{"id":1465,"date":"2013-10-09T08:00:16","date_gmt":"2013-10-09T12:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/?p=1465"},"modified":"2020-10-02T13:40:25","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T17:40:25","slug":"my-late-life-language-learning-part-4-i-learn-to-speak-but-not-til-i-forced-myself-to-do-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/2013\/10\/09\/my-late-life-language-learning-part-4-i-learn-to-speak-but-not-til-i-forced-myself-to-do-it\/","title":{"rendered":"My Late-Life Language Learning, Part 4: I Learn to Speak \u2013 But Not \u2019Til I Forced Myself To Do It!"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Part 3<\/a>, we got down to the brass tacks of learning a language, and I discussed how I began by taking introductory courses. For self-learners, there are perfectly good online resources out there that can teach you what I learned in my classes.<\/p>\n

What I still had enormous trouble doing at that stage, though, was speaking and understanding spoken French.\u00a0 My wife and I were spending time in Paris by then, and with our small vocabulary of words and short phrases we could get by in stores, newspaper kiosks, caf\u00e9s, and the M\u00e9tro.\u00a0 But we were by no means \u201cspeaking French.\u201d, though it is surprising how far one can get with the words for \u201cwhere is\u2026,\u201d \u201chow much is\u2026,\u201d \u201cdo you have\u2026,\u201d and so on.<\/p>\n

Especially valuable is a wonderful opening:\u00a0 \u201cExcusez-moi, monsieur <\/i>(or madame<\/i>) pour vous d\u00e9ranger…<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 This phrase, \u201cExcuse me, sir (or madam), for bothering you…\u201d is, in my experience, an absolutely magical formula that calls forth from anyone you might meet on the street immediate and amazingly patient help with whatever your current problem might be.\u00a0 One Parisian whom I accosted in this way actually dropped what she was doing and led me several blocks away to the bus stop I was looking for!\u00a0 So much, by the way, for the supposedly nasty Parisians, who hate all Americans\u2026and I have a bunch more stories to support that, too!<\/p>\n

\"Enjoying<\/a>

Enjoying a casual dinner with some non-English-speaking friends.<\/p><\/div>\n

But back to language learning. At this stage, understanding spoken French, delivered at \u201cnormal\u201d native-speaker speed, was impossible! We can\u2019t really fault the French for delivering a sentence as if it were one long word, because we do it, too.\u00a0 Consider \u201cLesgodalunch.\u201d\u00a0 Did you get that?\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s go to lunch.\u201d\u00a0 Americans, I\u2019m sure, picked it up immediately, but I\u2019ll bet a non-native English speaker would have a tough time with it.<\/p>\n

So how did I learn to comprehend spoken French well enough to get along in the situations I faced every day in Paris? My answer is going to disappoint you, because for listening and speaking, there\u2019s just no pill you can take, nor a magic bullet; you just have to listen and listen, and speak and speak!<\/p>\n

But there is some good news, too.\u00a0 Because of the variety of spoken French resources that are available out there, this part of the learning effort can provide some of the most fun you will have in the learning process \u2013 as it continues to do for me.<\/p>\n

My favorite \u201csources of spoken French\u201d were, and are, my wonderful tutors!\u00a0 I have had several, the best and longest-standing among whom is \u201cC\u00e9cille,\u201d who \u2013 lucky me! \u2013 is also a good friend and near neighbor.\u00a0 She is a native-born Francophone and an experienced teacher. C\u00e9cille gave me a good start on oral comprehension, and she\u2019s still someone with whom I can speak French \u201clive\u201d \u2013 a valuable and rare continuous-learning resource.<\/p>\n

My Paris tutors have been three, so far.<\/p>\n

First, \u2018way back in 2005, came \u201cPico,\u201d whom I found through a friend who had contacts among the students at the Sorbonne, many of whom are eager to add to their often slender purses.\u00a0 25 or so years old, Pico was now a TV writer who also happened at the time to be a bit underemployed, and was thus glad to pick up the smallish hourly fee that I paid him to work with us. \u00a0I agreed on two, two-hour sessions per week in our apartment during this, our first six-week stay in Paris.<\/p>\n

What did I do in my sessions with Pico?\u00a0 At first, during most of our sessions during that first long stay in Paris I just sat in the apartment and conversed \u2013 or tried to \u2013 with Pico speaking, and then explaining, the less-than-textbook-formal French that is spoken in Parisian daily life. \u00a0Later I made some forays into the real world with Pico as nursemaid \u2013 to caf\u00e9s, the newspaper kiosk, and so on \u2013 so that I could try my tentative conversational skills \u201cin combat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those sessions with Pico initiated the mandatory training of the ears that eventually enables one to recognize the messages that, for early learners, are obscured in those rapid-fire street-French sentences.\u00a0 Again \u2013 you have to listen, and listen some more!\u00a0 Nothing else works.<\/p>\n

\"Surviving<\/a>

Surviving a formal luncheon with a room full of high-horsepower Parisian business and political leaders.<\/p><\/div>\n

The following year in Paris I called Pico but found that now he was no longer underemployed (good!), but was thus not available to help us (less good).\u00a0 He did, however, do us the wonderful favor of finding a second tutor, the beautiful and delightful \u201cEmma,\u201d to take his place.<\/p>\n

Work with Emma was different; she was far more demanding.\u00a0 She would arrive with a prepared lesson \u2013 often a dict\u00e9<\/i>, in which she would read a French poem or short story, and I was expected to write what I heard in properly spelled French.\u00a0 This was an exercise not only for my ears, but also for my vocabulary, including accented spelling.\u00a0 It was hard at first, and my papers collected many red-ink corrections.\u00a0 But it was working!\u00a0 With Emma\u2019s dict\u00e9s<\/i> and conversation practice, the flow of red ink began to abate, and I slowly developed more confidence in using the language as we lived our daily lives, eating, shopping, and exploring in Paris.<\/p>\n

Our most recent tutor was \u201cArnie,\u201d a Sorbonne teacher and PhD candidate in medieval poetry.\u00a0 He was a brilliant tutor, but merciless!\u00a0 He checked with me first, but upon being given the go-ahead to treat me as he did his Sorbonne students, he pressed very hard \u2013 I was reading, writing, speaking, listening to difficult material, and in the process swallowing heavy doses of fascinating French culture.\u00a0 I had tons of homework, too, and the red ink again flowed like Niagara.\u00a0 But what an experience!\u00a0 Arnie was an intellectual and a serious academic, yes, but he was also a warm, personable, charming, and multi-faceted young man.<\/p>\n

It took maybe a year, and there was no single moment when I could say, \u201cOK, now<\/span> I understand spoken French.\u201d\u00a0 It was a gradual thing that didn’t start happening until my succession of tutors demanded that I listen, and speak, and listen, and speak, until I wanted to run and hide!\u00a0 But, perversely, it is listening and speaking, incompetently at first, but better and better, that teaches you \u2013 or taught me \u2013 to listen and speak.<\/p>\n

Well, so much for the just-grit-your-teeth-and-do-it nature of the speak\/listen part of language learning.\u00a0 And maybe being old and stubborn, like me, actually helps!\u00a0 Anyway, \u00a0for next time, I will tell you about how I always had in the background, whatever else I might be doing to improve my French, reading, reading, and more reading<\/a>, in French<\/b>!\u00a0 Hugo, Flaubert, Semp\u00e9-Goscinny, Verne, Mayle (en fran\u00e7ais<\/i>), Simenon, La Figaro, Le Monde<\/i>…<\/p>\n

So be prepared for a switch in emphasis.\u00a0 Pressing forward with reading<\/span> in a new language offers something to every learner, late-life and otherwise.<\/p>\n

\u00c0 la prochaine!<\/i>\u00a0 (Until next time!)
\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

In Part 3, we got down to the brass tacks of learning a language, and I discussed how I began by taking introductory courses. For self-learners, there are perfectly good online resources out there that can teach you what I learned in my classes. What I still had enormous trouble doing at that stage, though…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[542801],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1465","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archived-posts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1465"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1595,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465\/revisions\/1595"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}