The Art of Language Learning

[Barbara Hartigan]

Bonjour mes amis voyageurs! I submit to your attention my experience I had learning French at the Accord School of Languages in Paris.



I had come prepared: four years of 30 year-old, high school French, at least 20 solid hours of listening to "Learn French in Your Car" cassettes, and a once -a-week-for-six weeks course in "French for Travelers" at the local high school under my belt. With this, a half-dozen books on culture shock, and a really good dictionary, I hit the streets of Paris.

Life had presented me with the opportunity for a "sabbatical" of sorts and I jumped at the chance to fulfill a lifelong dream of living abroad. I have always been fascinated by all aspects of language and have avidly pursued studying it in some form or another over the years, culminating in my present career as a Speech-Language Pathologist. And now, I had an entire year to myself, the often dreamed of "luxury of time" to further pursue my interest. The one thing I hadn't done over the years is to learn a spoken language; since the process of language acquisition is integral to my profession, I felt I should experience it first-hand.

The romantic, musical French language was my first and only choice, and where better to learn than in Paris! I had visited Paris before and I knew that it was special and enchanting. I loved walking the cobblestone streets, listening to the language; it is truly a magical place and I wanted to be a part of that magic. So without knowing a soul in Paris, I rented an apartment on the left bank, bought a few scarves, enrolled in a language school and set off on my adventure. My French didn't get me through the airport! It's one thing talking to a cassette in your ear and quite another talking with a real live taxi driver; you can't rewind the driver!

Living in a country and not knowing the language is truly a humbling experience. Communication is the very essence of humanity and when it's compromised, even for a short time, it can be depressing and disheartening. I had arrived in Paris a few days before school was to begin to allow myself time to settle in. After four days of settling, my confidence was shattered. My "failures" as I came to call them, were piling up. There was the indignant cashier who sent me back (by way of gesture) to weigh my own produce (I wondered why the other shoppers kept weighing their fruit and vegetables; I simply assumed the French were a thrifty folk who wanted to know how much something cost before they bought it). Then there was the boulangere who insisted on giving me options when all I wanted was a loaf of bread. Then there was that episode with the public toilet! The list goes on and on! It wasn't that I found the French unfriendly, just impatient, a problem intrinsic to any big city.

But for every impatient salesperson I encountered, there was an equal number who were sympathetic to my blank looks. These kind folk took pity on my obvious lack of comprehension and entered into a kind of "conspiracy" with me. It went something like this "I'll pretend you speak French if you pretend you understand me." And they would ramble on, smiling away and then hand me my package with a little wink of the eye. It was their way of allowing me to save face, and to them I am forever grateful.

And so on the fifth day I arrived at school humbled, ready to acknowledge my lack of knowledge and anxious to begin learning. I anticipated a nice juicy textbook that I could sink my teeth into. And so, I was absolutely horrified when my professor walked in "sans textbook" and began speaking French and nothing but French! Immediately I thought to myself, "Good God! They've made a terrible mistake and put me in the wrong class! I wrote beginners on the application, didn't they see that! How can I possibly learn the language if I can't understand a word the professor is saying!"

I thought about slipping quietly out the door, but the professor was making eye contact with alarming frequency, and there were moments when I was convinced he was actually talking to me! I considered bolting, but he struck me as the type to give pursuit so I sat it out. And what I came to know, although I didn't think so at the time, was that I had been blessed with Bruno for a professor. An incongruous name I think, for the little Frenchman with boundless energy who bombarded me with French for four solid hours every day. He was that rare breed of person who clearly enjoys what he does for a living.

Every morning Bruno would collect our dictionaries and "store" them in the wastebasket. His philosophy was a simple one: "Look it up in the dictionary and it's forgotten a moment later; Experience it and it is yours forever." And experience we did. One day I was a waiter in a restaurant or a sales clerk in a store, the next a TV newscaster or a journalist, and still the next a detective in a murder mystery. When we came across an unfamiliar word he would explain it by acting it out and then look around the class to see if we had understood. He had a sixth sense when it came to this and before my eyes could glaze over completely, he would zero in ....
"Ca va Barbara?" (Got it? Understand?). I would nod and mumble "Oui, Ca va" (Sure no problem. I understood you perfectly, now leave me alone.).
"Bien!" he would shout "Tu expliques a la class" (Oh Yea! Then explain it to everyone else).
And I would have to explain it to the class using mime, gesture or
whatever was available (except of course my really good dictionary); but then, that word became mine forever because I had lived it.

When I made grammatical errors or errors in pronunciation (which usually coincided with every second breath I took) Bruno would not just simply correct me, he would help me understand the nature of my error. It was therefore no surprise to see him attempt to climb on top of the television to illustrate my reference to "seeing something "sur la tele" (on television) "Comme ca, Barbara.'?" ("Like this," he asked, as he hoisted his leg onto the TV set). No, not quite what I meant, but I won't say "sur la tele" again will I? And so somehow, over the course of six weeks, disguised as a boulangere or as Catherine Deneuve, I learned to conjugate verbs, I learned the passe compose, the future tense and an impressive vocabulary that is forever emblazoned in my mind.



I'm still a long way from "speaking French" and I still have to settle for pre-packaged cheese, as I forlornly pass those cute little cheese shops, looking forward to the day when I can go in and order whatever I want, although this entails more than just speaking French - there are more than 400 different types of cheese in France, and I've tasted four, but I now have more "successes" than “failures."

I can drop my shoes off at the shoemaker and pick them up on the right day. I've gotten my eyebrows waxed, my hair cut, had the plumber in twice, tackled the Post Office, and spent three very long hours at the Prefecture de Police attempting to get my carte de sejour, all without uttering one word of English! In my book that's progress. And who knows what Bruno has in store for the next six weeks; I may get to be Marie Antoinette sampling cheese!

[Jim Colyer]

I tried a semester of French in college but learned nothing.

[Cherub]

Well done Barbara,both on your amusing and interesting write up and on your decision and perseverance to learn french. I went there in 1999, to the south west of the country with a very good level of high school french and a good basic understanding of everyday language. I thought I was doing very well but the french didn't agree so much. I went to a language school for two seasons. It was run by the chamber of commerce. There were about 4 of us in the class,from different countries so it was interesting, friendly and amusing. The teacher was lovely. I think you described city and parisian people as being impatient, a trait common to us all when in a hurry. Down south they were lovely people. Most of them anyway. Anyway.keep at it and enjoy the experience. Sounds like Bruno is a good prof. I ended up staying over 6 years in France and I loved it.

[ballroomdancer]

I learned French in Paris, France. I only studied a textbook with grammar on my own. I enrolled in a course at the Sorbonne. When I arrived many French people told me my French was poor. In my first course which was an audio visual course in the summer prior to the Sorbonne course, I repeated phrases of a story about Mireille and Pierre. There was not even any grammar. Even though I got around, everyone told me my pronunciation was terrible despite my success after having passed the audio visual course. Then I took the 5 hours a day course. All students were from other countries. Most were ladies from South America like Argentina. I stayed away from Americans who tended to speak English and not take the language study seriously. I listened to radio, watched TV and went to movies in French. I ate at many restaurants where I met people and only spoke French. I read books in French. Whenever I did not understand a word, I looked it up in a French dictionary for its meaning in French and not English. I did not want to translate it. I developed a theory about how words have meanings that could be in form of a picture or associated with other words in French like synonyms and antonyms. I remembered key phrases from novels and from movies. I learned slang from talking to French students. A French instructor had me look in a mirror to watch where I placed my tongue as I prononunced every vowel or consonant. I thought, heard, spoke and listened only in French. I did not have anything to do in English. I was totally immersed. After reading many romantic novels, I started to develop a talent for writing romantic letters in French. I dated some of the Spanish ladies in class and went to Opera or to Movies or to local Cafe where we only spoke French. Even some French people started to tell me my French was good and they treated me as if I were a native of France. Of course they expected me to behave like the French. I felt that I succeeded in learning the French language and was making great progress. But the key thing I did was never to translate into English because the words lose context in translation. They do not mean exactly the same thing in English.
Two years ago I took a course in Russian at the ABC Language Institute in NYC. I tried to use the same techniques to learn Russian. I had two different instructors. However, both made the same mistake. They wanted me to translate into English. When I translate into English, I am not thinking in Russian. Besides the difficulty in learning the new alphabet with all the different sounds, I had to fight with both instructors who gave me homework to translate from Russian to English and from English to Russian. I thought they wasted my time. Moreover they did not give me the intense detail of voice analysis I got at the Sorbonne. I listened to CDs and memorized the phrases. I bought a book on pronunciation that provided me with rules on pronunciation specific to every vowel or consonant. I only learned about 1/3 of grammar when I stopped taking the course. Everyone in class was studying Russian because they were either married to a Russian or were going there for a visit. I was single and only dated some Russian girls. But they all sounded terrible in their pronunciation and they all made the same mistake of thinking how to say it in English. I told the instructor that I only translate meaning but not word for word since it is a waste of my time. To translate meaning I need a full understanding of grammar and to have absorbed some vocabulary from a novel so I would not do a word for word translation but a translation of meaning. Both instructors, Russians, ignored my objection. In one class, all dropped out but me. In the other class, the students continued to make slow progress but they sounded awkward like English students speaking Russian with poor accent and always stopping to translate in their minds what did the word mean in English.
From these experiences I learned never to do a word for word translation in English when you learn a foreign language. Try to think in the language and get some help to learn the exact pronunciation of vowels and consonants. As soon as you learn grammar, you should start reading novels in the language preferably recent novels so you can pick up expressions that you can use in daily life. I happened to pick romantic novels because I am a romantic. If you don't understand a word or phrase, look it up in a foreign language dictionary and think of its meaning either as some picture or as related to some other words in the same language.
After all, if I were 6 years old and I wanted to learn English better, this is what I would do in English. The only advantage of growing up in your native country is if you mother speaks to you your native language she provides you with guidance in pronunication and the initial phrases you speak in that language. After her guidance, you are on your own to develop complex language skills that require learning grammar, and writing complex letters and reports.

[Nasika]

You theory sounds really useful
This will be very good practice for children also, got to remember it.

So how many languages do you speak? English, French, Russian (btw I speak Russian too) ...

[Dejan]

Translating is a key tool for teachers, I also think it is not the best method (but no one listen to me) Usually the translation is not very accurate and you can loose the sense.

[ballroomdancer]

When I attended high school in US, I was forced to study Spanish. But I only learned to translate. I translated paragraphs. I memorized phrases. I learned grammar and how to conjugate verbs. But I could never speak it and everytime I tried to read a novel in Spanish, I was translating it in my mind which slowed me down. In College, I studied German for 2 years. I got the tapes which provided exercises for fill in. I tried to not translate the first year. I managed to get A+ and beat everyone in class. Then the second year I had to read more novels but I was asked to translate. I did not have a way to think in German and avoid the teacher's style of instruction. He wanted me to translate every story which was wrong. So I stopped studying German with him anymore. Too bad I couldn't go to Germany to learn first hand. Later I learned French where I was determined to not translate. I avoided talking English at all. I succeeded in thinking in French and understanding the meaning in French. I was making progress at writing letters in French. It opened my eyes as to how to learn English better when I returned to US. Then I studied Russian which entailed my trying to grasp the alphabet and the different sounds first. I have gotten accustomed to the alphabet. I listened to Russian movies to remember the sounds. I dated some Russian ladies to get feedback on my speaking Russian. However, I do not have time to continue learning Russian so I do not know enough grammar. I can barely read novels in Russian. But my theory of languages helped me understand how to use and manipulate English as a language better. When I read a novel in English, I try to assimilate expressions to use for writing or speaking. I can compose letters much more rich in vocabulary and expressions than native speakers. But I read modern novels not old ones. It would sound silly if I talked or wrote like Charles Dickens or Mark Twain. Or if I read a novel and it did not have any new expressions or vacabulary that I could use, I would stop reading it because for me it is a waste of time. The best way to learn any language is to travel to that country and take a course in that language where no one will speak to you in your native tongue. So if I wanted to complete my knowledge of Russian, I would consider taking a course to Moscow or St Petersburg and take a course for several weeks in Russian.

[Dejan]

How long you've learned French in Paris?

[ballroomdancer]

I studied French in Paris for 2 years. I once visited St Bartholomews Island in Caribbean where they only speak French. I was able to ask for directions, read menus, or converse with people I met.

[Suzy]

So you lived in Paris for 2 years? What if I do not have the possibility to live in France, but I want to learn French. I can find some movies and books in French but it will be hard to find a good teacher. Do you think I can learn it by myself?