I totally need to update more. Well, write more in general.
I got sick on Monday night, right at bedtime. I could just feel it in my throat and my sinuses. You can always tell. By early the next morning, I knew I would not be going to work. So I lay around all day. Stupidly, I decided I should still go to French class. Guh. I am doing pretty well in French; I like it a lot. I just worry that it’s not “sinking in” enough. I don’t get to use it. Though my petit ecole does have a free session at lunchtime during the week where people can just get together and talk in French. Which would of course completely mortify me.
Here was me in France in 1996, going to the boulangerie to order the daily baguette:
BAKERY PERSON: Oui? Que est-ce vous voudrais?
MOI: (in tiniest possible voice, mumbling.) un baguette s’il vous plait.
BAKERY PERSON: Tres bien. (gets bread.) 25 Francs, s’il vous plait.
MOI: (hands over money.) merci. (flees.)
ANYWAYS. Apart from that and the usual backache, things have been swell. Actually the cold came and went very swiftly, which is unusual for me.
Tomorrow we are going to a lovely brunch party at Nick and Yuri’s house, which will include mimosas, the hot tub, and a plethora of the gay men. I think I shall be the only girl! Hahaha! Which means what I do not know. I greatly look forward to the chance to use Nick’s Amazing Espresso Robot again. You merely press a button and in moments, a perfect latte has been generated. IT EVEN GRINDS THE BEANS. I think. Gay!
Oh and I also intend to take up more walking. Thirty-plus minutes a day of brisk walking. Starting today after work. But I won’t make the mistake I made on Sunday, which was to take a quick hike up the massive hill behind our street, which goes straight up three heart-attacking blocks to a staircase comprising like, a hundred stairs, all leading to a vista of the whole city. The next day, in fact the next three days, I was rewarded with quad muscles like hot piano wire. And not in a good way.
Can I just say what a difference having good cookware has made in our lives? A big difference. I’m much more interested in cooking and trying new things out. Which reminds me, need to ask Tamara for the Bean Thing recipe. Something about white beans, tomato paste, scallions? Sauteed down to a delicious mush? It was so good.
Lately have been thinking a lot about Chicago, trying to visualize our move there and our life there. It’s exciting. By Monday I think I will have finally nailed down a week in August when we can go out there to visit. I want to know what humid really feels like. We don’t get that where I come from.
Jane: my suggestion is to either watch a lot of French movies (one hour nightly) or listen to French radio. See if there’s a broadcast on NPR. Sometimes there is. Also, organize a movie club with other French students and practice your conversational French once a week.
This is essentially the same homework that I gave my friend Jess when I tutored her in Spanish. She learned very fast but only bc she was determined. Luckily for you, you won’t have to watch lots of cheesy telenovelas. There are hundreds of great French movies instead. Or begin with a regular American movie that you know well and that has French dubbing and watch it without the subtitles. (That’s Marc’s idea.)
Those are great ideas! And my french school even has a free DVD lending library, duh.
DEPARDIEU!!!!
Truffaut!! Renoir!! Godard!!
Just be consistent and watch one hour of French flicks DAILY and make sure to converse with someone for a full hour at least once a week. OH. Also, learn only 10 new words a day. If you find that you can’t retain that many, cut it down to five. It might not seem like much but slow is fast and consistency pays off. Here’s another trick that I learned when I came here and had didn’t know any English: repeat a new word as many times as possible aloud. I picked up that trick from watching my little 2 y.o. cousin learn to speak. You’ll notice that’s what little kids do: a lot of vocalization and wordplay.
Buy a favorite magazine in French and read it aloud. Even if you don’t understand a lot of it, you’ll notice that you will begin to understand stuff intuitively. Lastly, be patient. It’s harder to learn a language as an adult but people do it all the time.
Bonjour Madame!
I have been wanting to write you since I got back, but have been getting over le jet-lag…
Your boulangerie experience is exactly what my daily boulangerie experience was! I spoke barely any French when I was there, just enough to squeak by. Talk about NOT sinking in — the French words would just slip out of my head as soon as I was faced with having to speak and I felt self conscious, but it was okay, actually. Whenever I would say “bonjour” (VERY important — politeness is the key), they would just start speaking in English. I suppose you could see that as insulting (as in “Dumb American”), but I was nervous enough to be grateful, and just happy when they were polite and not the fabled rude. Plus I was with friends who could speak it well, and so I got to smile and say merci a lot. (I got REALLY good at saying “merci.”)
But all that said, I am bound and determined to learn it by the time I go back next year. (Yes, I AM going back — that’s how much I loved it.) I promised my friend that I would get up to a somewhat conversational level, so that I could get some more confidence and actually talk a little. I am going to sign up for another class — what class were you taking? I might just take the little summer course at Piedmont Adult School, and keep going and do exactly what your friend said — watch movies and listen to French music (except there’s a lot of pretty bad French music out there!) and try to get as much saturation in as possible. Perhaps we can be mortified students together!
bisous!
practicing french
I’ve got an idea; when you go to Chicago, you won’t be that far from Canada, especially the French side. There you have a bi-lingual opportunity to practice the french (Montreal, Quebec). And you know those Canadians, very courteous and friendly to tourists. Love, Mom
ewwww you do not want humidity, bite your tongue! It feels…the same way a sauna feels, only you can’t get away from it unless you’re inside in the air conditioning. It will be so cool to have you guys in Chicago =)
I think the lunch talk in French would really help. I know its always said that submersing yourself in the language via staying in the country makes you learn the language a lot faster. It would probably be a bit hard at first, but with good results in the long run.