An interesting corollary is that I can sort of "channel" French more easily by thinking about it as "fancy" English with respect to grammar and vocabulary (and of course, a French accent). I similarly experienced French people praising my mastery of the language even though I can only understand like 40-60% of what a French speaker is saying to me (although I'm not sure if this is because of my "fancy English" approach or if I'm just inordinately good at the French accent or if the French are just pitying me by telling me my French is very good).