Leilani: First, could you tell me about your background and how long you’ve been speaking French?
Vincent: Yeah! I first started taking French classes in high school, and then I placed into second-year level French when I came to Reed. I lived in the French House last year, and I’m living in Farm House this year. So those are the French experiences I’ve had here.
L: What has your experience been like as a French tutor?
V: It’s been pretty interesting to get a sense of how other people learn a language in ways that are different from what I’m more used to. And I think that’s a way of helping me to understand the language better and get more practice with it by working with other people.
Sadly I am graduating, so this will be my last blog post 🙁 Before I leave, I wanted to give everyone some media recommendations as well as some advice on things to do with the time you have left at Reed.
Go to the language conversations groups! If you have not gone to them yet, you really should. I met some of my best friends at both Pause Café and Sobremesa (which fun fact was previously called Picadita). These groups are such a unique resource that you will likely not find after Reed. Think about it, it’s a chance to meet new people by immersing yourself in the language you’re learning while eating free food! Which is usually delicious as the language scholars are amazing. Seriously, if you haven’t met them yet you should. And new ones come each year, so you get a clean slate next semester!
Listening to music in French is a great strategy to absorb more of the language throughout your day. For beginners just starting out your adventures into the world of Francophone music, I found this album, Non Ouais! by Pink Martini (which fun fact – originates from Portland!). This album is well-suited for beginning French learners, as it has simple grammar, clear pronunciation, and familiar vocabulary. You might be surprised with how much you can understand! Here are two of the most popular songs to give you a taste:
YouTube is a great resource for language-learning—you can learn new vocabulary, ways to use grammar structures, and hear different accents. If you’re just starting out your expedition into French YouTube, I’ve made a list of channels that can help you get started! These are more suitable for intermediate and advanced learners, as these videos only have auto-generated captions, and creators tend to speak quickly and use slang. (Sidenote – I found out the word in French is “youtubeur.euse” and I love it.)
One of the first things I did while taking French 110 (now 111/112) was add a French keyboard to my laptop and phone. What I didn’t know as a beginning French student was that even the French keyboard layout is different!
This layout is called AZERTY, with all the additional French characters (ex. ç, é, and à) arranged on number and symbol keys. It also swaps the positions of Q/A, W/Z, and M, which actually helps you type in French faster, believe it or not! As you advance in French, improving your typing (“la dactylographie”) skills will make a difference in typing emails, essays, and texts. Here are two typing practice recommendations to boost your AZERTY typing skills!
Petit Poulet, aka Chicken Little, looking at his computer. “Le ciel est en train de tomber!”
THE SKY IS FALLING, and you can read that in three other languages on TheFableCottage.com. I discovered this website with a friend as we attempted to read bedtime stories in each other’s languages. TheFableCottage is a multilingual library of bedtime stories written in French, German, Spanish, and also Italian! Each story has a few features that make it really helpful for beginning students: audio recordings, captioned video animations, illustrations, and English translations if you get stuck. All of their free short stories can be found on each language’s respective website: TheFrenchExperiment.com, TheGermanProject.com, and TheSpanishExperiment.com. (Stories can also be accessed on TheFableCottage, but not all of them are free.) This is a great resource for beginner-level students, as the grammar and vocabulary are written using everyday and simple language. These stories expand upon the beginner-level language you’ve learned so far using a story you’re likely already familiar with. Having an additional resource like this can supplement what you learn in class and in your textbook by creating a new context where you use your target language. For example, you may have introduced a photo of your family to your 100-level class, but you can practice that same family vocabulary in the context of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I found the short stories on TheFableCottage to be the perfect resource for anyone in their first year of a language class, and I recommend that you check it out!
Sometimes the best way to practice a language is by just passively listening to it. This could be in a movie with subtitles, or just an interesting video on YouTube. I see it as letting your subconscious absorb the language through osmosis. Is that even a thing? Maybe there’s a science channel that talks about science-y stuff like that. Wait… there is!
C’est Pas Sorcier is a TV show available on YouTube that explains all kinds of science-related stuff in French. They’re meant for middle and high school students whose first language is French, so they do speak a little fast. I would recommend it for intermediate French speakers (A2 level). My personal favorite is “Comment fonctionne notre électroménager?”, it’s very interesting and the characters are really funny. This show is shown A LOT in French high schools, it’s very nostalgic and even though they’re still releasing new videos, they’ve kept their vintage essence. Go check it out!
Are you looking for more ways to immerse yourself in French? Podcasts are a great way to implement French into your everyday life. It’s especially important to engage with the language outside the classroom. Whether you’re taking a walk around the canyon, getting lunch in Commons, or trying to fall asleep, a podcast can add a lot more French exposure to your life. It’s a simple way to improve your French comprehension, vocabulary, and cultural knowledge. At the same time, it can be difficult to find the right one. For beginning to intermediate students, I have a recommendation for you: The Duolingo French Podcast!
