Welcome to the second article in our new series: How to Learn French. Not just les rouages*, but tips on the attitudes and practices you can adopt to ensure your success.

Last month I wrote that the secret to learning French is not to give up. That may seem self-evident, but it’s a little more nuanced than one might think at first glance.

At Lingua Franca we meet people every week who come to us after a huge break in their French learning (sometimes up to 50+ years) who are keen to get stuck into it again. We love helping these people (in fact they account for a very large part of our clientele) but I often reflect on where their French might have been had they somehow managed to hold on, even in the most tenuous of ways. When I think about the progress our students make in just one or two years and extrapolate that to cover a decades-long break, I can’t help but feel a bit sorry for the person in front of me.

Again, that’s not exactly for the reason you might be thinking. Yes, they would have been a lot more advanced had they not taken an extended break (which, by the way, is often not by choice but necessity). What concerns me more is the angst that can accompany the decision to return to a long-dormant skill. So often, by the time they turn up at le nid*, they’ve been wanting to come back to French for a period of months if not years, but have been held back by the fear that they will have forgotten everything they know or worse, are worried they’re no longer even capable of learning. What I really admire is that despite these doubts, they still do take the leap and in almost every single case, they are pleasantly surprised by how much does come back and how much they enjoy learning French again, even with their ‘ancient brains’, as they often refer to them.

So, let’s get into my top tips for keeping French in your life when you need to prendre une pause* from your lessons.

PS This will be a two-parter - look for more tips next month.

If you really love French, you may have a tendency to idolise French people, imagining that they’re cooler, as well as more sophisticated, interesting and cultured than you (am I giving myself away here?). Even if you don’t go to such lengths in your admiration, you’ll still likely want to engage with them when your paths cross, if only to practise your French. I say do it! Sometimes even the briefest of exchanges with a real, live French person can put a pep in your step and, at worst, you’ll probably learn a new word or two. At best, you’ll gain a friend for life. Just square your shoulders, and in a big, brave voix*, hit them with your best bonjour* and see what happens next.

One note of caution, though. While we love practising our French on les Français* we cross paths with in our lives here in Australia, remember that the same is also true for them. Many French travellers are here for the express purpose of improving their English, so be generous. Once you’ve had your say, switch back to English if you get the feeling your interlocutor would appreciate the practice.

Many of us have had the demoralising experience of travelling in a French-speaking country and screwing up the courage to trot out a rudimentary French sentence on an unsuspecting waiter or taxi driver, only to have them reply in perfect English.

I remember with much chagrin when I was working in a café in Perth while at uni, and doing exactly that but in reverse to a lovely young French woman who was seated in my section. She placed her order in careful, heavily-accented English and I, suspecting she was French, and busting to use my skills (and being a show-off at heart, to be honest), responded in rapid-fire French that “Yes, I would be happy to get you a mineral water and a tuna salad and would you like anything else?” I absolutely cringe when I think back to that moment, because now I can see that she'd been sitting there for ages, working up the courage to speak to me in English, and I just trampled all over her moment. I remember my response didn't get the reaction I was hoping for, and at the time I couldn't understand why. I do recall now, though, that her shoulders visibly dropped, and not in a relieved way but in a defeated one.

Now that that very same scene has been played out in reverse to me on countless occasions I finally get it. There's a time and place for everything and these days I think there should be some sort of international rule: he or she who is doing the travelling should be the “practiser” and the local the “practisee” and vice versa. Qu'est-ce vous en pensez*?

Look straight ahead of you wherever you are and take a mental snapshot of what you see. Now, see how many things you can name in French in the image you’re seeing in your mind’s eye. If I do it now, the first three things I see are une chaise*, des livres* and un crayon*. If you’re feeling enthousiaste*, add another two for a total of five (une fenêtre*, le jardin*) and then for top points, take it up to ten (un tapis*, une bibliothèque*, un cable*, des coussins*, une table basse*).

You may need a dictionary at any stage of the game, but that’s what our phones are for, non*? We always recommend Word Reference but there are dozens of options for online dictionaries and apps. Or you could even use one made on an actual printing press - très original*.

If you can remember to do this even once a week, you’ll be keeping le français* swimming around your head, which is notre but*, after all.

We’ve never had so much entertainment available to us at the touch of a button and a lot of it is free, aussi*, which means there are few excuses for not watching a French series or film de temps en temps*.

Between streaming services, free-to-air on demand and French film festivals, make it your mission to watch something in French once a quarter. And of course if you decide to faire un marathon* (we can recommend The Bureau, Spiral, The Hookup Plan or Call My Agent for starters) then that counts as your annual intake. Bon visionnage*.

I’m ready to accept that French may not be your one and only true love. You may even be a well-rounded person who is able to entertain a variety of interests and activities (though why you would cheat on French like that when there is such richesse* contained in this one subject matter alone escapes me, but I digress…).

Our aim here is to ensure French stays in your life as you hit the pause button, so I’m going to suggest a bit of a commingling of intérêts* for your own benefit. Love tennis? Do a bit of research on a French tennis player, or even the home of French tennis, Roland Garros. Who was Roland Garros anyway? And why is there a Bugatti named after him? Vous voyez ce que je veux dire*?

I picked tennis at random, but there are as many pistes* to explore as you have the energy to pursue. Simone de Beauvoir, Pierre Cardin, Le Nôtre, Le Corbusier, Baudelaire, Roland Barthes, Monet, Louis Braille, Charles de Gaulle, the Lumière brothers (Alice Guy-Blaché for that matter), Inès de la Fressange, Joey Starr…la liste est longue*.

Many students tell us they speak French perfectly in their heads, it’s only when it comes time to get the words out in class that they stumble. I think we can all sympathise with that.

Recently a student told me they’d found a woman on Youtube who was able to speak several languages fluently, and one of her tricks was to talk to herself out loud in French. She’d pick an activity a day, and then describe what she was doing à voix haute*. So if she was cooking, she may say: “Je coupe les oignons*” or “Je lave les salades*”. You may be surprised at just how much you can say when in a comfortable environment. Getting used to the sound of your own voice speaking French will make it all the more likely you’ll get your words out when faced with a ‘real’ French language opportunity.

This short list is just a soupçon* of the ways you can keep French trotting along by your side, even along when other priorities in your life seem to be conspiring to tear you apart. Be sure to check in again next month for plus d’idées*.

Keep it in your life