Learning French as an Adult

by Alan R. Palmer

"I'd really like to be fluent in a second language."

A very easy statement to make, but what would it actually involve? This is what I had been asking myself for as long as I can remember. I think it all started at primary school when I was about 8 years old. A temporary teacher had been recruited for several weeks in order to help out during our usual teacher's illness. She was meant to just teach the normal curriculum, but for some reason offered the class a small amount of French language instruction one day. This both surprised and really interested me at the time and I still can remember some of the small amount of vocabulary provided: "La porte," "la plume," etc. I certainly can't remember actually stringing any sentences together. The lessons quickly stopped and soon we were back with the usual arithmetic and English lessons on our teacher's return. The event had sown a seed that was to be very slow growing as it turned out. 

I started to want to learn another language from that point, but living in a small rural community in north-west England (I lived on a farm and my parents had never ventured that far in England let alone somewhere "exotic" like France!) it wasn't possible to travel abroad anyway due to the commitments of the farm and I accepted that this may not be something that I could try until much later. I did often think about what it would be like to be able to understand the strange sounds that I used to hear on my transistor radio late at night. French stations can be heard in England due to the proximity of the countries.

Having left school to become a farmer and work with my father, I found that I still hadn't lost the idea of learning a language and decided that I would start again during my spare time. I bought a small "Teach yourself Italian" book which, on trying to work through a few pages, told me that I wouldn't learn within a few weeks and this quickly ended up in a bottom drawer. 

I left the farm to get married a few years later. I then had another attempt at German by attending an evening school class. This was quite successful for a while as I saw it as a way to restart my language learning ambition – but all too soon it was interrupted by the "patter of tiny feet." Family and work commitments then began to narrow down the reasons to learn. My ambition had been to actually be able to speak the language in a "real" situation by visiting the country and as this had become unlikely with having little money and a young family, I again put the idea of learning another language "on the back-burner." 

Time passed and my family was growing up. It was 1991 and I had reached the grand old age of 35 and my wife and I were discussing visiting the new "EuroDisney" park near Paris, which was to be completed in 1992. We decided to save up to have our first family holiday "abroad" and also see something of France. This was my opportunity! I said to my wife that I wasn't going to France if I couldn't speak some of the language as I was determined to learn at least "enough to get by." I was lying of course, but it was my excuse to start again and learn French this time. I also wanted to know what I needed to do to be able to teach myself. 

I visited our local library and found a book entitled "How to learn a foreign language quickly." I was shocked to find that I would have to (according to the book): buy lots of language books, French newspapers, magazines and audio tapes and spend at least 15 hours per week on studying at home. The book really spelled out the necessary effort that would have to be put into the task. I didn't bother borrowing the book and went home a bit disheartened but not put off. I just needed the right ideas and help. 

My wife started the "ball rolling." She proudly brought home a second-hand "Complete French course" which comprised of audio tapes and books. I thanked her for her efforts and began this course that was going to help me speak "like a native." Unfortunately it was very old and consisted of learning sentences such as: "Please ask the maid to enter the room." I couldn't see myself having need for this, not actually having the money to employ a maid! On the other hand it was quite useful for helping with the difficult task of starting to learn French pronunciation. 

I then decided to opt for the good old BBC. The British television channel was offering some good beginner's courses in French and at reasonable prices so that was my best option. People have asked why I didn't opt for more evening classes and I have to say that I really wanted to teach myself. It seemed that I would be able to decide how fast I learned and what methods were best for me within reason. Obviously I needed resources and help from somewhere. The self-instruction BBC courses I started to use seemed good enough to be able to start to make real progress. 

After a year of listening to tapes, reading through the texts and slowly picking my way through the exercises, we were ready for the trip to France! We had a marvelous holiday and it was also a great success from a language point of view, as I actually was able to try out my beginner's vocabulary and phrases directly with the natives. Most responses to my feeble attempts went over my head, but in general I enjoyed the experience and did certainly "get by." We also met a French family one evening at our holiday centre and spent the following day with them on their invitation. This provided me some "real" language experience and some amusing moments where a dictionary was called-for in order to sort things out! 

On our return to England I was determined to carry on and make this my "hobby." I needed to continue to devote quite an amount of time to the venture and decided I would have to be very patient and take my time in order to become "fluent." I had by that time a demanding job as a Production manager and didn't want to affect my progress in my career or disrupt my home life either. 

Page 2: "The main quest had then begun"

Learn French as an adult

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