I’m giving myself five years to speak French… this is my blow by blow account… chapter 4
I wanted to name this chapter “Rise of the Meetup” because this past month I feel like I’ve stumbled on the (not so secret) secret to language learning.
Speaking.
I touched on it in my last post and this month I’ve continued to attend these Meetup* sessions or ‘French-speaking groups’.
The result is that I’m feeling a hell of a lot more optimistic than last month and I’ve even confided in a few people that I can see a small glimpse of a light at the end of this long tunnel and, what’s more, I’m pretty sure it’s not a train!
So, going back to my last post, you might have sensed that I was feeling frustrated and lost. I was. Maybe you’re wondering what has changed in that time? Well, after wrapping up the project I was working on, I committed to attending at least two Meetup sessions a week. As I’ve already mentioned, there is an overwhelming belief that the best way to learn a language is to start speaking it from the outset. So even though my vocabulary and grammar are still extremely limited, I wanted to force myself to do just that.
The result has been pretty incredible. I don’t claim to be even close to fluent however comparing me now to me four weeks ago is like comparing two different people.
I no longer feel like a deer in the headlights when asked a simple question and, even if I don’t understand, I can confidently ask for that person to repeat themselves or re-phrase the question.
For someone like me who’s quite introverted and inwardly critical, these groups are even more helpful as they provide a very safe and supportive environment. Those who attend are all in the same boat of wanting to practice and improve in another language and you’re free to speak as much or as little as you like.
A funny story: At one of these groups last week I was having a conversation with a guy about my work back in Australia selling cars. I don’t know if he was genuinely interested in what I did for a living or whether he realised my french needed some work but he drilled me with question after question after question about the car industry. He wanted to know what cars I sold, how much money I made, what commission was in each car. It took me a while to realise that I wasn’t getting away without answering all his questions and all in French. While I stumbled and stuttered A LOT, he remained calm and patient and eventually, after several dozen corrections, I think I adequately explained to him my job. Maybe he was into cars because after I answered his last question he left to another table, leaving me and my scrambled brain to contemplate what had just happened.
The flow-on effect of attending these groups is that I haven’t been feeling as frustrated as before. Because I have a dedicated window where I can practice speaking, I don’t feel the need to talk with my partner in French if, perhaps, it’s not the best time. I’m sure she’s thankful for that.
Since last month I have altered my other learning habits a little bit as well. Looking at my habits now compared to my first post, it’s clear that as I progress some habits fall by the wayside while others become more prominent. For example, I’m hardly using Duolingo anymore. While I think it’s a fantastic learning tool, I feel I’ve outgrown this app for the moment. I will still jump on it from time to time to kill five or 10 minutes but that’s about it. Instead, I’ve been listening to the innerFrench podcasts a lot as well as watching Hugo’s videos. I’m watching Friends on Netflix with English subtitles and I’m up to season three. I’ve started turning the subtitles off for periods if I’m feeling like I can understand what’s going on but will turn them back on if I’m lost.
I’ve listened to the radio more this month and my comprehension seems to be getting better slowly but surely. The two other things I’ve started doing on a daily basis is memorising words/verbs and phrases on Anki and reading a book. Anki (a computer program and app) is essentially a fancy way of doing flashcards. It uses spaced repetition which means the words/sentences you have the most trouble remembering are the ones that come up most often with the easier ones appearing less frequently. The book I’m reading is for teenagers (probably aimed at kids 10–15 based on the plot) and I’m up to page 150. Reading is something I love to do and I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed reading this book. It took a little while. Up to about page 80, it was a grind. Five pages per day were all I could handle as I found myself getting frustrated at not knowing what certain words meant or spending too much time trying to work out why some words had certain letters in front of them (a common issue in French). That still happens, however, on advice from others, I’ve tried to forget about what I don’t know and just follow the narrative. One night about a week ago, I read 30 pages in one sitting. I was engaged in the story and, while there were plenty of words I didn’t understand, I was able to follow the storyline without too much trouble. It’s something I couldn’t have done four or six weeks ago. Last but not least, I have started writing a weekly e-mail with a small group of friends from back home in Australia who are also learning French. Writing well in French isn’t easy (even for native speakers) so this activity is a nice challenge. The idea is for everyone to write about their week and what’s been going on in their lives. I’ve had a suggestion to try and do a French version of this blog so these e-mails are great practice for that!
Another thing I’ve continued to do is research the process (or stages) of learning a second language. It’s a topic that interests me a lot and I’ve lost count of how many articles I’ve read on the subject. The more I read (and as I progress in French) the clearer the pathway to becoming proficient in a second language becomes. For those who are interested, there are several things that keep popping up as being pivotal to success. The first is that you have to enjoy what you’re doing. It’s pretty simple; if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing you won’t continue. Yes, there are always times when it’s hard or frustrating but you need to push through. I feel that this month I’ve pushed through the initial frustration barrier that I wasn’t able to get through my first time around. The second thing is that you need to practice every day. Like anything you want to get better at, consistency is the key. The third and final thing I’ll mention, and it’s the one lots of people told me about and the thing which is probably the hardest to commit to, is speaking. In the end, my goal is to speak French and no amount of practice can prepare you for the real thing. Diving in is the hard part but once you do (as I’ve discovered very recently) it gets easier and easier.
Now, even though this month has been a better one, I’m not getting carried away. I still wish to communicate in French more — particularly with native speakers. It’s still very much a habit to fall back on English when I talk to native speakers (outside of the Meetup groups) and it’s my goal over the next few months to work at changing this. I also feel as though I could work harder on my verb conjugations and vocabulary. I’ve read a lot of this can happen organically through reading, writing, listening and speaking however this month I will try and make a conscious effort to practice incorporating more words and verbs into Anki.
Thanks as always to those who have reached out with comments and advice — please keep them coming!
*Meetup is the name of the app that coordinates group meetings for a whole range of interests — not just languages.
If you are looking for language partners to improve your foreign language skills you can find it on swaplanguage.com.
