It’s Hard to Learn French in Middle Age

Re:It’s Hard to Learn French in Middle Age by hluska on Tuesday April 30, 2019 @09:37AM (#19787762)

I’m a sample of one, but my experience with French people has been much different. As long as I’ve been open about being a beginner (from Western Canada) who badly wants to practice, I’ve actually been quite pleasantly surprised by how hard French speakers work to make me feel comfortable.

For example, just last week, I asked a French speaking couple I know to help me pronounce “de rien”. When I say it, I sound like I dun just gots off the potato patch. They quite literally tag teamed me, one started working on drills to help me roll the ‘r’. Another started making a list of other similar words (so that I could sound stupid across a wider range of vocabulary).

It was quite amazing. But, with the exact same people, if I just speak French without prefacing it with a request for help, they switch to English instantly.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:It’s Hard to Learn French in Middle Age by shawabawa3 on Tuesday April 30, 2019 @09:43AM (#19787822)

> help me pronounce “derrien”

Do you mean "de rien"? (As in "no problem", literally "it was nothing")

I agree r's are definitely the hardest thing to pronounce in french (as an english speaker at least). I think "rire" is the hardest word in the french language

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:It’s Hard to Learn French in Middle Age by asark on Tuesday April 30, 2019 @10:20AM (#19788133)

Singing along to French songs in the car finally fixed my R problem, in a matter of days. Found I could do the rolled Spanish R and even the lazy, liquid Latin R with very little practice after getting that one down, too, and I couldn't at all before.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:It’s Hard to Learn French in Middle Age by hluska on Tuesday April 30, 2019 @09:47AM (#19787879)

Thanks for pointing that out - I fixed it.

Don’t even get me started on rire. That’s another word that makes me sound significantly dumber than I hope I am!! :)

[ Parent | on HN ]