20 September 05
French Frustration
I am rapidly approaching the one-year mark of living in France, and I have to honestly say I am more often frustrated with things than not, and to a large extent this has to do with the language.
Before moving here, many people told me (and I even started to believe the nonesense) that after a year of living abroad I would learn enough of the language to have a casual conversation no problem. I do not recall if these people were talking from experience or just figured “one” was a good number, but I can tell you for sure (and from experience) one year is not enough, at least not for me.
A common assumption/question people have is do I practice my French with Hanane, since she is French and all. The simple answer is no, not much. To be sure, the lack of practice with Hanane is not because she does not want to, or because we do not even try (though it is becoming more the case in both instances). We sometimes do try (when we remember to), but after about four minutes of my futile attempts at saying anything intelligible, we quickly revert back to the nice and safe English language. Sometimes it doesn’t even take four minutes, because I get frustrated with French pretty easily, even to the point of aggressively expressing my dislike for the language in frank, American terms. Understandably, Hanane has little patience for such lack of enthousiasm, and thus our French session comes to an end.
French Lessons Via Université Populaire Européenne
I have mentioned in the past that immediately upon my arrival to France (October 2004) I started taking French lessons at the Université Populaire Européenne where Hanane (bless her heart) had already had me enrolled. The class was the first-year debutante class for newbies like myself, and it was held twice per week in the evenings, 1.5 hours each time. We had a text, of sorts, that was really just a glossy magazine with a lot of pictures in it to entice you into thinking learning French is fun.
Aside from the magazine thingy, there was not much emphasis on study materials; the class was primarily oriented around conversation. We would show up and the instructor would beginning chatting away in French like we were all longtime social acquaintances. I was usually able to decipher two or three words out of her entire monologue. Then the inevitable would come; our instructor would demand of someone in the class (often me) to give an account of a situation in our past, or a comparison to something in our native country as opposed to France (e.g., food, culture, whatever).
Assuming we were even able to understand what was being asked of us, we were then left with the impossible situation of actually trying to respond, and it was during these situations where I would often get quite irritated at the ludicrousness of it all. First of all, giving a colorful account of anything in French is not easy when your vocabulary consists of not much more than oui, merci, bonjour, and voila. Second, it doesn’t help with your willingness to try when the instructor is telling you to speak French only as you pepper your account with the missing words in the only language you know. It amazes me how many times we were expected to actually speak French when we did not know how, as if simply demanding it of us was going to make it happen.
The class terminated June 2005, and I was very happy for it. After 9 months, I think the only thing I really got out of that class was the realization that I had my work cut out for me and that I was not going to be having conversations in French at the one-year mark.
I do have to take some of the blame for not making a lot of headway. For one thing, I did not do much studying between classes, and frankly, that is not good if you are trying to facilitate learning something and you only have two nights per week of class time to begin with. Also, I avoided as many situations as possible where I had to try and use French (such as at the supermarket, and so forth), which of course is also very bad. But hey, I was a stranger in a strange place, and I don’t care what anybody says, a person does not just dive into using a new language upon arrival to a foreign land, there is some inward adjusting that takes place first.
In any case, I have some other justifications, however strong or weak: 1) I watched a lot of French television between class, which as I saw it was my homework, because the trouble I have most of the time with French is undertanding it when I hear it spoken (I can read it fairly well). 2) The nasty, cold weather was beginning shortly after my arrival to France so leaving the apartment to get outside and see the city in a comfortable manner was hampered to some degree. 3) Being that I was also very preoccupied with Hanane’s family, adopting Islamic practice, finding my groove under the same roof with Hanane, et cetera, I had a lot on my mind besides just learning French.
French Lessons Via Office Des Migrations Internationales
Part of the French integration process for someone marrying a French citizen and moving to France is (among other things) getting some free French language lessons. I was awarded 300 hours of lessons, which is seemingly the new maximum (formerly 500 hours). The waiting time for starting the free course is great due to the limited class sizes and the large number of immigrants needing the lessons (basically a first come/first serve situation). There are people from all over the world integrating into France (just like for the United States), but mostly from Eastern Europe and North Africa. Most of the people in my class are from Turkey, Armenia, Chechnya, and Morocco, in that order. Many people have come and gone, as new students arrive and others finish their allotted hours, but the nationalities are generally consistent.
Right about the time the university class ended in June, I started my free French lessons during the day (four days per week, 3.5 hours per day). I don’t know how many hours I actually have left to go, but by my instructors estimations I should finish near the end of next month. It is impossible to get more hours, even if you need them (which I certainly do). The program is not meant to teach a person French completely, but rather to give them enough to manage the French administration or a basic interview; after that, you either pay for more lessons via the university, or tough it out on your own.
There is no text in the free courses, but the instructors do a good job of providing handouts with the daily lessons, and plenty of written and oral exercises to practice. Even though I still must sound like a caveman when I speak to people, the free lessons have been quite good; I have learned quite a bit from them, certainly a lot more than what I learned from the university class, which we paid for.
In any case, some days are better than others for me, and today was not one of those days. To be honest, I am sick and tired of French classes, so much so that I find myself having a pretty bad attitude about this language most of the time now. I loathe and dread having to go to class each morning. The funny thing is, I really want to learn this language, I just don’t want to have to put in the rush work to make it happen.
The ideal situation for me right now would be to find a job where I did not have to know perfect French, but where I could (over time) get better at the language simply by being around it, as opposed to studying it in a classroom, which is driving me fucking nuts! One thing for sure, I will not be writing any scientific reports or political speeches in French; a postcard, grocery list, or an occasional Weblog entry will be about it.
Whatever the case, I have a long way to go, and it’s either going to be a pleasant pastime, or a vile bowl of okra I have to choke down.
alex :: 28 September 05 :: # Well, i am german and did live in an english speaking country many years back. My experience with the language was frustrating too. Eventhough for germans english is a pretty easy langugae to learn, i never managed to tell a joke in time. That was really frustrating.
5 years back i spent a year in french speaking part of Belgium and that was horrible due to the language barriers. I decided i will never be able to learn french. Impossible.
Hope you make it Destry. I press my thumb for you :)
Destry :: 28 September 05 :: # Thanks alex,
I’m optimistic about it all. I think you can teach an old dog like me a new trick, but only if he’s willing to learn. With a little more time and effort the conversations should come; but man, it’s sure not easy.