steven60

Hello,

I'm going to be moving to france within the next month or so, just outside paris to be precise. I have a job lined up and housing will be provided so thats not the real issue for me. The job is an english speaking job so the only real issue i will have is life outside of work.

I know learning the language is a must but that takes time. I done french at school but i've more or less forgot everything sinse then. Has anyone got any tips/help/advice on how to fit in with the community without speaking french?

artemis

Hi there Steven60, good luck with your new life in France. I found that if you just have to confidence to speak French to French people it really does help even though you are probably making an idiot of yourself. I didn't care and it was fun trying

steven60

hi artemis, i agree but i dont really know much french and i think the knowledge of my french in a real life situation would be limited to hello, goodbye and thanks As this job was a suprize to myself ive not had any time at all to go on a course to learn french, ill be more or less in at the deep end! My job as i said before is in an english speaking environment so ill probably be less inclinded to learn french than i should be. Ill need to try pick stuff up and hopefully become more fluent I guess i can take a phrase book and try to join up some words

Kate45

Hi Steven
Good luck with the job.Maybe you could try getting a french language course on CD (Michel Thomas was recommended to us ). I play one in the car when I take the kids to school ..its a bit of a laugh for them but if nothing else its getting them used to hearing the language spoken.
I expect once you are immersed in the language and culture you will be surprised how much you pick up .........My OH spends quite a bit of time in France on business ( it has taken him 45 years to speak english properly and he is english!!) and he can now at least order food ..coffee and alcohol....tells you something about his priorities
Anyway good luck
Kate

artemis

Hi Steven60, Yes I see your point I do know more than just a few words, but I have to say I do still consider myself a beginner. I hope that you find a way, although actually being in France I found really does throw you in at the deep end and I found I learned one or two new words in just one week. Good luck

smartiepants

Michel Thomas is absolutely brilliant and he makes you realize that actually you probably know far more French words than you think you do, he seems to give you some confidence to at least try them out, I would thoroughly recommend his set of CDs perhaps you could borrow them
from the the library first, instead of buying them just to see how you get on with them, and if OK then purchase them to keep with you and play every day.

I also agree that actually being in France is the best way of learning the language and introducing a new French word into the conversation until you are comfortable with it then introduce another word and so on, I would recommend quickly learning a lot of joining words such as,

It is
but
because
what
and
word
say
repeat
will you
are you
where is
why
if
I
I don't understand
I have
me

You will probably dream them at night, and try to fit sentances together in your sleep and wake up with a headache, but it will all fall into place, but don't forget that Paris is a big place and there are a lot of English speakers there, as it is a touristy place, so this may help you initially.

When do you leave for France?

steven60

OK ill pop into the library on tuesday see if i can pick those CD's up, think all public stuff is closed over the september weekend. I leave pretty soon, probably within the first 2 weeks of October

treskillard

It'll be interesting to hear how you get on when you move. If you're moving to the outskirts of Paris where there are other english speaking people due to business links then it might turn out to be like Pau (where the oil industry is based) and have quite a busy anglophone social network. This would be good as such groups also bring in anglophone French who would be able to help you move along with the first stages of speaking French as well. Or maybe the 'ourskirts of Paris' will be somewhere the international community has missed and you'll be the only one! Then you'll be alright too because of your novelty! Maybe the main tip would be to do things that the French do! Be where they are and then the rest will follow.

T

steven60

ill try let yous know how im doing, but i doubt ill have internet access for quite some time

treskillard

Well good luck then. It took us ages to get internet and some. Try and get a French speaking colleague from work to help you sort it out.

smartiepants

Good luck with you move, if you have a portable laptop with wifi, you can park and surf, we did this recently in Narbonne whilst on holiday, we just searched for unsecured connections, found one, briefly did what we had to do and then left. I know that this could be quite tricky but we just trusted to luck on this occassion.
xx

treskillard

yes I'll second that. down here in the sticks in the Languedoc there are few internet cafes but good unsecured wifi in the local market towns. well worth a try - the big cafes seem to offer the service.

need2no

I think you might find that, especially in Paris, even the French people will be happy to speak some English. In my experience of working recently with French people, they speak English much better than most English speak French, and actually said that they were happy to try to speak English which they learned at school and hadn't had much opportunity to put into practice since.

I can only reiterate what others have said, just don't worry about how silly you think you sound, even if you are trying and get it wrong, it won't matter cos they will sure correct you!

I'm interested to know what type of work you will be doing, is it for an English organisation? It's just that work is quite difficult to find and you are half way there if you already have an employer.

Bon chance!

steven60

Hi need2no, I'll be working with Blizzard Entertainment. You've probably heard of them as their a world-wide company famous for their games. I'm going to give it my very best shot with the french. I got the Michel Thomas CD's so it's slowly bringing back all the stuff i learned at school, plus being young I'm sure I'll pick up the basics pretty quick

smartiepants

Hi, how do you find the Michel Thomas way of learning?
xx