I have been very consistent with my French lessons for the last three months. Indeed, I’ve almost completed the available lessons in the program to which I subscribed.
Since then I have greatly enlarged my vocabulary and dramatically improved my pronunciation. Stuart who once teased me about my American accent now says he can’t tell when I am speaking or he’s hearing the lesson.
“You don’t sound like an American speaking French any more.”
Well even a parrot can learn sounds.
LOL
In my self assessment, I’m confident that I could get around – ask directions, buy tickets, order from a menu, find the toilet, make reservations, buy fresh produce at the daily market. Have a conversation? Not so much. Express myself? My God. I’ve spent a lifetime learning to express myself in American. That’s a ways off.
But I love learning French so much, and feel so rewarded by it, this morning I awoke planning how to advance my course of study. It’s truly the first time in eons that enthusiasm has pulled me out of dreams and bed.
I am no longer daunted by a website written in French. I may not know every word. I get the gist. I revisited the Souleaido catalog yesterday. I no longer need to translate the page titles. More, when I hear French spoken in a movie, I understand the lines. Oh, when the dialogue is thick, I still cock my head to one side like my (French) poodle, to pick out words I know. But I’ve gained a great, practical vocabulary.
Grammar and sentence structure need polish. More than anything, I need to tune my ear – listening, discerning, conversing, these have to come next.
Allons a Provence!
I am longing to immerse myself in its art, history, culture, food and joie de vivre. Then my learning will truly be worthwhile.
Chapeau! Hat’s off to Babbel, the interactive multimedia learning program that has made this so much fun.
