Learning French in France

Maybe you’ve learned some French at high school, evening class or university. You may also have visited a French-speaking country on vacation, or at least thought about the possibility. A natural next step, if you have the opportunity, is to take a French language course in a Francophone country.

I had been thinking about doing this very thing for some considerable time. Apart from being a fun experience, studying in a French-speaking environment seemed like a great practical way to improve my French. What better way to build confidence in one’s French speaking and listening ability than being surrounded and immersed in French? Also, there would be cultural and travel opportunities when not in class.

The stars finally aligned and I had some spare time to spend a month studying. I had visited France before on holiday and decided to return for more serious purposes. I had previously attended evening classes at the Alliance Française in Jordan and New Zealand, where I was impressed with the quality of teaching and the availability of library materials and cultural activities. There are more than 800 Alliance Française centres around the world.

I looked at a number of schools in France before deciding on the Alliance Française in Lyon. It is a very popular school with more than 2,600 students each year, representing more than 130 nationalities. Being a larger school, it has many class levels, so can cater for students of varying abilities and be more likely to group students of similar ability in the same class.

The school also has a library and organises cultural activities. Another important factor is that it can help with a range of accommodation types to suit different budgets including student residence, host family and private accommodation.

Another key factor that attracted me is that the Alliance Française in Lyon has been awarded the French as a Foreign Language (FLE) quality mark. The mark is awarded jointly by three French Ministries to French language centres that meet a set of objective criteria related to quality of teaching, service and management. There are around 95 schools which hold the FLE quality mark. You can search them at the website link above.

Lyon itself is a large city with many attractions including an old town, Roman amphitheatres, a fine arts museum, and an excellent park. (I’ll go into more detail about Lyon’s treasures in a later blog post.) There is also plenty to see in the surrounding area, including Annecy and Geneva to the east.

I am currently on my way to Lyon where I will be studying at the Alliance Française during April. I’m very excited about this opportunity and look forward to sharing my experiences as a student at the school and of living in France. 

Review: “Les aventures de Tintin : Objectif lune”

The Tintin comic books by Belgium writer and artist Georges Rémi are much loved by millions of readers around the world. Written originally in French, starting in 1929, they have been translated into many other languages, including English, Chinese, Russian, Italian and Polish, to name just a few.

The books follow the adventures of the young reporter Tintin and his faithful dog Milou (Snowy in English). A cast of major characters travel with Tintin, including Capitaine Haddock (Captain Haddock), Professor Tournesol (Professor Calculus), and the police detectives Dupond and Dupont (Thompson and Thomson). There are also a host of minor characters and, naturally, plenty of baddies.

If you are already familiar with Tintin in English, or other language, then you can use your existing knowledge and enthusiasm to tackle the books in French. Another option is to have the book in front of you in both English and French versions.

I read “Objectif lune” (Destination Moon), first published in 1953. The story follows the development of a working moon rocket, well before the first actual moon landing in 1969.

Most of the story takes place at a tightly-guarded research centre in a remote mountain region of the fictional country of Syldavia. All does not go smoothly though, as it transpires espionage is afoot.

The story is a mix of serious plot and humourous incidents, the latter often involving the somewhat hapless Capitaine Haddock and the at times absent-minded and hard-of-hearing Professor Tournesol. The Professor uses a hearing trumpet – a technology that doesn’t always work very effectively!

Georges Rémi is well known for the attention to detail and realism of his drawings. The colourful illustrations put the text – most of which is in speech bubbles – in context and helps with comprehension. Be aware, however, that some of the exclamations produced by the excitable Capitaine Haddock can be challenging!

I highly recommend reading Tintin books as a way to practice your French and build on your vocabulary. They can also be a type of barometer of your personal progress in French reading comprehension. The first time I tried to read Tintin, I could only make out a few words here and there. But on returning to Tintin after time spent in French class and lots of reading of graded readers, I found that I could understand significantly more. One day I will dip in again and hopefully will be able to understand even more.

To find Tintin books in French outside the francophone world, try your local French cultural centre, or the children’s French language section at your local public library. Books may also be purchased directly from the publisher, Casterman (in French) or the Boutique Tintin online store.

Read more about Tintin at the official site.

The French version of the Tintin site includes additional material such as “Tintin TV”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review: “Marée noire” by Dominique Renaud

Graded French readers are a great way to practice reading and improve your vocabulary. They open up reading opportunities to all levels of language learner, particularly those at the earlier levels.
 

Graded readers help to build confidence and stamina in reading, and there is a real sense of accomplishment that comes from finishing a book in French, no matter how small it may be.

The French publisher CLE International produces a range of graded readers in its “Décourverte” (discovery) collection. Books are available at levels from introductory to “Niveau 6”. According to the publisher, these books are either original fiction or adaptations of classic works.   

I read “Marée noire” (Oil spill) by Dominique Renaud. It is a 47 page book published in 2008 at the level “Niveau 1”, which the publisher says is suitable for someone in their first year of French. The story centres around a family who live in a coastal village in Brittany. When an oil tanker breaks up and spills large quantities of oil into the ocean and along the coastline, the lives of the family, the community and local sea life is turned upside down.

The book is attractively illustrated and the images often help with the understanding of the text. Selected words are explained, in French, at the foot of each page. There is plenty of vocabulary related to maritime and environmental themes.

I like the comprehension activities, which are both at the beginning of the book and following each chapter. These make the book more interactive and add to the learning value of the text. Another helpful feature is a page introducing the key characters.  

If you’d like to sample the book online, you are in luck, as the cover and first chapter are available on the publisher’s website. 

Duolingo - A great free tool for improving your French

Whether your French is basic or advanced, then the free language-learning site Duolingo is well worth a visit. According to Duolingo itself, the site has more than 38 million users and was selected by Apple as iPhone App of the Year 2013.

Available as a website and an application, the tool has two main parts. The first is a series of interactive modules that cover introductory French grammar, while the second involves the translation of texts from French into English*.

Each module includes exercises for writing, comprehension (written and oral), and speaking. The speaking option appears to be more about encouraging you to have a go at saying something in French rather than involving speech recognition software.

The earliest module, “Basics 1”, starts off displaying four images with matching text “l’homme”, “le chat”, “la pomme”, and “le garçon”. The user is asked to select the image and text for “the boy”. You will get instant feedback on your response.

Another page gives the text “La femme” accompanied by audio of the text. The user needs to translate the sentence into English.    

Other early modules cover topics such as food, animals, adjectives, possession, plurals, être/avoir, clothing, colours, present, questions, conjunctions, prepositions, and pronouns. There are more than 65 modules in all and they usually come with written ‘tips and notes’ on particular grammar points.

If you make four mistakes in a module, then you will need to start again in order to complete it. You can repeat modules as often as you like. The programme keeps a record of modules you have done and after some time has passed, users are encouraged to revisit modules to strengthen their understanding. The repetitive nature of the grammar section is a very positive part of Duolingo. Having struggled with plurals myself, I found that doing this particular module a number of times really helped me to understand the concept of French plurals in practice.

The grammar modules can be done on the Duolingo website or via application on a smartphone or tablet. The application option is particularly convenient and means that you get in some French grammar practice in your spare moments when you are on a bus or train, for example, so long as you have internet access.

Sometimes the Duolingo answer may leave you wondering why your response was wrong. If you are doing the grammar modules on the website, there is an option to read comments from other users about troublesome questions and answers.

For more advanced learners, the second part of Duolingo – the interactive translation of written texts – is a great option for practicing reading and writing French. This can only be done on the website. [Please see below the May 2017 update on the translation feature.]

Texts can be chosen by subject area and difficulty. Translation is done in small chunks, such as a word, group of words, or a complete sentence. If you are in doubt about how to translate a word or words, hover the mouse over the text to get an automated translation.

A number of people will be involved with the translation of popular texts. If you disagree with someone else’s translation then you can change it, but do give a reason if it is more than a very minor revision, so as to inform other users. The translation activity is very interactive and it’s possible that one or more other people may be translating a document in real time.

You can also upload your own texts for free, so long as they are in the public domain. Commercial users upload documents for a fee, which users translate. Presumably this is part of how the site is able to fund itself.

 Although Duolingo is free for language learners, it is necessary to register with your email. You can select your own anonymous username. Users will get regular emails reminding them to practice (this feature can be turned off) and, if you have translated some text, emails letting you know that another user has revised your work. Disagreements about translations can be a source of tension, so best to remain calm, cool and polite at all times.

Users earn points for completing grammar modules and translating texts. It’s possible to follow other users and discuss language issues with them in the public space.

I highly recommend Duolingo as a useful tool for improving your French. It’s something you can dip into as much as you like and is very interactive. Beware: translating French can be strangely addictive!

*This blog focuses on the French part of Duolingo. It should be noted that other languages, including German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, and Irish, can all be learned on the site.

Update May 2017: 
Earlier this year, Duolingo unfortunately decided to retire the translation part of its website, which it calls its "Immersion tool". Read the Duolingo statement about the decision and the response from some users.