If only I were a member of Girls Aloud and could let the funky music do the talking.
It’s essentially six weeks since I arrived in France, and by now I thought I’d be fluent. OK, yes, an exaggeration this may be, but my point remains – ‘I Can’t Speak French’.
It goes without saying that being surrounded, or ‘immersed’ in a language is the best way to learn. It’s a shame then that I am not. My host family are (unfortunately) bilingual, ‘Frenglish’ if you will, so despite their French fluency, their preferred home language is my own. This has had some benefits, mainly in the form of getting to know the family in my first few weeks with them, but ultimately it has stunted my linguistic progression – which is after all an important priority of my time abroad.
I have learned – perhaps as a result of this – that in French speaking situations there are some failsafe ways of sounding more fluent than I actually am, because pretending is better than nothing.
- D’accord
Just repeat this whenever you think someone is saying something you mildly agree with.
- Ouais
Like ‘oui’ but cooler.
- Ahhh Oui
For some reason ‘ahhh’ makes your affirmation that bit more French.
- Alors
Begin all phrases with this if you want to sound purposeful.
- Merciaurevoir
The words ‘merci’ and ‘au revoir’ may be blended in this fashion. Extra points to say this when exiting a bus – apparently no matter how full it is, nor how well the driver may actually hear you.
- Je sais pas
Grammatically incorrect, but it sounds fluent, and that’s half the battle – even when saying you don’t know.
- Shwee
‘Je suis’ blended into one (the French love blending their words don’t you know).
There you have it, you’re now practically fluent in French, Girls Aloud, however, need to learn a thing or two.
Salut Toulouse 