Today we’re speaking with Qiuyi, our drop-in French tutor! We chatted about the experience of learning French from the beginning level, adjusting to intermediate classes, and Marguerite Duras. Meet Qiuyi in the Language Lab during her drop-in tutoring hours!
Leilani: Hi Qiuyi! To begin the interview, could you tell me a little bit about yourself and how long you’ve been speaking French?
Qiuyi: Yeah! My name is Qiuyi, and I’m a sophomore majoring in Comparative Literature. This is my second year learning French, so I’m a new learner.
L: Oh, that’s awesome! I’m also studying Comparative Literature, and I started learning French here, too. So, what has your experience been like learning French, especially starting from the beginning level?
Q: I used to feel very frustrated. It felt like a lot to do. Especially because French is the third language I’ve encountered in my whole life. It’s a lot of practicing grammar, but then in the second year of French, we directly jumped from grammar to Camus. Which is terrible—well, not terrible. It was too hard for me in the beginning, so I had to adjust myself to it.
L: You mentioned you learned three languages. Why did you choose French?
Q: I had a strong desire to learn because almost all of my favorite writers are French. Just accidentally, they’re all French. So I had to learn this language.
L: What has your experience been like as a tutor, then, since you mentioned that this is your second year learning French?
Q: Being a tutor helps me to learn French a lot. Usually, after I’ve completed a class and all the coursework, I do not have a sense of having to force myself to go over the work. I just let it go. But if I’m working as a French tutor, there are some parts that already left my head. For my French 100-level, I have to go back and review it again and again. This helps my own French learning and my grammatical skill a lot.
L: What kinds of resources or language-learning strategies do you recommend?
Q: The first is the course book, Vis-à-vis. It’s really helpful for the first year of learning. And then, I don’t know if this is good or not, but my own way of learning French this year, especially when dealing with complex texts, is using AI to assist my learning. I’ll ask it to predict which words will be a problem for me or for it to analyze the grammatical structure for me, in case I don’t recognize it. I feel like that helps a lot. I also use YouTube to find videos for French listening, especially for beginning- and intermediate-level. I find it super helpful. The Language Scholars here are also really good, Margot and Charlotte.
L: What did you think about the transition between First-Year French and Intermediate French? I remember that it was a pretty jarring shift between learning grammar to then reading more complex texts in Intermediate.
Q: The course is designed pretty well. But on the other hand, the course is pushing me to adjust to the courseload. Having all the grammatical skills at the intro level is too much, but meanwhile, too little. For all the intro classes I’ve taken, there’s not that much reading. But in the second year, there’s a ton of reading. It’s really dense. You have to force yourself to adjust to it, and sometimes it might take more than you thought. I really think for First-Year French, they should read The Little Prince. If I had the chance to read The Little Prince when I was in First-Year French, by the time I encountered intermediate-level reading, I would feel so much better. The good part about the French program is that even if you’re in the second year of learning French, you get to explore these texts. They’re well-known and crucial for understanding French culture.
L: You mentioned The Little Prince. Do you have a favorite French media?
Q: I’m doing a class with the French Department. Right now we’re reading Marguerite Duras. I love her so much. The first time I encountered Duras was in high school. I was totally shocked by her writing—the word is so concise and almost repetitive, but you are able to grasp the sense that she wants to convey to you. I consider her one of my favorite authors.
L: Do you have a favorite work by Duras?
Q: In English, it’s called Blue Eyes, Black Hair, or Les Yeux bleus, Cheveux noirs. I also like Roland Barthes a lot.
L: Last, do you have a favorite word or expression in French?
Q: Let me think… I like the word dépenser.