The French love their language – it’s refined and expressive, and is universally admired for its beauty, cultural depth and complexity. It’s a truly global language; spoken by more than 300 million people worldwide, across Europe, Africa, Canada, the Caribbean and parts of Asia.
French is a Romance language, descended from Latin along with Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian and Italian. Fortunately for us Brits, its Norman influence means it also shares much vocabulary with English, although grammar and pronunciation are quite different and frequently trip us up.
The French language is such an important part of French culture and heritage that institutions like L’Académie Française literally police the language to maintain its “purity.”
But the language is also developing quickly, with new words and expressions being introduced, seemingly, daily. The formal French that we tend to learn at school and in early French classes is being overtaken by a more colloquial, faster, shorthanded idiomatic language – equally expressive and precise, but different and more in tune with life at speed. Which means when you’re ready to converse in what you think is French, you may not understand what is being said after all.
So, learning French can be a frustrating experience, but, rest assured, it is worth the effort. When you’re finally speaking French, even simple words and phrases, you’re using your whole mouth to enter a world of pure poetry.
Don’t Assume
You’ve chosen to live in France, so it seems reasonable you should make an effort to learn the language, although Brits do have a tendency to believe that English is spoken everywhere and is a perfectly acceptable substitute. It’s really not. The further you venture into rural areas of the country the less English is spoken and the more effort you need to make to be understood. Of course, there are pockets of Englishness – go to a French market or a Brocante in the Dordogne and all you seem to hear is English. But don’t be fooled, and don’t fall into the habit of asking, “Parlez-vous Anglais?” everywhere you go. Making an effort is important and will be appreciated.
In Paris it seems any effort to speak the French language may be treated with derision and a sharp response in English (just to show you they can!), but in the rest of the country your attempts will be recognised and encouraged. The French like it when foreigners acknowledge their language and try to speak it.
What Level?
As you might expect, there are different levels of proficiency for the French language based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) – yet another EU invention. These run from A1 to C2
A1 – Absolute Beginner – where you can understand and use very basic phrases.
A2 – Elementary – you can begin to order food, book a hotel, buy a ticket at the train station, talk about yourself a little.
B1 – Intermediate – you can deal with most everyday situations but within a fairly limited vocabulary.
B2 – Upper Intermediate – you can interact fluently and spontaneously with native speakers. You’re thinking in French and not translating everything you hear or want to say back into English first.
C1 – Advanced – you can express yourself fluently, flexibly, and effectively.
C2 – Proficiency – you can understand virtually everything you hear or read with ease.
The good news is that you don’t need to scale the heady heights of C2 proficiency in order to live comfortably surrounded by French. Intermediate knowledge of the language will get you a long way; you may not understand the nuance of everything that is being said to you, but you’ll catch a few words and phrases and will understand the gist of what’s being said. And you’ll be able to respond.
