Can I just pick up French in France?
I'm Chris. French teacher at OuiCommunicate.
The question of simply picking up French abroad once we are in France is one that interests many people.
Will there be a sink-or-swim mechanism that forces us to get good at French?
Let's talk about this.
Let’s start the article with a personal story. My mum is an English lady who settled in French-speaking Brussels in the late 1960s. Before coming over, she tells me that her employer at the time had paid for a French course and soon after she met my dad.
As far as I can remember, my dad always spoke to her in French to which she answered in English. Her two boys also spoke French with our dad, which means that she was factually surrounded by 3 teachers.
Our school work was in French, like much of the other aspects of our life: relationships with the neighbours, with my dad’s friends…my mum did not lack exposure to French.
Despite all this and 40 years later, you would not confuse my mum with a French speaker. The English accent is still there and although she can express all she needs for everyday necessities, I notice that there is still a lot that is lost in translation.
Yes, she understands the gist of it but she will face challenges as soon as French contains expressions, sayings or if the meaning is implied.
As kids, we frequently expressed our shame in an overly-theatrical way each time she misunderstood French (20 years into her learning). For example, the day my Belgian grandfather spoke about my cousin’s boyfriend, referring to him as “Her Yann” meaning “Her bloke”. My poor mum answered that Yann was welcome among us, should he choose to come. (Elle peut inviter Yann si elle veut), completely missing the reference.
Another time, we noticed that my mum had no idea how to say “the headlight” and referred to them as “les lumieres”, as she vehemently scolded a cyclist one dark winter morning. We cringed and hid behind the car seats.
As for swearing, she once called the lady next door a slag (or a tramp in American) presumably wanting to call her a “bitch” – she went with the word “salope”.
Naturally, there were advantages. Such as the time I got my first detention in school (une retenue). When I announced this to my mum, I noticed that it did not summon mental pictures of shame and misbehaviour, rather just a mild curiosity. “Of really? That’s nice you got one of those.”
What do you call "communicating in French"?
As the example with my mum hoped to illustrate, even with full French immersion it is challenging to improve aspects such as the stylistic use of French and all which verbal communication implies rather than spells out.
Different social situations call for different uses of the language. A job interview or a light purchase at a shop don’t require the same level of speaking. Reading a lease agreement, arguing with a driver in the context of a collision, telling someone at a fair ground “hey you skipped the queue”, telling a kid who’s not your own not to play so rough, suggesting to your neighbour that perhaps it’s time they cut their side of the hedge, or delivering a product presentation at a company don’t all call for the same skills.
The future visitor to France must well realize that “communicating in French” has a very broad cope that has different standards according to age and social status/professional occupation.
If your intent is to be a bricklayer paid under the table or a grape picker, the needs will be much different than if you intend to hang out with street performers or if you intend to work in French customer service.
Some social groups might be less forgiving when it comes to proper conjugation, accent or expressions that are used by teenagers. (Too many adults influenced by Youtube still think that “ouais” is an actual thing that French people say!) The main issue is in achieving “proper French” in a way that will suit most social situations.
Sadly, the odds are against you
Let’s look at the unlikely scenario of landing in France with no French at all, (or just a few notions). We unpack, have a coffee and go down into the streets to start our new life. How exciting! Now, to find a local to practice my French with.
Oh there’s one! Excuse me sir, do you have time for a conversation? And if you don’t mind, can you please point out my mistakes and provide me with a few examples?” In English, please.
Evidently, this is unlikely to happen and even if it did, the odds are against you and here’s why:
Learning French in such a way essentially means “learning by chance encounter”. Such a learner would have to encounter all the meaningful aspects of French more than once, make note of them and extract a grammar rule to make sense of it.
Acquiring knowledge of gardening in such a way would probably be seen as time-consuming and risky. Why not look up the symptoms of an over-watered leaf instead of trying and hoping?
Despite this, we still believe that random exposure to French will turn into mastership.
Coming from English, you will have to tone down the enthusiasm because French doesn’t express “feelings” with intonation as English does. Apart from that, no problemo!
In case you disagree...let's go through a checklist
1. Which are the social contexts in which I will likely speak French once I am abroad?
2. Who do I imagine myself speaking French with?
3. How many hours of conversations will I be doing in a week ?
4. How many human beings will I likely be exchanging with over an average month?
5. How will I know with certainty that I am not picking up and dragging on mistakes for years?
6. How much French will I gain from my many in-depth conversations?
7. Do I ever have in-depth conversations in my own country? Why will France be different?
8. Which sort of timeline are we looking at before a good level of French develops ?
9. Will locals correct me or will they accept any mistake I say?
10. Am I sure to meet good examples of how the language should best be used?
Become our next "success story"!
The lady in this video is originally from NY and wished for us to help prepare her move to France.
Today, she is fluent and happily lives in France where she meets new people and uses French daily.
Despite her advanced ability, she has never relied on chance encounters to improve her French. She even explains things to her mum who’s lived in France for 30 years.
The aspects of your French that will improve
It would be unrealistic to say that being abroad presents no advantages at all in learning a language. In my experience, there is a definite increase in specialized vocabulary that is directly linked to the realities of our new life. Words for motor vehicle inspection, VAT, immigration paperwork, and so many others. As soon as we ask for a fitting room in a shop we learn the words for coat hanger, trying on, maximum 3 items, among others.
There is also the fact that the foreign language remains at the forefront of our mind as a tool that has to be used at any moment and that can help with memorization. When we’ve said “Excuse, me can I have…” a few times, it becomes more automatic. There’s much less of a chance to put the foreign language on the side and forget about it.
The constant written reminders of the foreign language are seen on shop signs, names of products, street names, advertisements, restaurant menus, bills and official paperwork. All this has the psychological effect of making the language more “real” and not just belonging in a textbook.
Because the French word is now linked to real situation, memorization might be made easier.
We could compare it to living near a jungle VS a biologist who studies the jungle in a lab. Yes, you will develop a greater familiarity with the trees and flowers, but the student in the lab will know their names and how they function.
The day they come to visit, they will be explaining to you how the jungle functions.
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