Studying abroad has been a dream of mine since I was in middle school. But I always thought I would end up in Ireland. The step dancing, the hair, the penchant for SPF 75 sunscreen, it made perfect sense. Instead, a series of somewhat random decisions led me to Paris. First it was when I chose French over Spanish for my junior high language class, having heard (from my French teacher, so take it with a grain of salt) that it was easier to learn Spanish after having learned French than the other way around. Then I was lucky enough to get two great French teachers, who ensured that I was able to place into more intermediate French classes my freshman year of college. Since I didn't want to lose my hard-won semi-fluency, I knew that I would be taking French classes throughout college. So I became a French major, and suddenly studying in Paris became my only feasible academic option.
Which brings me to the million-dollar question: "Has your French improved?"
The short answer is "Oui." I'm loath to call myself a fluent French speaker, considering the stupid mistakes I still make on a daily basis. It might not be the most difficult language in the world, but there are some sticking points that are tricky for English speakers. Case in point, accents: Several months ago I was trying to order a sablé (sab-lay) framboise with my lunch. Instead I asked for a "sable (sab-luh) framboise," thus ordering raspberry sand instead of a raspberry cookie. Did I mention that I hate accent marks? At least it got a smile out of the lady at the boulangerie.
Another common point of confusion is the use of gender. Thank God for English and its equal-opportunity nouns, because I think I could live in Paris for 80 years and still mess up the masculine and feminine. This is not helped by the fact that certain nouns do not match their given genders. Take words such as "makeup" and "bra." Clearly feminine, right? WRONG. Some chauvinistic linguist in Franceland decided that they should be masculine, and so they will remain for eternity, confusing generations of frustrated French students.
Gender-confused nouns aside, my French has improved. It took me a long time to see the difference. I gave one exposé orale at the end of first semester that went really well. I was able to speak coherent, relatively error-free French from a list of bullet points. I was elated. I was finally mastering the language I'd spent so long studying. Two days later, I left Paris to spend 18 days in Italy and by the time I came back I was saying "Gratze" to sales clerks. Epic fail.
But slowly, without my noticing it, my French continued to improve. And sometime within the last few months I've realized that speaking, listening, even thinking in French is becoming more automatic. I may still confuse the future with the conditional, but I can get ask questions and tell stories without planning out the phrasing days in advance. I can even toss in a few of those linguistic place holders that sound so French without actually saying anything: "En fait...", "Comment dirais-je?", "Euh...".
I take so much guilty pleasure out of being in Paris--class at the Louvre, lunchtime pastry runs, sitting by the Seine--that it's nice to see a practical result of my stay here. Sure, it's maddening to stumble over sentences in front of professors or co-workers or to return a burst of rapid-fire French with a blank stare. But when I use the subjunctive perfectly or when I manage to hack up that damn "r," I walk a little lighter for the rest of the day. And when I manage to slip in a swear word? Forget about it. How do you say "bad-ass" in French?
