Learning French in France

The Meek Family

One of the aims of our trip to France was for the girls (and us) to immerse themselves in the culture and language; seeing, doing and experiencing the country first-hand rather than through a text book or video. The girls had learnt some basic French at school but were keen to put it and much more into practise.

 

Here's what Amy had to say our their language learning experience:

 

Part of going abroad is using the language. With a language so widely spoken around the world, it’s tempting to speak to people in our own mother tongue, rather than the native language of the country. Really though, not only do you learn more by attempting to speak it, but also you’ll find that the people living there appreciate the attempt to speak their language and will often try to help. Whilst we’ve been traveling in France, my sister and I have been polishing up our French, taught to us by our mum, a French Dictionary and language learning CD given to us by our Grandparents, which has been the source of constant jokes but has helped all the same!

 

We have been putting this knowledge into practise in the cafes, museums, shops and even the campsites that we visit. In fact, in one particular souvenir shop up in the French Alps, we ended up telling the shop-keeper where we live, who with, in which country and even our name and age after she overheard us practising our French as we walked around the shop. We are also now experts at reserving breakfast pastries and asking for stamps for England, which I had to do in three different places before finally finding somewhere that sold them. But, as my sister and I have learnt, practise does make 'parfait'.