Learning French

I thought my Spanish could facilitate my communication with French people. Maybe I could even speak to them in Spanish and they would understand.

I was wrong.

My Spanish is only helpful to me in learning French. Spanish and French as Latin-based languages. They have common cores, and I can usually figure things out, except a few mistranslations like preservatif, which is actually a condom. No, I could only be able to understand French based on my personal study. My French freind that I met in Peru gave me a couple of starter courses, and I bought a manual from the Alliance Française in Lima. With that combined, I had a pretty good head start for actually being in the country.

Language is a key part to a culture. People communicate by using their words, and jokes, expressions, idioms, and accents all add to the cultural experience. Later in my trip to France, when I was on a river cruise for English speakers, I missed hearing French, even though I didn't understand most of it. I longed to feel like an outsider in a foreign country instead of an American tourist being shown what France was like. Learning the language allows you to connect with people in their native tongue.

As far as pronouncing French, I'll try to give a short lesson. Usually, vowels are like Spanish vowels, e.g. the a is long, as in ahh. So, comme ça would be pronounced "kom-sah." Usually, you don't pronounce the last letter of the word (hence, "kom"). To simplify, gender is distinguished by an e at the end of the word: you can eat at a bourdelais restaurant, or apply bourdelaise crême to your hands (I don't know if they make lotion there, though). Everything has an article, definite or indefinite. You can't just say "I've got books." You have to say "J'ai des livres" (I've got some books). Oh, and French people like to say in Spanish, "¿Es posible de tener un café? instead of "¿Es posible tener un café?" They really like that de.

Though I might have a good head start in learning French, it will definitely take work. I would like to take classes from Alliance Française here in the States, but I feel it will be easier to learn it from Spanish and not from English. I can more easily make connections from Spanish.

I'm thankful that I can learn French from Spanish. Now, I just have to make sure I don't confuse the two in my head.