Survival French

Every Monday and Thursday morning I spend four hours in French class. I am in the beginner class, also know as "survival French." There are six of us in the class, two people from Finland, one from Russia, one from Italy, one from Lithuania and then me.

I very quickly learned that I am the only person that does not speak more than one language. Most everybody speaks their own language and then also English. There are some that speak even more than two. I of course felt the judgment of only speaking one language but I am very grateful that the one language in English. Knowing English is very helpful in getting around Brussels and in class as well. Generally the professor speaks only in French, however for more complicated subjects she speaks in English. I often wonder how the brain works when a person is learning a foreign language taught in another foreign language. Does the Russian women translate the French word into English and then to Russian? I can't even imagine.

I also wonder how difficult it is to learn French compared to English or any other language. I've found that the French language has all sorts of rules to it. Verbs change based on who you are talking about. There are masculine and feminine words, formal and informal words, one person or two people words. One verb can be written six different ways.  The other challenge in the French language is reading. In French the way you read a word is much different that how you say it. There are all sorts of silent letters, for example "parlent" (those men speak) "parles" (you speak) and "parle" (I speak) are all pronounced parl and "parlons" (we speak) is parlon. There is so much to remember, I wonder if other languages are this hard.

Way back when when I was in high school I did take some French classes. I have pretty much forgotten all of it, but it does seem easier to learn it the second time around.  I think I'm picking it up a little bit quicker. Just being immersed in the language has helped with my understanding. In high school, I would probably just spend as hour in class and then it would be over. Once my four hour class is over I still hear French on the streets or in the shops etc. Additionally to help me with my homework,  I've got this fabulous Google translate tool on my iPad. When I'm doing my homework and  I don't know a French word, I put it into my tool and it translates it into English for me and vice versa. I love it. I'm not sure how I ever got by without it.

I will say learning French sometimes makes me feel like a small child. The smallest accomplishment makes me so happy and proud of myself. The other day I was able to tell somebody what my hotel room number was in French and I was so proud of myself. It was three numbers, but you would have thought I just delivered a graduation speech. I also am amazed when I understand what somebody is saying in French. I imagine this is what it is like for children when they finally understand what their parents are saying to them. My professor also speaks to us more slowly like when you speak to children. I often leave class thinking "that's not so bad" but then when I'm out in the real world, I can't figure out what anybody is saying. I also think its funny that they call it "survival French" because there is no way I could actually survive with just knowing how to count and tell you what color my sweater is.