How did I find the language element of my trip to France?

Welcome back to my blog! Today's blog post is all about the language element and how I found speaking French and improving my linguistic skills. I am currently studying French as part of my degree, so a big motivator to go to France for the summer was in order to improve my language skills and confidence within speaking the language.

Before I arrived, I was quite nervous and was intimidated by the fact I was going to have to speak French in order to make friends and communicate with most people. When I arrived, luckily a couple people spoke English at the hostel, but a large majority of guests did not speak English. For the first week, I was quite overwhelmed, as all my instructions for the job, recipes and my contract were all in French. It was obviously what I was expecting but it did feel like quite a lot. However, as the weeks went on, and the more I immersed myself in the language, the easier it became. One realisation I had was that grammar is actually really important, and I have to be good at it to be able to speak comfortably with locals. A memorable interaction I had was when I was at the bus stop in the main city one day, and a girl came up to me and asked me where the hostel was (in French) and I was able to tell her that I was volunteering there and that I could get the bus back with her. To me, this was quite a stepping stone, as I was able to hold a conversation, and there were not too many communication barriers. This was a moment that boosted my confidence, and there were also many other situations (in coffee shops or restaurants for example) where I was able to speak to the locals.

I would say that for anyone learning a language, my best advice would be to just go to the country and immerse yourself as much as you can- its much more enjoyable than spending hours reading textbooks! Also, you just need a little bit of confidence in your abilities, and you’ll soon realise you know way more than you think! Katie :)

 

 How did I find the language element of my trip to France?