Technically speaking, I’ve been learning French for 10 years – since I was 6 – but I can’t speak it without stuttering, my sentence structure is horrendous and I can’t formulate words properly. So, I’m NOT ELOQUENT and I sound like a Martian when I try and speak it, and must look like a moron when I write. Trying to do “de la” when it’s du, or screwing up the gender agreements and verbs. WAHEYY!
Because of that, I’m insane for picking it at A-level. I did it for GCSE and had a love-hate relationship with it, but I decided to change my options about two weeks ago because I got it into my head that it would be better for me.
Well, it WILL be. French has always come naturally to me, and I just love the language because it’s beautiful and it flows REALLY well. I know you might be rolling your eyes at my nerd fest at a foreign language but selon moi, c’est vraiment fantastique bien que je ne le parle pas!
Over the past two weeks, I’ve decided it’s a great idea for me to NOT ACTUALLY give myself a free summer (mainly because they do give us holiday homework at school). Me? Nahh, I’m doing the homework, but I’m doing stuff for my own enjoyment. What’s that, you might ask? VOLUNTARILY doing more French than is necessary.
Okay, so it IS useful. I want to be able to be reasonably confident when I go into A-Levels; I’ll be doing it for the other subjects too but French (and also English) is my priority because I enjoy it. I literally will GO OUT OF MY WAY to do extra french; I know other people will be doing the same because it’s what you SHOULD do, so at least I’m not alone.
I’ve downloaded the app for the newspaper, Le Monde, and started to read articles in French even though I don’t understand most of it. That’s how I found out David Cameron was resigning, actually, and it was WEIRD to find it out from a French newspaper (whilst trying to piece together what it was saying).
And the worst and best thing? I’ve got obsessed with French songs. MAINSTREAM french songs, that are popular, but shhh I’m not original. I just can’t stop listening to them they’re SO GOOD!
Some of my favourites which you should totally listen to:
Dernière Danse by Indila
On Écrit Sur Les Murs by Kids United
Formidable by Stromae
And there are loads more. Honestly I don’t know why, but I LOVE French songs. It’s partly because I can understand them, but it’s also because I like the language itself.
Speaking and listening are still a huge problem for me when it comes to French. I can understand it when I’m reading it, and I can kind of write, but I’m absolutely TERRIBLE with speaking because I can’t get the words out and I can barely construct sentences. The A-Level course recommends doing LOADS of things outside school, so I’ll do that.
Maybe I can listen to french news broadcasts, or find someone – like Willow or Hazel – to speak to in French (Hazel is fluent). Who knows? Even though I won’t do French at university, I still love learning a modern language. People in other countries seem to know two or more, and I want to be able to say coeur and heart, and for it to MEAN the same thing in my head.
I’m thinking reading a book in French as well – I got this thing for my Induction Day next Tuesday for Sixth Form (no one else has the material I’m such a rebel) and it suggests setting up a Twitter account in French. Y’know what? I might actually do that.
I’m so sorry for boring you with all that! Are there any languages you love learning (or that you hate)?
From Elm 🙂
Just Call Me Elm or Something 
I love learning Spanish, there are so many countries which speak Spanish and when I go to them I want to be able to embrace the Spanish-ness and also it’d be cool to pretend you don’t understand and pretend your an average tourist and then suddenly speak a whole paragraph of Spanish or something to surprised locals xD
AHAHAHA that’d be so cool 😀 That’s what I wanna do with French. I remember learning Spanish and I enjoyed it, but not as much as French. I think all languages fascinate me 🙂 But also, Spanish is lovely to listen to
I love Spanish. I can read it and write what I know of it but I am terrible at listening and speaking it.
I am not fluent but I love learning it and all the words and how to say things and stuff. Even when I don’t know what the words mean, I sometimes open a Spanish boom and start reading it out loud.
French is a beautiful language! Good luck on it!
Thanks and same with you for Spanish! Yeah, I know what you mean – finding out new vocabulary is so great, especially because you now know a new word! 😀
Yes! And sometimes I repeat it over and over again and whisper it randomly to people… I am just a strange person! 😂
Okay bye! ❤️
Me toooo! I said “planche à voile” to someone and they got weirded out 😂 Oh well!
Haha yeah! I randomly start singing a random song I made in song in Spanish which translates to : the pencil sharpener! The pencil sharpener! I eat pencil sharpeners!
I am a weirdo 😋
You’re a COOL weirdo! 😀
Yay thank you! 😀
I saw a thumbnail of Indila’s face and I clicked so quickly. I fully agree with you in terms of music because understanding it makes me feel more powerful. I love French music because it sounds nice in music. I’m doing French and German at A level but music spoken in German sounds really weird so I stick to reading news articles.
Ahahaha I haven’t listened to any German songs (or rap music that would be interesting). Indila is literally amazing ahhh! Yeah, I really love French music – and yes another person doing French for A-level!
Im literally waiting for her next album as I’ve listened to mini world far too much. I also like translating the music and trying to find a rhythm for it in English.
Me too! 🙂
Is this for translating lyrics or waiting for more Indila?
Translating lyrics 😀 I wouldn’t complain though about listening to more Indila!
Also I’d recommend Papaoutai-stromae for your Elm tree goodness to listen to
YES SAVAGE ONE, I adore that song! 😀 Stromae is so great
I love the video because I can relate to it heavily. Even though I haven’t made an effort to translate it. Also whenever my French teacher wrote formidable on my work I’d start singing the song
Thank you, I’m not the only one that did that! It’s just such a good song.
bahahahaha IKR
Hey I’m french, I just wanted to say that there is not a lot of good music in France only 2 or 3 artist are good, others not so much. Also it’s a great idea that you are learning it outside of school! Oh and a tip would be to by a french book and translate the parts which you don’t understand it will be great for sentence structuring.. Yeah you may have guessed I love languages.
Hehe well I adore French! Have you got a recommendation for a book I could read, or artists/songs that are good? 🙂
Haha Well the book is totally your choice you should read a book that you have already read in your own language. Mika used to sing in English but now he sings in french and some of his songs are great! Louane is quite good too. 🙂
Yeah, I’ve heard of Louane! Thanks for the recommendations! 🙂
Oh my gosh I actually know Dernière Danse by Indila! Haha, you’ve got good taste. 😉 I started to learn like… French 1. But got distracted by ASL. But I plan to return to French at some point.
ASL is good! I know some British Sign Language but only the alphabet 😀 YES the song is so good!
Oh my gosh BSL is another one I want to learn. Ugh can I just know all the languages??
That would be so handy and it’s a wish I ask every day! Asl ourself and BSL are very different though
So, are the two similar in other ways?
I have NO idea 😀
It certainly is something I need to look into now.
Good on you for doing the extra work, and choosing A-level French! I really enjoyed it at GCSE and I got an A in it, but I also think that was thanks to my amazing teacher who went on maternity leave at the end of Year 11… The jump from GCSE to A-level is generally quite big, but I found that the French jump was the biggest. I’m sure you’re going to do really well, and what you’re planning to do sounds like a great idea, and I should have done more work outside of school! Good luck!! 🙂
Thank youuu so much! 🙂 Ahh I’m scared about the jump but it’ll hopefully be okay? EEK! Yeah, I’m forcing myself to do work outside school to be PREPARED
What I struggled with the most was grammar, and I think that has always been my downfall but I noticed it more at A-level, so especially in year 13 I really had to practice! Knowing your verbs etc really helps, as simple as that sounds! Reading/watching/listening to French is a really good idea too 😊 but try not to forget about your other subjects 😉
Hehe, I’ll try not to! 😀 I hope not to get TOO carried away with French, cause I’ve got THREE other essay subjects!
Ah I understand that! I did English lit and media as well, and media is kind of 50/50 with essays and coursework stuff. Eventually you’ll get into the hang of it, I would suggest getting used to writing the essays as early as you can 😊
I definitely will. It’s gonna be work work work for me YAAAAYYY’!
I’m sure you’ll be fine! 😄
I’ve always loved learning French, but quickly became bored with German. I’m also doing French for A-level and if I have time, I’d like to start reading a French book over the holidays. Even if I don’t study it past A-level, I’d love to be fluent in it one day.
Me too. It would just be so lovely. If I find a good one, want me to recommend it to you?
That would be very helpful, thank you.
No problem! My friend and I are going to a French bookshop up later today so I should find something 🙂
Also, I got bored of German as well. I just… Didn’t really like it
My school’s destroyed all passion that I had for French 😦 I’ll probably learn it later on in life for fun
The thing is you’re ridiculously good at French, so you’ll have no problems 🙂
Thanks 🙂 Je l’apprécie. Anyway, the modern language teachers at my school aren’t good at all except from two so there’s no way I’d do it at school past GCSE. I’d have to teach myself too much and I wouldn’t enjoy it
When you have to teach yourself, sometimes it sucks the enjoyment out of things. Or when you’re taught it generally. I found that with Spanish and also piano 😀
I’m learning French too (I also started learning when I was roughly that age I went to French school on a weekend) and geez I can’t form hardly a single sentance but I’m with you I do enjoy it but I don’t think I could ever take it A -level.
I don’t even know why am doing it! 😃 I would have loved to go to French school, because we never did that 😞
i’m taking french too, and i love it and everything about the culture but oh my goodness the language… just, why? it might be weirder than english i swear. there’s so many obscure rules and you never pronounce every syllable and just whyyyy??? on the other hand, french food is the bomb, like baguettes for breakfast? sign me up! also, crepes. nothing beats crepes. so yeah, i feel your struggles. if you want a little bit of french immersion practice / want a new show to get obsessed with or something cute to ship, this show called miraculous ladybug is a french children’s cartoon that tumblr pretty much hijacked and made into a fandom and it’s honestly just the best. you can find all the episodes in english here in order and everything: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8QCLi7smnlZdxwbnrRs5VwDi3vCdu0QJ
my friend and i watched most of them in french with english subs so we could practice some french while watching, but i can’t find the channel we watched them on anymore. there’s also some copyright problems or something like that so one day you’ll have all the episodes up all nice and lined up and the next day they’re gone without a trace because the show’s owners had them taken down, but they’re pretty easy to find otherwise. it sounds ridiculous and stupid, but it’s honestly the cutest show and you’ll love it. they’ve announced two more seasons after this one, and there’ll be 26 episodes in each so plenty to watch 🙂 this was a super long comment, but enjoy!
xxx abi
OOMGGGG this is AMAZINGGG thank you!!! Yeah, French pronunciation and grammar KILLS! De la, á, du, des, AAAAHHH!
But French food is SO SO amazing I LOVE IIIIT!!! 🙂
YES that show. I must watch it. I’ll probably get obsessed with it but shhhh I’m cool. Thanks for the recommendation!
yeah no problem! and yes, you will get obsessed but i promise it’ll be worth it 😛
I GUARANTEE to myself it will be!
my sister fully speaks French, and she said the secret to pronouncing it correctly is by spitting
no she actually said that, really, she was serious.
good luck on learning it!
That has actually just made my entire day 😀 Hahahaaa seriously??! BRILLIANT!
Omg this post is literally me though – I mean, I could have written exactly the same things myself! I’m taking a-level French in September too. Everyone says I’m mad for doing that but I don’t know I just…get it? I think my brain is wired for learning languages and I love that. I am in no way fluent in French – I’m definitely better at reading French than anything else. Listening isn’t too bad but I can barely write (because I can’t spell/cope with all the accents and stuff) or speak (because I have an inability to pronounce French words and sound convincing) it. I really want to keep learning it though (hence why I’m doing a-level) because it IS fun. I did the GCSE French exam like more than a month ago now and I still find myself thinking of French words/how to say stuff in French before I speak it or naming random household objects in French. I’m even still carrying on with the French Duolingo course which is what I used to revise for GCSEs and found it really useful – I highly recommend it if you want to keep French fresh in your head over the summer break. I also want to start reading French books but libraries over here seem to have a lack of them – although I did manage to find a French copy of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone which I’m going to pick up in the next few weeks. I think as far as books go, it’s best to start off with French editions of books you’ve already read/are familiar with as at first it will be tiring to read fully in French and it will be easier if you already are familiar with the plot and everything. Best of luck with it all! If you ever want someone to practice French with, I’m here! (Although my grammar is bad but I guess the more I practice, the better I’ll get) 🙂
YES, another french student! I might take you up on that offer to practice, because I’ll need it! I’ve heard Duolingo is REALLY good, so I think I’ll try it out, hmm, YES, french Harry POTTER!!! I need to do that.
Nous parlerions Français ensemble! Or whatever I can’t do this
Yay! Feel free to DM me any time if you feel like it – I’m always up for a bit of French (warning you now that my spelling is bad 😂). Yeah Duolingo is a must! Oui nous pouvens/pouverions?? Idk 😂
My spelling’s bad too so it’s all good!
I get that. Like, I try so hard with learning german, because a) I have to pass HS and b) it’s super useful for buisness. But I just can’t. It’s so hard. And language does NOT come naturally for me at all! But good luck with your french BTW 🙂 Sounds like your alot better at this than I am! 🙂
Hehe, I can understand that – I was the same with Spanish, where it just didn’t fit with me. You know?
Good luck for HS – what’s that? sorry I’m being stupid haha! 😀
Hm, maybe another language would be better for me than? I’ve always wanted to learn italian as well. HS – high school. You’re not being stupid, I’m using outdated acronyms haha.
WOAH it’s so obvious now I feel like an idiot! 😀 Try Italian. Some languages might “fit” better than others.
Haha, def not an idiot. But, yeah, I’ll do that 😀
hi! Nice post! French is complicated, one of my best friends is from Normandy, so if you need any questions answered, you know where to find the answer!:)
Sami<3
Oooh awesome, that’d be so helpful – thank you so so much! 🙂 Do you speak French?
Me? Oh goodness no, at least besides a few words she’s taught me. But if you have any questions I’d be more than willing to ask her for you:) She’s a pro!
Yay, thank you! You’re awesome 🙂
I am trying to continue learning sign language. Good luck with the French.
Marilyn
Thank you so much, I might need it! I really want to properly learn Sign Language; all I can do now is the Alphabet.
I’m actually an international relations and translation student so learning languages is what I do! I’m fluent in English and Spanish and have done 5 years of French, 3 years of German and just the first year of Mandarin Chinese. And all the languages that I learn make me curious about their cultures, customs and traditions, so I investigate a bit and fall in love with them even more!
Now THAT is brilliant! You really are fantastic – you’ve learned so many and that’s great! 🙂 You lucky thing. I adore different cultures, especially learning about them, and their day-to-day lives. It fascinates me!
Me too! Maybe we could work with that for or collab?
Yeah, sounds great! What kinda thing would we say? (Actually, email me about it 😛 It’s easier)
Will do 😉
I want to learn Japanese/Korean- they sound so delicately pleasant. My uncle thinks I should learn Chinese since China may be the next world superpower
But learn the ones you WANT to learn! Japanese would be great, but I’ve heard it’s really difficult.
I like learning different languages too. It is a dream that one day I’ll be able to be fluent in 3. I’m working on it. More than 3 would be great, but that’s just being greedy.
Hehe it’s not greedy – but you should try! Are you fluent in 2?
nah, I used to be but I kind of lost it.
You can get it back though 🙂
Yep that’s what I’m trying to do right now so I’m learning it at school.
That’s awesome!
I’m SUPER obsessed with France that I have an Eiffel Tower keychain AND pendant! 😛
I know a bit of French, but i’m really fascinated by Arabic. I’m sort of fluent in Japanese – thanks to all the anime i watch, and J-pop songs i listen to! I really want to learn as many languages as I can. :3
That’s a GOOD thing! So do I. Language really fascinates me because it’s a whole other way of expressing things. OOH, is Japanese hard? I used to know a little Arabic but now I’ve forgotten it all!
Japanese isnt quite that hard actually! Most of what I learnt were through anime. So, if you pay attention to what they say, it’s kind of easy. But, the writing style is hard. ARABIC is so fascinating! My best friend is a Muslim, and although an Indian one and not an Arabic one, she seems to know the language and she can write my name in Arabic as well!
I’ve always loved Arabic and I wish I could speak it. AHHH I love languages! 🙂 Can you write in Japanese?
Nope. I can speak, though. :3
YES good!
Hi…first of all i would like to know what is GCSE.
Secondly I learnt french as third language after Hindi and English for 5 yrs. And I was completely in love with it. Yes the rules were a little complicated specially verbs but i enjoyed reading french texts loud n clear!
Yes, french is really fantastic!
GCSEs are exams that people in England who are 15-16 take – at the end of year 11, after two years of studying. The average amount of subjects we study is about 10, and we get exams in all of them. They then determine what we can take for A-level – for the next two years after, where we usually take 4 subjects.
Okay..I get it now. Like in India we have schooling for 12 years. At the end of 10th standard we have to give an exam whose scores decide what all subjects we are eligible to take up for next two years. In 10th we have 6 subjects i.e. English,French/Hindi/Sanskrit/German, Social Studies, Science,Mathematics and Information Technology. For next two years we study 5 subjects bit those depend on the career we wud like ro pursue. At the end of 12th we have a major exam which we call BOARDS after which we enter University.
Oh! I understand it all now! Yeah, that sounds relatively similar
I attempted to learn french a few times, although all of those times I gave up and/or got busy haha. Although I have a friend who is french and we write letters to eachother (obviously most of the time I have to use google translate XD )It’d be so cool to know how to speak a second language properly haha
OMG it so would! You LUCKY thing – I should start writing letters in French, but they wouldn’t be sent to anybody 😛 I just love languages ahhhh!
I know right!! Same!!
I’d been wanting to write letters in another language for AGES, but I couldn’t find any haha after a little bit I went on this site I think is called something like Students Of The World or something and they have this thing where you make and ‘ad’ saying what languages you speak and who you want to talk to, so anyone interested in talking to you will email you and stuff, if that makes sense, and then if you trust them and want to write letters you give them your address then boom you have an awesome person to write to XD I’ve been writing letters to a girl for the past year, her name is Lise and she’s so cool:)
Geez this is a huge comment… 😛 Hehehe sorryyyyy but I hope you’ll find someone if you want to XD
I NEED to look at that; that’s such a good idea! EEEE!!!! LETTERSS!!!! Thanks for the website recommendation
I’m really glad I could help in some way haha XD I was sooo excited when I got my first letter(s) from my penpal hahaha
I would be too!
This sounds so amazing! I hope you love your A level course to bits.
I really hope so too! What’re you taking?
I’m a bit undecided. Definitely English Lit and Maths. Then a choice between Physics or Electronics.
What do you think you’ll enjoy more?
Most definitely English I think. And you? What are your other choices?
English lit, psychology and history 🙂
I didn’t mind learning German, although all the grammar rules had my mind in a muddle. Listening to song covers in german esp raps were so fascinating. I equally have a love hate relationship with writing in my mothertongue (247 letters in the alphabet) but the characters look so beautiful.
Ooh, what’s your first language? 🙂 Ahhh German, I could NEVER do that!
It’s Tamil. Haha well I had a choice between Mandarin and German, and after learning both for two years, I knew I would have better chances with one xD
Oooh that’s so awesome!
I’m taking French as a GCSE! How was yours?
Also, in case you’re wanting any other French songs, I found a cover of ‘All of me’ on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6wkGp7KC0k
Oooohhh that is so so good, thank you!
Mine went quite good! The exam was alright 🙂 I’m sure you’re gonna do great!
Thank you! Good luck for your results! 😀
Thanks! 🙂
I used to take french for a year two years ago! It’s a beautiful language and our teacher made us memorize this french song. Sadly, since I moved schools I stopped learning french, So I know very little. But who knows? I might learn it again sometime. Oh and good luck! 🙂
Go for it! I really love the language, and songs too 🙂 It’s sad you no longer do French, but it’s not the end of potential french learning.
I love some Louise Attaque songs, they make me so happy!!
I NEED to listen to ’em! 🙂
Yes you should! I love j’t’emmène au vent
Being somewhat fluent in French is something on my bucket list. I’ve been taking classes on the French language for about 4 years now but I still can’t properly speak it, unfortunately. Oh well! Someday we’re going to be fabulous French speakers 😂
Oui, nous sommes! 🙂 I WISH I could speak French fluently! We’ll get there though!
ELM I COMPLETELY LOVE THIS POST!!!!! Somebody in this world feels me, omg. I’ve also been learning French since I was 5 or 6 but can barley put sentences together too. (I’m just good at vocab, like knowing individual words). I completely love languages and am also going to do it for A-level too. I’ve had a love hate relationship with it just like you and the advice you’ve given here about twitter accounts and books is actually really useful. We’re going to do the AQA French course for A-Level and part of that is reading a book. I get French magazines but reading newspapers sounds like a great idea. I’m definitely going to check out these songs, I love listening to songs being sung in French. Elm, this may be my favourite post ever, you completely have summed up pretty much my life, languages are just so good. xx
JEEESSSSS you make me HAPPY because we’re so similar! There’s a good book called Bonjour Tristesse, which I haven’t read yet but I want to start. Try Le Monde as a newspaper, it’s so great!
YESS!!! You’re doing it for A-Level!
I’ll definitely have to check it out! I’ve heard of Le Monde and it looks scary to read but I’ll give it a go!! x
Good on ya! x
I too love French, and am similarly crap at speaking & listening – like literally, you couldn’t be worse than me if you tried! Also, i’m kinda genuinely obsessed with the idea of Twittering in French… Saying ‘L’ in a French accent actually sounds sort of sexy… Not sure about that one! ;-]
OMFGGG it actually does! Let’s do this OMG let’s set up twitter accounts in French
D’accord l’Elm
L’elm crying
Pour-quoi?
Dernière Danse was the song that got me through GCSE French exam day!!! It calmed me down so much haha. I loved doing the GCSE and wanted to do it next year, but there were 4 subjects I had to narrow down to 3 and sadly French was the one I ditched! I am learning Spanish this summer though 🙂 Good luck studying French next year x
Aww thank you! It’s a shame you had to ditch French 😦 What’re you studying next year? And YES Derniere Danse is so good!!!
I know yeah! I’m going to Literature, Sociology and Religious Studies. What other one’s are you taking?
Oooh that sounds great! English lit, Psychology and History 🙂
This is super cool! I think it’s amazing when people are bilingual but I’m not so I’m easily impressed haha.
-Amy
AHHH same, when someone can just speak TWO LANGUAGES it’s awesome!
I’m just like… I can’t even do ONE all that well. BUT TWO???
Me TOO!!!
YAAAASSSSS ELM STAN 4 FRENCH
I’ll tell you some realllllyyyy good french songs
Actually i cant link them here so ill send them on chat
Hey Elm! Sorry I haven’t been on in a whileeee….
I have been learning french for three and a half years. Even after that I SUCK; I could never make it in france, even though it would be absolutely stunningggggg.
I like your plan of learning, haha. I think I might do that too… just to see where it goess….
I am thinking about dropping french, because it isn’t a subject I want to do in year 12, so it is a waste of time now…. Idk… What do you think? Should I?
If you don’t want to do it and aren’t interested, I’d say yes. Only do a subject if you’re passionate about it and you WANT to do it. As much as French is fabulous, if YOU don’t like it, don’t do it. You can always pick it up later as a sort of hobby, anyway! 🙂
Haha Thanks Elm. Well, I think that just about settles it. (Bye french 😦 )
Oh well! 🙂
I’m doing French AND Spanish for a level and everyone thinks I’m mad and I don’t know if I’m going to regret it but eh. I really like languages too and I actually want to learn Greek. IM SO GLAD I FOUND SOMEONE ELSE WHO TAKES LANGUAGES BECAUSE EVERYONE THINKS IM CRAZY
YOU’RE NOT CRAZY IT’s OKAY!!!! WE CAN DO LANGUAGES TOGETHER YES! OMG if we regret it we can also cry together; I’m only doing one language though!
GREEK! That’s amazing!
YAY BUDDIES!! (I can feel my tears coming on already)
Me too AAARGH!
WE’LL BE FINE. WE CAN BE MULTILINGUAL CULTURED INTERNATIONAL COSMOPOLITAN HUMAN BEINGS
YES WE CAN!!! LET’s DO THIS
Hey Elm! Ive enjoyed reading your article! Im a new blogger and my first post talks about singing like stromae! I have it in both English and French! You pick your language 😉
http://www.maxsjourney.com/2016/10/04/a-cappella-2/
OHHH, thanks! This’ll be so useful!