Thread: [French] Studying French
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Old March 31, 2016, 05:05 PM
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JPablo JPablo is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Southern California
Posts: 5,579
Native Language: Spanish (Castilian, peninsular)
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I studied French for about 6-7 years when I was 12... (from 12 to 18), and I was able to talk and be understood when I had a stage in Paris, in 1988 or so...,

On my first week was a bit shaky, but by the end of the month, some French speakers commented, rather asked if I was "from the South of France" (due to my accent), and of course... "Mais oui!" (I am from the South-South of France, namely, Barcelona!)

I agree on your appreciations, but pronunciations become easier as you go. To me the most difficult is French grammar (I think French people may argue about the correctness of some constructions...) and the "super-difficult" irregular verbs...

However, if you use French and if you like it, learning and mastering French is an excellent indoor sport..., well, I guess you can also do it outdoors... ;-)

Since 1988-89 I haven't practiced it myself, so to say that it's a bit "rusty" it's an understatement. But I can understand it pretty well, even if my ability to speak it has been undermined by my lack of practice...

At any rate, being natively Spanish, learning French was an interesting and enriching experience... and I will like to recover my fluency and continue learning.

If you understand and practice, learning another Romance language, be French, be Italian or Catalonian, as long as you can keep differentiating terms I think it will always help you...

My two cents.

Hope it helps.
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