Why French?

before this entry, I want to clarify the Safari problem: It is best to view the blog in Mozilla, there's some issue with Safari and not seeing more than the first post...

So when people ask me why I study French, I normally give them the simplest answer possible (even if it’s not 100% accurate): I like the food. Sure, it’s true (and it’s also the same response I give for why I study Chinese, too), but there’s a lot more than that.

For as long as I remember, my house would become very busy for several weeks every summer when Ann and her family would come to visit. Ann, her husband, and 2 daughters would come and I’d ALWAYS hear French. No clue what they were saying, but I knew I wanted to learn. The language barrier was never an issue but I would hear them speaking French amoungst themselves and I WANTED TO LEARN DAMNIT.

So in 6^th grade, when we had the option to choose our language (French or Spanish), I naturally chose French, with the end goal of being able to speak with Ann et al.

The process to learning French has not been easy. I actually think I had a harder time picking up the basics for French than I did for Chinese. I have learned French through sheer determination and immersion. 6^th grade came and went, and I did very well, without actually learning anything. In fact, I even thought you were to “irrigate verbs” not “conjugate” them. I don’t know where I got this idea from, but trust me, I remember when my mother called me out on that and I thought she was DEAD WRONG.

The whole “doing-well-in-French-thing” ended on the first day of Seventh Grade. Dr. Schaeffler promptly told us that we were all too old to be learning French and our accents would never be any good. She then promptly ripped up Ali Lane’s homework, when she caught Ali doing it in the middle of class.

7^th grade was a turning point, and it is because of Dr. Schaeffler that I wanted to not only learn French, but learn it well. She took us back to the basics and built us up from there. Could I speak to Ann et al the summer after 7^th grade? No, but I was on my way to that goal.

From them on, my French teachers ranged from amazing to really fucking awful.

10^th grade was another turning point in my French education: I came face-to-face with Mr. Rizzuti. Mr. Rizzuti is to my actual French skills as Dr. Schaeffler is to my desire to learn French. I left his class crying on multiple occasions, but I learned. It is because of these 2 teachers that I decided to spend a summer abroad in France.

My first time abroad in France improved my French the most. I lived with a family, took cooking classes, and came back with a solid grip on French. So solid, in fact, that I was one of the best students in my French class junior year (that wasn’t saying a lot though, ‘cause the best kids were already in AP French Language…). Senior year in High School brought about classes in both AP French Language and Literature, in order to catch up with my peers. And then, I realized I could start to talk with Ann et al.

College French classes have been good as well. A great professor (I’ve taken 3 of his classes) has helped me enjoy the language (although he hasn’t really added anything to my French skills, but that’s not his job at this point) and I was already in the 300’s (highest level at MHC) by first semester sophomore year.

I came to France this semester after not speaking French since April. It’s important to me to continue what I’ve learned. My French is pretty good (minus my accent, Dr. Schaeffler was right about that) and I can hold my own at dinners or parties or just talking with Ann’s daughter Eva (though admittedly, I normally just talk to her in English…). But the moral of the story is, I set out with the goal of being able to speak with Ann, Claire, Eva (and Alain now, too!) and it has been accomplished.