I went to France with Sue, my francophile friend last year. She is there once again studying French – as she is every year – and writes this (bilingually).
“A common icebreaker in French classes is to explain the motivation for studying French. The responses are as varied as the people. For some, it’s a love of French food and wine, for others, it’s because someone they love speaks the language and they want to communicate with them in their own language. Still others have a family connection with France.”
Sue sur la Pont Neuf_
“Une entrée en maniéré courant dans les cours français est d’expliquer la motivation pour étudier français. Les réponses sont aussi variés que les gens. Pour certains, c’est l’appréciation de la cuisine et du vin; pour d’autres, c’est parce qu’on aime un français et on voudrait se parler dans sa langue maternelle. Encore d’autres ont un lien ancestrale en France.”
It’s difficult to explain my obsession with French. I love the sound of the language and the culture but this would be true of many other languages. Before I began my study of the language, I had no french friends, no french lovers, no french connection that I knew of.”
“C’est difficile d’expliquer mon obsession avec le français. J’adore la culture et la poésie de la langue mais ça serais le même cas de beaucoup de langues. Avant que j’ai commencé mon étude de la langue, je n’avais ni des amis français, ni des amants français, ni des ancêtres français.”
My (CCM) response: No other language has the melodic sound and poetry of French. This must be the reason why I have taken a class once a year for the last 8 years and meet a group of French speakers for lunch once a month.
la langue française
Ma réponse (CCM): Juste un point de désaccord sur “serais le même cas de beaucoup de langues.” Il n’y pas autre langue avec son mélodique et la poésie du français! Ce doit être la raison pour laquelle je prends une classe une fois par an et rencontrer une groupe de francophones pour le déjeuner une fois par mois!
Are you a francophile, anglophile? (Are you a French speaker? Feel free to take out your red pen and make any corrections!) What other language do you speak or would you like to learn? Open the door to another culture and it will open your mind.
A Place in the World 
Salut Cinda, bel article!
J’aime les langues aussi. Contrairement à toi c’est l’anglais qui me plaît bien. A part ça, un peu d’espagnol aussi. Merci
May be it is because I speak french since young.
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Merci pour votre commentaire “conseilsentrenous!” Je parle le espagnol aussi- le langues “romantic or Latin-based” appeal to me most, but glad to hear someone likes English!
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Hi,
That’s quite nice to see you love FRANCE. 🙂 you are right French language is very beautiful but really complicate for foreigners.
If you come to France or if you are curious to know different French recipes in English, have a look on my blog. I try to translate all recipes and hope you will enjoy specialities French cook ! 🙂
Jessica
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Merci Jessica – I’m sure some of my readers would love to visit your blog.
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Thank you Cinda. 🙂
See you soon
Jessica
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Do not hesitate to share my blog if you want. 🙂 Thank you again for your messages !
Jessica
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Further differences among French speakers (Posted by Lazouave): Québecois French, it is a bit more difficult for us to understand because the accent is far more different and they use either structures coming from English due to their proximity: tomber en amour instead of tomber amoureux, and neologisms (magasiner instead of faire du shopping in France).
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I learnt (Belgian) French as a child in a convent boarding school. I hated the school, but fell in love with the language. I rarely have reason to speak it nowadays, but I still sometimes dream in French and I read the poetry now and again.
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Lucky (linguistically) you! ( maybe not so regarding the boarding school). You are so close to France there must be people to speak to, especially if you live near a college. But then you may not need for me to find another hobby for you. (If you did I would ask for a guest post on the childhood Belgian experience!) 😉
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From an Emailer: Belgian French is not so different from “French” French. The accents are however and some words; for example, Belgians say dîner for déjeuner and souper for dîner. The French count a bit differently soixante-dix and quatre-vingt-dix but we use septante, and nonante.
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Bonjour Cinda. French is the only language I learned at school and I have always loved it. I’ve tried to learn a little of the languages in countries where I have lived or spent some time but I am not very good. However, I have always thought, if I spent a year or two in France, I would be able to converse reasonably well. Au revoir, James. PS. I’ve always been a dreamer.
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Salut James _Did you dream of living in Thailand and make that dream come true? You could visit France on your Bristol trip next year, but Tahiti is closer to you! 😉
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I loved the post! I am sure my own French is not as good .
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Thank you Christina! Monday I am meeting with my French group for lunch. I am the least fluent in the group but they keep me practicing – which is the key I think.
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It is very nice that your friend learn French and that you wrote this article in both language. Your friend has a good french, just some little mistakes but the text is well written. As a french person I am struggling to master the english language.
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Thank you for stopping by and commenting. It isn’t easy to learn another language but so worth it! At least you have a beautiful accent 😉 Bonne Chance.
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I think the french language is very beautiful (unless you’re being sworn at – which happens whenever I try to practice my french on a native speaker!)
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