Your current level of French

[semilvr]

Hi everyone!! I recently applied for next year's program and am by no means fluent or anywhere close to being fluent. I'm a little nervous about my lack of French skills and wanted to hear about your experiences and perspectives. Can you guys understand spoken French and speak really well yourselves? I'm currently enrolled in French classes w/l'Alliance Francaise here in New York (and studied it in high school), but am still a little worried though if I'm accepted. Good thing is that we have about 9 months to improve! If the French is basic, I can follow along more or less, but fast speech/complicated topics kill me! I try to watch French TV and listen to the radio, but most of the time French seems like a collection of sounds strung together!

Anyone in the same boat??

Thanks in advance for your comments!

[AIMTeacher]

I knew an assistant who arrived in France and could barely conjugate être in the present tense! After 3 months she'd dramatically improved.

[semilvr]

Thanks AIMTeacher! That made me laugh, and feel better!

[leetos]

I knew an assistant who arrived in France and could barely conjugate être in the present tense! After 3 months she'd dramatically improved.

don't mean to burst your bubble but the rate at which your french improves depends largely on one thing-interaction with french people. speaking to them as often as possible helps a lot. of course, on the other hand, there are many people who don't improve because they spend this quality time speaking with their fellow country people so it really depends on you and the situation that you are in (socially).good luck!

[nikkispramp]

I knew an assistant who arrived in France and could barely conjugate être in the present tense! After 3 months she'd dramatically improved.

don't mean to burst your bubble but the rate at which your french improves depends largely on one thing-interaction with french people. speaking to them as often as possible helps a lot. of course, on the other hand, there are many people who don't improve because they spend this quality time speaking with their fellow country people so it really depends on you and the situation that you are in (socially).good luck!

Let me reflate your bubble. When I first came to France to study abroad, I had to take my dictionary to the dining table every evening to have a semi-fluent conversation with my host parents, but by the end of the 3 months I no longer had a headache after passing all the day in French and my French had seriously improved as my host parents and good friend (who are all French) testified.
This time for the assistantship my French ability was much better so I don't really have much problems understanding or being understood. It's not perfect but it's comprehensible. Of course when I returned to university after studying abroad, I took some more French courses so that helped prepare me for this time.

You're taking classes at the Alliance right now which is good start, just make sure you take it seriously, do all your homework, review, review,review and then when you get to France just make it a goal to speak French most of the time even with other English assistants (it's hard but it's worth it).

So basically I would say don't worry about it too much, tu vas te débrouiller!

Oh and as for listening to/watching stuff in French. Try France Info for news, they are kinda like CNN on the Radio so the repeat the news continuously so you'll be able to catch on after a few listens. Also rent French movies from Netflix (or wherever). An excellent one is Joyeux Noel. It's in French, German and English. Another good one is The Valet.

[AIMTeacher]

You can also watch some French TV shows online, for example on TF1's website www.tf1.fr . There's the news twice a day that's on the site after it's aired on TV and there are some other shows on the site too. Often the reality TV shows are particularly good for 'everyday' French.

And I was also like nikkispramp, I did 3 months in France as a highschool student. Went to bed every night with a headache and feeling exhausted. By the end of the three months, I was dreaming in French, went back to Australia, got great grades in French at uni, and gradually started to forget it all. 6 years after my initial stay in France, I came back as an assistant and it's just been looking brighter and brighter ever since!

[Til lands og sjavar]

The "Journal francais facile" is a great place to start and many of the stories will be similar to things you've been hearing in English.

[Klio]

It always amazes me how easily many people in the U.S. say someone is "fluent" in a foreign language - my Spanish professor (who is American) keeps saying "this must be easy for you because you're fluent in French" but of course I'm not fluent; you don't achieve real fluency with 6 years of studying but not living in French plus 4 months abroad. My French is good but very much classroom French, and it always takes me a little while once I've started using French again to become comfortable speaking without thinking over everything before I say it.

I find people in real life much, much easier to understand than people on television - both in English and in French - so I would not worry too much about this. Constant exposure to things in French is good. I'm really into music, so I make sure to listen to music in the languages I'm studying, and look up what I don't understand of the lyrics. Music is good because it can kind of be "background" language study while you're doing other things and because if you like a song, you'll listen to it a lot and start to remember the lyrics. I started listening to music in Spanish this past summer when I decided I was going to start taking Spanish again, and it was tremendously helpful. I wish I'd been able to do this when I was first learning French - unfortunately it took me nearly these 6 years to figure out where to look for music I like!

[nikkispramp]

It always amazes me how easily Americans say they are "fluent" in a foreign language - my Spanish professor (who is American) keeps saying "this must be easy for you because you're fluent in French" but of course I'm not fluent; you don't achieve real fluency with 6 years of studying but not living in French plus 4 months abroad. My French is good but very much classroom French, and it always takes me a little while once I've started using French again to become comfortable speaking without thinking over everything before I say it.

I find people in real life much, much easier to understand than people on television - both in English and in French - so I would not worry too much about this. Constant exposure to things in French is good.

Hmm I don't think anyone here said they were fluent in French. I said I was pretty good, but I wouldn't use the word fluent to describe my level. Sure from school your language level is very "classroom French" as you aptly described it, but branching out can help you get past that. I discuss politics, the environment, social issues, marriage, poetry, religion (even the book of Revelation!) etc with my friends in French. I may use the wrong tense or inexact word from time to time but they tend to get the point and they correct me which helps.

As for understanding people on television I'd suggest you start with shows that you've already seen in English and watch the French versions that way you already know the characters and maybe even the plot so it's just matching up vocabulary. Good examples Grey Anatomy, Will & Grace, CSI, Chuck, Law & Order: SVU and yes you'll pick up some weird vocab that you probably won't use unless you are investigating a crime but either way your brain will accustomed to listening to French.

And I think it's a bit of a sweeping generalization to say that Americans say they are fluent in a foreign language and I'm saying this as a non-American who knows and has lived with tons of Americans who were all into learning foreign languages but never 'praised' themselves as fluent just because they could carry on a basic conversation!

[bleuspoon]

to add to the self-study suggestions, i have to mention http://www.tv5.org/TV5Site/enseigner-apprendre-francais/accueil_apprendre.php

it's kind of a busy site visually, but if you scroll down to "nos exercises" there are TONS of awesome exercises for french practice....from listening comprehension, reading and grammar. the topics are really interesting (i like the voyages: cites du monde....you learn about several different francophone cities). they have exercises in all levels. i do them all the time!

[Klio]

Fair point, nikki - I have edited my post so it's a little less of a generalization, since I am actually talking about people I have encountered, though it still might come across as referring to people on this board, which was not my intention. Clearly people here are dedicated to learning a language and have more realistic (or even overly pessimistic in some cases) assessments of their language abilities.

It is true that nearly everyone I know talks about my level of French as "fluent," and many say they are "fluent" or "near-fluent" after four years of high school language study. So I'm never sure what anyone means by this term.

[nikkispramp]

It is true that nearly everyone I know talks about my level of French as "fluent," and many say they are "fluent" or "near-fluent" after four years of high school language study. So I'm never sure what anyone means by this term.

Maybe they mean fluent in the sense of expressing oneself easily and articulately, as opposed to being fluent in the sense of speaking a language accurately and with facility, i.e. it doesn't sound like you a "picking corn" when you talk.

[kayers]

It always amazes me how easily many people in the U.S. say someone is "fluent" in a foreign language

Klio, I have to agree, not that people who speak a foreign language brag about their skills, but that people who haven't really studied a language throw the word around talking about others. It drives me crazy when people say so-and-so majored in Spanish and now he's fluent (even though they can't understand him, they say this!). I guess they mean "conversational," but there's quite a difference between conversational and fluent. I was a French major and don't consider myself fluent and people seem amazed when I say this, and I just end up making myself look bad. My sister told me "you were in France for 6 weeks and you're not fluent?" No, sister, 6 weeks isn't that long! I met with a career counselor last year who thought it was strange as well. When I tell people I want to use my French in a career, some say, "why don't you be a translator?" and also seem surprised when I say I'm not quite good enough to be a translator. I've done some class and pro bono translation and it was pretty good but took me forever! I think that non-language learners think speaking/learning a language is easier than it really is. Speaking a foreign language is not something you can just play with and be good at it. It's a long road to become fluent. Of course, I'm looking forward to being in France for 6-9 months to help me in that area. Well, if you made it this far in my post, thanks for reading.

[nikkispramp]

Klio, I have to agree, not that people who speak a foreign language brag about their skills, but that people who haven't really studied a language throw the word around talking about others. It drives me crazy when people say so-and-so majored in Spanish and now he's fluent (even though they can't understand him, they say this!). I guess they mean "conversational," but there's quite a difference between conversational and fluent.

I reiterate I think people are often thinking of the other meaning of fluent (which basically means conversational) when they ask 'are you fluent in a <insert language>? So technically they are right too it's just that we tend to interpret it in another way.

I think that non-language learners think speaking/learning a language is easier than it really is. Speaking a foreign language is not something you can just play with and be good at it.

Fully agree with you here. I also think we "serious language learners" are harder on ourselves than others. It's like we want perfection or nothing.


I think you can become fluent in a language after living somewhere for 6-9 months depending of course on your level when you started, but it will longer to really become bilingual.
My $0.02

[eyelean]

Funnily enough the research definition of a "bilingual" (if I've understood correctly) is someone who speaks any amount of a second language.

But yeah, I agree that fluency is a totally vague and kind of irritating concept. Finally into my second year in France I just gave in and started saying I was fluent because I realized 99% of other people's ideas of fluency were way lower than mine.