsh. However, French will always be my first love. And it was through my French learning journey that I discovered that learning a language is not a one-size-fits-all thing. To learn effectively, you need to do things you like as well as all the grammar stuff. I enjoy podcasts during my morning walk, I’ve learned lyrics to French and Italian songs and then singing stupidly loud in the car (with the windows securely up). I enjoy French movies, French music, French recipes (and recipe disasters), writing a journal in French and changing subtitles to French on Netflix. There are so many different things you can try when learning a language but the most important thing is to speak in that language. And don’t worry about the mistakes. It’s part of the learning process and, contrary to popular belief, no native speaker will criticise you. Not even when you accidentally introduce your husband as your wife. Yes, that really happened.
Merci, Debs for this amazing story. If you’re inspired to take your French language journey to another level, Deb has provided some links.
Courage to speak https://courses.fluentin3months.com/p/the-courage-to-speak
Fluent in 3 months challenge https://www.fluentin3months.com/challenge/
My French instagram https://www.instagram.com/franklyfrancophone/
My You Tube youtube.com/Parisiangirl1
Á bientot!
