Photo: You’d better be prepared to laugh at yourself if you’re going to speak a foreign language with the natives.
“You’re moving to France? Oh, you’ll soak up the language in no time!” If only I had a centime for every time that phrase was uttered to us by well-meaning friends.
To which I respond: Hah! Yes, there is some soaking to be done. Comprehension of sorts will eventually come to you. But unless you one of those people we hate–gifted linguists with super memories (or someone who learned any foreign language as a small child, the best thing of all)–you are in for a lifetime of study, if you want to get anywhere close to fluency. For most of us, true fluency is an impossible dream. There are few more humbling, or challenging, experiences than learning a foreign language on location.
A typical experience is a conversation I had early on with the poissonnier at my local supermarché. We were having a party, and I needed a good quantity of salmon. Being American I have of course been struggling to learn the language of the French metric system. So after a moment of figuring, I said, “3 kilometeres de saumon, s’il vous plaît.”
“Madame”, he said, “this is a very large party you’re having, n’est pas?” Of course I had gotten kilograms, a measure of weight, confused with kilometres, a measure of distance. Nearly two miles of salmon would indeed feed a large party.
In spite of the daily small humiliations, learning French for me is a labor of love.
We’re particularly lucky, because when it comes to learning French, Ron and I have a secret weapon: our own personal language instruction team. Nicole, who has taught both French and English, agreed to be our professor. And Pierre, who speaks little English, is our informal teacher, patiently communicating with us in his slow, careful French and listening to our slow, imperfect French.
A question we’re often asked: Can you live in France and manage with minimal French? It’s actually surprisingly easy to get along with very little French (though you’ll want to work hard to improve). There are lots of friendly ex-pats who speak English well, and many French people speak some English. Obviously it’s much easier in a big city than in the countryside. The trickiest part is doing family business, such as setting up phone service, internet, getting visas, and so on. For those sorts of things, you need someone in the family with enough French to get by, or at the very least a good French friend willing to help.
I get lots of emails from y’all about the logistics of moving, living, or traveling here. As a result of all the interest I’ve decided to post a FAQ section, which I’ll add to bit by bit. I’ve posted the first entry today, in which I’ve tried to answer the questions in detail that we’re often asked about learning French. More subjects will follow. If you’re interested in improving your French, please check it out, and leave your own tips or experiences in the comments section there.
I’ll leave you with a funny tale. The year before we moved to France, we attended a month-long language immersion program in Villefranche-sur-Mer, and our instructor told us the following story. She had told one of the students, a young man who was struggling particularly hard with his lessons, that he would know for sure that he was fluent when he began to dream in French.
One morning he arrived, very excited. “I dreamed in French!” he announced proudly.
“That’s wonderful news,” exclaimed the professor.
“The problem is”, he said, “I didn’t understand a word of it!”
RECIPE: Grilled Saumon for a crowd, with 3 sauces
Should you find yourself with a kilometer or two of salmon, then it’s time for a fête.
Some cooking tips : get good quality fresh salmon filets (not steaks), wild if you can find it; a whole salmon is great for a crowd, and you can serve it at room temperature if you like. Before grilling, sprinkle with fleur de sel, fresh ground pepper, and lots of fresh lemon juice. If you have a gas grill, set it on medium high. You can leave the skin on, it will peel of easily as it cooks. Undercoook the salmon just slightly, as it continues to cook a bit after you take it off the grill; the flesh should be opaque or pink in the center. Test frequently by peeking inside with a sharp knife. A filet about an inch thick is going to take 8 minutes or so. Squeeze lemon over it again after cooking.
Serve the salmon with these three simple and colorful sauces, to make it festive.
Ron’s sauce: mix ½ cup sour cream or crème fraiche with 2 tablespoons of grainy Dijon mustard, or to taste. Add a handful of your favorite chopped fresh herbs, such as , parsley, chives, basil, tarragon. Add a touch of horseradish to taste for a bit of kick, plus sea salt and pepper. Top with a garnish of more fresh herbs.
Peach salsa: combine 2 finely chopped peaches with 1 tablespoon finely chopped red onion, 2 T. finely chopped red bell pepper, 1 T chopped, seeded jalapeno pepper, 1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro or parsley, 2 T. lime juice and 1 T. olive oil.
Orange dill butter: Soften 3 T. of butter and with a fork mash with the grated zest of one orange and 2 t. orange juice until combined. Stir in 1 T. fresh, finely chopped dill. Put a dollop over hot salmon filets.
The salmon is good served with cheese grits and a big platter of summer tomatoes with cucumbers and avocado slices.
Comments & such:
In the Comments, from last week’s blog: Blop Around the Clock!, says Tricia of roughlinen.com. And who knew Des Moines had a French name, and a Michelin starred chef? Check the menu, from Mark (of yourgardenshow.com fame), for recipe ideas. And belatedly, to Marilyn: Une verre is 20cl, or a scant ½ cup.
Also posted, some simple fixings for goat cheese. AND, Herm, a blogger himself, has written a POEM to the Intelligent Goats of La Vineuse! How fun is that!
A petite plug: Go to http://www.francemag.com/ to see my photos and article, called “The Road to Riches” on Burgundy chateaux, that ran in the last issue of France Magazine.
News flash: Fun cooking class in the French alps, http://www.manxski.com/news.php?i=10
12 thoughts on “Pardon My French: The Joys of Learning a Language at a Certain Age”
Enjoy reading your weekly blog. Got the link from AF of Birmingham. I have dreamed about doing what you are doing for a long time. However, the dream changed its course. We are building an apartment in Bangkok, our hometown. So, we are heading in that direction now. I went to the L’Institut in VF, too, in 1998. Loved every minute of it. My French is dying due to no practice. Please keep up the blog.
Hi Lynn,
loved the story, again.
My husband asked for ‘deux metres de chien’ at the local builders’ merchant. (he wanted oak ‘chene’)
A few summers ago I decided to take lecons d’aquarelle in Marseille. Not speaking a word of French, I took a six week course in French at a local junior college to get the basic grammar and a few vocabulary words. After I got a feel for the language, I started watching French films avec sous-titres, bien sur! I also bought a Franklin dictionnaire electronique, which my French friends and I used all the time. It came in really handy!
Another tip for learning French is to buy children’s books with an accompanying audio book, so you can read and listen to the correct pronunciation. I figure je parle comme une enfante, donc, je peut lire comme une enfante aussi. Recently, I’ve discovered free podcasts in French that teach grammar, incorporate verb drills, tell stories, read poetry, etc. You can subscribe and sync them to your ipod.
I’ve returned to Marseille this summer, enjoying la cote azure, and picking up a few more mots de vocabulaire, and I’ve also found a woman who teaches French literature who exchanges language lessons with me. I teach her English, and she teaches me French.
Right now I’m reading Les malherus de Sophie par Comtesse de Segur. I bought the illustrated one to help with comprehension. That’s another tip to learning a language.
I love learning languages!
Was the top photo taken in Avignon?? I have almost identical photos taken along a tiny stream lined with restaurants and little shops in the historic center, during the theatre festival. Those wild, laughing mannequins…
Thanks for the help with une verre. I too have been struggling with learning French- sad to say I’ve lived here in Aix en Provence for 3 years, taking classes almost the entire time, and am not close to “couramment” although I’m better. It’s been good for my brain cells, I hope.
bonjour, J’irai vivre a Martinique bientôt, et j’aime c’est post beaucoup, plutôt la partie avec les rêves. J’espère que je rêverai en français aussi…. et comprendre ça.
I can still speak a bit of Arabic from my time in Morocco forty years ago but when I speak Arabic in a dream I am completely fluent, to the point of feeling immersed. This is the opposite of being new to a language, as you describe, Lynn. But what’s the cause? I’m convinced that many, maybe most adults struggle to learn a new language because of crippling self-consciousness; I mean not a crazy, neurotic self-regard but rather a mind divided in two and trying to do two things at once (assemble and broadcast a simple sentence while pondering with embarassment how inept it feels). Kids are blessed with immersion.
Over on Facebook YourGardenShow is posting a new plant every day. Yesterday was cilantro and I got a question about using it. Please take a look if you have a suggestion.
From AMAZON.COM, I bought a side by side grammar book of english & french. Very helpful. Taking an Alliance Francaise class is helpful with listening. Always carry a dictionary while in France.
Bonjour Lynn!
I had to laugh out loud at today’s blog!! French takes on a whole new meaning when I speak it, too…I think words morph into something different due to our Southern accents! For example, when I was in college I was in a Paris bar trying to order a glass of beer. My waiter was a young single guy, and of course he was totally amused by my “Southern” French accent…apparently, because of the way I was pronouncing the word “biere” it came out meaning “butter” in French…so I was actually ordering a glass of butter!! LOL! I was immediately tutored on the correct pronunciation…and I never made that mistake again! 🙂
Carol (Crawford) Hjort
One of the best books I have found is “Speaking Better French” by Saul H. Rosenthal, which I found on Amazon. It is full of useful little phrases and idioms which you can plug in to whatever level of french you are capable of. I spent 2 weeks in France this summer and had a magical moment when a shopkeeper was patiently explaining something in french and I said “Entendu”, after which, the shopkeeper smiled and we concluded our transaction– the english equivalent would be “yes, I understand” and “I agree”. Another valuable resource is the French in Action DVD series, which I believe you can find on the internet…
Ha! I see I’m not your only high school pal who assiduously follows your blob (hi, Carol!). Keep up the good work. I love every word, every picture, every recipe.
I am enjoying your blog and could relate to your story about buying fish. We have spent the past 20 summers on the Ile de Re where my children were exchange students with French families. The second summer, I had a dinner party for the people who had graciously welcomed us into their homes. I went to the butcher shop to buy a whole filet since that was the only thing I could think of to make without a cookbook. After a 15 minute discussion (in French) with the butcher about how much to buy — I of course was thinking of American appetites — the woman behind me said to the butcher: Give her what she wants; she can use the rest for leftovers; this is taking too much time! Of course, the butcher was right. Since I had prepared a first course, side dishes, salad, cheese and dessert, and our French friends had sliced the meat into exquisitely thin slices, we had enough for an Army. My children used the leftovers for their own dinner party the next night; and we still had enough for a third evening of filet roti! Now, I know to trust the butcher or the fish monger when I am there.