Learning French Part 2.
We moved here and how it went. What I’ll write today is what Josephine of 2016 would have wanted to know. Spolier alert, it'll take you much longer than you thought.
Marcelle always made time to chat with me and was very patient with my pigeon French, she had the most incredible garden and had promised to share on how to predict the seasons for the year ahead. Sadly she forgot our rendez-vous and passed away a few months later before we’d rearranged. People like her are like gold.
Before I begin, on Friday at 2 pm CET I will be talking about my journey in further detail in a live session. I’ll be bringing an Occupational Therapist’s practical, activity-focused perspective on the process of learning the language. Including how to tackle any stumbling blocks you may have come across in your learning French story. This will be available as a recording for those unable to make the live session. You’ll find the details at the end of the post.
Learning French Part 2
As mentioned in Part 1 I have not been able to learn French by osmosis, there has been a natural progression to the learning I hadn’t factored in, the more I learn the more I feel I need to learn more. Josephine of 2016 would be absolutely delighted with the stage I am at now. But I can’t stop here, I’m in love with the learning process and want to share my story with others who are at the beginning of their journey, the things that I wanted to know.
I thought I’d be fluent in 18 months. It went a little more like this:
After three years here I felt confident enough to get my needs met.
It took five years until 2021 for me to be able to say to my husband that if he died I would feel able to manage without him (he’s used to this sort of talk from me)
I’ve been here for close to seven years, French is becoming the dominant language at home (my husband and I have always spoken English to one another, my marriage has always been more important to me than being fluent in French).
I have begun to feel capable of opening up my work to French clients.
Let’s get into the nitty-gritty of my story. There is no perfect way to learn a language, I’ve already shared some of the practical things in Part 1. Your story will look very different depending on many factors, your age, your financial circumstances, how much time you have, where you’re living etc, etc. The context from which I am coming is that I live in a small community where it is difficult to hide away, the children are in the local school and my husband is the village osteopath.
For further details and to support me in funding my advanced French lessons please subscribe.