L’Armistice – Soyez vainqueur ! – Le Blogue at French Hour

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Armistice Day – Be the last one standing!

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Armistice Day – Be the last one standing!

If you were listening to French news these last few days, you’d hear segments about Armistice.

What is Armistice ? Armistice is celebrated each year on November 11 and it commemorates the end of the First World War. This year is a particularly big one, as it’s the 100^th anniversary. And President Macron, as usual, is making the buzz by speaking his mind, going to places no president as gone before literally and figuratively.

In any case, this week, as I’m reflecting upon the First World War and its implication in modern life – my great-grandfather disappeared in it, it also made me think about this analogy between war and learning a language, if you’ll allow me the metaphor.

Sometimes, I find that learning French is a bit like being on a battlefield: you’re fighting for your ideals, your linguistic ideal being becoming bilingual.

Unfortunately, weapons loaded with bullets to the nth degree are hitting you right and left :

• bullet #1: you’ve been studying for months now and you feel you’re not going to make it.
• bullet #2: you have no time to study, why bother?
• bullet #3: you’ve already learned that darned subjunctive mode twice already, but somehow, you can’t remembered it still.
• bullet #4: you’re pretty advanced but you still can’t understand authentic French.

I could go on and on with the number of bullets – i.e. hurdles – one may encounter in their learning French journey.

And I have a cure for every bullet:

• bullet #1: find a French teacher who will be able to guide you towards your next step in learning French
• bullet #2: do only 5 minutes a day, listen to a podcast as you walk the dog, pick a short exercise to do each day
• bullet #3: don’t be afraid to revisit the same topic many times – every day the first week you learn it, then twice a week for 2 weeks, then twice a month, and then again once in a while. Even though you’ve “learned” that, your brains aren’t going to be able to retain it but after many repetitions.
• bullet #4: Study with my Authentic French courses: The easiest exercise is probably the Step Dictation. I created that type of practice to lower the authentic French level to an intermediate learner.

So, don’t let the enemy win and be the last one standing: partly immerse yourself by taking weekly classes or come with me for a week of Fun and French in the spring. There are 4 spots left in April and in May.

In the meantime, take this quiz and see if you’re a good candidate to learn French, and if you’ll be the last one standing against the adversities of learning French.

Quiz - Am I ready to learn French? - This quiz is much longer and interactive at FrenchHour.

You’re not sure you’re ready to learn French ? This quiz is going to ask you several yes-or-no questions. Check out the percentage you get after you submit your answers and see if you're ready to learn French. ----- Voyons si vous êtes vraiment prêt/e à apprendre le français. Répondez honnêtement aux questions par OUI ou NON. Selon le résultat, vous saurez ainsi à la fin si vous êtes prêt à parler français couramment ou non.

• Je suis trop occupée dans mes journées, toutefois :
  My days are too busy, however:
  • Non, je ne suis pas d’accord pour me lever 10 minutes plus tôt pour écouter un enregistrement
  • Oui, je suis d’accord pour me lever 10 minutes plus tôt pour écouter un enregistrement
• Si je pensais que le prix du cours reflète la qualité de l’enseignement, je ferais du français.
  If I thought that the price of the class reflects the quality of the teaching, I would do French.
  • non, je recherche seulement des cours bon marché
  • oui, je suis d’accord pour payer un cours valable
• Si je trouvais un/e prof/e qualifié/e capable de me guider vers l'étape suivante,
  If I could find a qualified teacher able to guide me to the next step,
  • non, je ne suivrai sans doute pas de cours
  • oui, je suivrai sans doute un cours
• Si je trouvais un cours avec des gens sympa
  If I found a class with nice people
  • oui, je m’inscrirai au cours
  • non, je ne recherche pas particulièrement l’amitié d’autrui

What Next?

Workshop – Talk about the news

Learn to master Authentic French

Practice French with a short exercise

Understand a French video with an exercise Anne created

Weekly Tutorials with Anne

Read about Anne’s immersion program

. Today’s French . List . Mot du Jour . List . Le Blogue . 3 Great Memberships . Courses . Donate .

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