Going From ‘Hello’ to ‘Bonjour’: The Path to Another Language

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/opinion/letters/learning-french.html

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To the Editor:

Re “Learning French in Middle Age,” by Pamela Druckerman (Op-Ed, May 4):

Thank you, Ms. Druckerman, for sharing your experience; I feel so much better.

I moved to France when I was 66, not speaking any French, and nine years later I continue to find myself in the same linguistic situation as you’ve described.

My husband is French, but he found it easier to speak English (he lived in America for many years) than to constantly correct my French. We settled in a small village, where I got a crash course in French culture that facilitated my understanding of the spoken language. That and the subtitles on the TV.

I’ve lost my fear of speaking even when I have to go through a litany of words to reach one that’s suitable for the situation. And I can laugh at myself when friends tease me about my interesting sentence structure.

Barbara de TourrisLe Pradet, France

To the Editor:

After six years of living in France back in the ’70s, I acquired a decent command of the language, having spent most of that time among native speakers. Back in the States I have few opportunities to converse in French, but now, as I approach 77 years of age and plan to return to France soon to visit, I find that my previous level of speaking French mostly returns.

I credit this to my treating language learning like music. Sing it; give your voice and ear free range to capture the tempo and musical inflections. Like any song once learned, it’s there forever. Grammar and vocabulary follow naturally.

Spencer P. Le GateSacramento

To the Editor:

I took French throughout junior high and high school, then lived in the south of France as a nanny when I was 19. A renewed interest in French was sparked by a trip to Switzerland in 2016. All of this has enriched my life in multiple ways.

Learning a foreign language — even without full competency — opens a door into a previously unknown culture, lifestyle and perspective. It is a delight to learn a word in one context and see or hear it again in another.

Reading just one article a day on my favorite French Swiss news site has given me a broader perspective. For the last three years, I’ve visited the French Caribbean islands Martinique and Guadeloupe, whose tourists are mainly from mainland France. When they hear my accent, they ask if I am from Quebec. A couple from Quebec asked if I was German. Interesting conversation always ensues.

Dianne Erickson AdelbergAlexandria, Va.

To the Editor:

Pamela Druckerman’s lament about the difficulty of perfecting her French in middle age covers all the challenges of language learning as we grow older. But struggles to be truly fluent often have less to do with a person’s language level than with his or her cultural understanding of what it means to have a conversation.

An American conversation, for instance, is like golf: Each player addresses the ball in turn, taking a swing, and the group watches it sail down the fairway. A French conversation is rather like a round of hot potato: The object is not linear progression — in conversational terms, to transmit information — but to enjoy the game and build relationships.

Increasing one’s language fluency simply requires an adjustment of one’s understanding of the rules of play — a particularly important exercise in this time of growing cultural disconnection, and one that can be done at any age.

Patrick MoserSpringfield, Mo.The writer is a professor of French at Drury University.