French language

The savvy francophile’s Tips & Advice about learning to speak French

9 04, 2025

How the French Language Varies by Region – Part 2/4

By |2025-04-09T15:08:52+10:00Apr 9, 2025|1 Comment

Mathieu Avanzi has written an entertaining and deeply researched book, 'Comme On Dit Chez Nous', about the terms used in France for all sorts of things, from food to pencils to tires and more. It is witty and informative and comes with maps showing where different terms are used, including in the francophone regions of Belgium and Switzerland.

29 03, 2024

How Learning French is like Learning to Ski — Part 2

By |2024-03-29T10:32:46+11:00Mar 29, 2024|0 Comments

Learning from your mistakes. This is easy enough to take when you just get a little ding and lose a heart from Duolingo, but sounding stupid while speaking to a real live person is another matter. It is without question my biggest weakness when learning a language.

9 06, 2022

You, me, and Napoleon: We all had trouble speaking French – what’s your experience?

By |2022-06-11T12:43:18+10:00Jun 9, 2022|0 Comments

These four articles about learning French will ruffle a few feathers. That’s because my essays are full of subjective statements about how bloody hard French is to learn. This is especially so, I point out, for anyone not lucky enough to be young and locked up in a garret in Paris with a French lover—with the deliberate intention of doing nothing else but learn French.

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