Walk the Walk, Talk the Talk, or "How to Learn French in 7 Months"

My favorite part of planning a trip is learning the language (beyond just "please" and "thank you"  -- two words that come in handy no matter where you travel).  After deciding to take a trip to France, I had seven months to prepare.  Besides a desire to read street signs and restaurant menus, I wanted to communicate with our hosts in Lyon.  Attempting to learn their language will help show my respect for them and their culture.  I am certainly no expert, but I've learned a lot and wanted to share some tips.

If you are interested in learning a second language, my best tip is to diversify.  Not everybody learns the same way, and if you aren't sure what your best learning method is, try a variety.  There are books, audio and video resources, and live classroom instruction.  Here is my take on the different genres:

Live Classroom Instruction
It would have been great to have had a person to practice with, and make corrections.  The challenge with this method is that you can only progress at the same pace as the instructor and other students.  And, since my primary learning time was on the train, this was not an option for me.

Books
You cannot avoid books.  The reason, especially with French, is that the written word in French is usually far different than what one hears.  English gives us a few curveballs, like "through" (phonetically "thru").  But French gives us "croix" (something like "cwah") as just a simple example.  There are also the words that sound the same but are spelled differently.  For example, moi (me), moins (less), mois (month) - all sound the same.  Without the written word, it would be hard to distinguish.  Another benefit to books is that they can be used at your own pace.
Recommendations:
Barron's Learn French The Fast and Fun Way
Berlitz French Phrase Book & Dictionary
French For Dummies

Audio
Audio is a necessary supplement to books.  Most language books today come with audio CD's or audio content that can be downloaded.  Audio resources help one learn to mimic the sounds of the French language, but as importantly it helps with the identification of French words.  After all, in order to be a French speaker, one must also be a French listener.  The challenge to audio, even after you've found a good product, is that it is a linear tool and cannot easily be used at your own pace.
Recommendations:
My favorite audio resources are both podcasts.  They also have advanced subscriber lessons and websites, but I just used the basics which were freely downloadable from iTunes.
Coffee Break French
Beginning with Season 1, this is a good beginner's resource which gets progressively more advanced.  It is taught by a Scottish polyglot and was a fun and interesting resource.
Learn French By Daily Podcast
This podcast is taught by a native French speaker named Louis, and is immersive.  In other words, Louis explains advanced words by defining them with other French words.  He tries to minimize his use of the English language, so you the listener can improve your French.  I really enjoy his style, since it primarily consists of reading a short paragraph of the day's news, and then breaking it down for you.  This is highly recommended, but is only useful if you already have the basics.

Video
Video resources can combine the best that books and audio have to offer.  A quality program can display the written word while a native French speaker pronounces the word.  In addition, they will often provide cultural information which helps keep the lessons more interesting when the vocabulary and grammar points become too dry.
Recommendations:
Imagiers (Learn French with Vincent)
Vincent is one of the best.  He has a clear speaking voice and helps you learn French with his visual aids plus his audio repetition of the language.  There are an abundance of free resources on his website, so it may seem overwhelming.  Try it out and find what works best for you.
French In Action
This is one of my favorites -- it is an immersive French language "TV show" from the late 80's.   This program consists of 52 free videos that were filmed 25 years ago.  If you want to go the full Monty, then there are also accompanying books that are still available on Amazon.com.  But for me, this program reminded me of PBS programs from the era.  It tells the story of a Parisian girl and her family, and her interaction (and love affair?) with an American boy.  It is an immersive program, so it is challenging for beginners.  While I miss more than half of what is said, I enjoy watching it since I can understand what is happening just by the video.  And besides, the lead actress is sublime.
I am far from fluent in French, but I feel much more confident than I was seven months ago.  And learning a foreign language is a great way to exercise the brain and ward off age-related memory problems.  Keep those synapses firing, folks!  I encourage everyone to take some time to learn another language, even if you are, like myself, no longer a student.

Edu-Culture Immersion (ECI)

Spanish is the second most common language spoken in the US.  It is spoken by more than 10% of Americans.  It is also the native language of my wife's parents, so it is no surprise that my daughter has taken Spanish in school for most of the past ten years.  But as she approached her Junior year in high school, she decided to add a second second language, and registered for French class.  French is spoken by about .5 % of Americans, so this was an unexpected choice.  Maybe it was her fascination with the fashion industry, or her love of French pastry and cheese, or distant memories of standing atop the Eiffel Tower when she was five years old.  It was in the spring of 2012 when her French teacher recommended a program called ECI.  They were looking for host families that would be willing to bring a French student into their homes for three weeks, as the French students immersed themselves in American life and culture. 

My daughter wanted to participate, and I have to admit it sounded perfect.  I was glad to think this could be a way for my daughter to learn more about the language and culture of France.  And since the whole family has an enthusiasm for travel, this seemed like an inexpensive way to "travel" to Europe by bringing a bit of Europe to us.  And maybe most of all, we were excited to show off our home town to a student from far away. 

It's not every day in this quiet leafy suburb that a large man rolls up to the house on a Harley in a black leather jacket. But we let him in the house with a smile and a firm handshake. This was the Chicago area representative of Edu-Culture Immersion (ECI), and he was going to explain the ECI program. He brought with him the profiles of a number of applicants who wished to participate in the American immersion program.  The idea, he explained, was to find a student who would be a good match based on common interests. We quickly narrowed down the list, and finally found our match when we discovered a student from Lyon.  We felt that Lyon, as the third largest city in France and with similar weather patterns, was at least superficially similar to Chicago.  And this French student's interests (travel, music, politics, dance) mirrored our interests exactly.  The odd coincidence that she and her family had been in London the past winter at very nearly the same time we were may have sealed the deal.

Mademoiselle (Mlle) arrived from Lyon in July, and we immediately started to immerse her in our lives.  We fit more activities into three weeks than we might have otherwise done all summer long.  On the first night, we introduced her to our neighbors at a small party.  She attended our daughter's dance classes, and had a chance to see the local high school, grocery store, library, movie theater, and more. 

We went to the Taste of Chicago on Saturday, July 14, and then went to Daley Plaza to attend the French consulate's Bastille Day celebration.  We held a family birthday party so Mlle could meet some extended family.  We brought her to see my band perform at Montrose Beach, and the next weekend brought her to Milwaukee to see my other band perform.  Mlle enjoyed the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Science and Industry.  We spent time at the beach at Warren Dunes State Park in Michigan, after having gone blueberry picking in Indiana.  My cousin hosted us for a boating party on a lake in southern Wisconsin.  We also had some relaxation time, as we watched movies (some French, some American), and discussed books and politics and music and school.  Mlle spent time learning sewing from my daughter, exercise routines from my wife, and I taught her "Girl from Ipanema" on guitar.  She made us some traditional French dishes, and we made some American breakfasts for her.

During those three weeks, Mlle was as polite and friendly as could be.  It was a whirlwind visit, and she had really grown on us all.  In such a short time, she had become part of the family.  It was with heavy hearts that we faced the end of the three weeks. 

On the last day, we exchanged some small gifts, and traded notes to express our appreciation and hopes for the future.  It was at this time that Mlle extended an offer for us to visit her family in Lyon.  We weren't sure it could ever be arranged, but we were grateful for the offer.  As we left her at the airport, we wished her Bon Voyage, and watched her as she faded into the sea of teenage students from France saying their goodbyes.

It didn't take long to realize that a trip to France was exactly what we needed.  We knew that we would love her family, and though we had been to Paris many years ago, we had never been elsewhere in France.  This was an opportunity to see the true France.  Lyon, where over a million people live and work, was founded in Roman days and was a capital city during the Renaissance.  Today, it is the undisputed gastronomical capital of France.  We've made our arrangements, packed our bags, and will be there in 48 hours.  Allons-y!

A Tale of Two Cities, part 3

As I look forward to a second trip to France, I remember our first trip to Paris thirteen years ago.  After settling into the hotel, we like to get acclimated to the neighborhood.  It gives one a sense of place, especially if the neighborhood is not in a tourist area.  We were staying just north of the heart of the city, in a true residential neighborhood.  We found an appealing restaurant, but soon realized meal times in Paris are not so early as those for Americans with young children.  We picked up enough French to see the restaurant would not open for two hours.  We strolled the area as we waited, and made note of the location of the laundry facilities, the pharmacy, and tried to stop inside all the little shops that line the market street.  Rather than one all-inclusive market, we were charmed by the vegetable market, the cheese shop, the fish market, the flower shop, the meat market, the delicatessen (charcuterie), the bread shop, and the pastry market (patisseries).  Quaint little shops lined the centuries old urban Paris streets.  At the designated time, we returned to the restaurant, and ended the evening with a wonderful middle-eastern meal.  We spoke only English and Spanish, and they spoke only French and Arabic, so we ordered via gestures and smiles.  We unfortunately were to never have a classic French meal while on this trip (we ate middle-eastern, Chinese, Italian, even American), but we knew we would return one day, and would make up for the loss.  We made our way back to the hotel, to get some rest for the next day, a celebration for our daughter's fifth birthday.

Michael Eisner once explained that "as Americans, the word ‘Euro’ is believed to mean glamorous or exciting. For Europeans it turned out to be a term they associated with business, currency, and commerce. Renaming the park ‘Disneyland Paris’ was a way of identifying it with one of the most romantic and exciting cities in the world."  Whether associated with the word "Euro" or "Paris", it didn't matter to us.  Our daughter was turning five years old, and the only word that mattered was "Disneyland".   True, we were in the most romantic city in the world, but our first full day in Paris would be spent with the joyful sounds of children laughing.  We had just gotten to Paris from London, where our children patiently (and pleasantly) allowed us to enjoy a visit to see the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London, and to sip afternoon tea at the Savoy Hotel.  We owed them. 

There are certain limits to the cultural experience one can get at Disneyland, but it was the first time I ever tried a chocolate croissant or popcorn sprinkled with sugar instead of salt.  And we truly had a lot of fun keeping up with the kids that day.  As we were celebrating our daughter's birthday, we capped it off with a special dinner at a fun restaurant nearby, including a rousing chorus of "Joyeux Anniversaire" from several of the wait staff, who carried her, grinning ear to ear, on their shoulders.

By Friday, we were ready to start seeing the real Paris.  Unlike Chicago, Paris is not completely flat -- it is topped by a large hill on the north end.  I'll spare you the related story of St. Denis, but perhaps you can look it up one day.  The hill and surrounding neighborhood is called Montmartre, which means mount of the martyrs -- though some say the name goes back to a pre-Christian dedication to the Roman god Mars.  The pinnacle of Montmartre is the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur, and anyone with the spirit of challenge in their hearts will be tempted to climb the stairs to the top.  It's not a difficult walk; the view makes it worthwhile, and the return walk is all downhill.  With young children along for the walk, it took us longer than expected.  Though we enjoyed the view over Paris from the terrace of the basilica, it was not in the cards to go inside for a peek at the church.  It was getting late and we still had a long walk back down for the remainder of our sight-seeing.  Just before we started to descend, we spotted celebrity Rod Stewart leave the church and duck into his waiting limousine.  It seemed not everyone has the spirit of challenge in their hearts.

Our next stop was to the center of the city, for the Notre Dame cathedral.  From the plaza in front, we admired the architecture and pointed out all the interesting carvings to the children.  They didn't appreciate how the carvings told the story of the bible to the illiterate masses of the middle ages.  And while we worried that bringing children to the inside of the cathedral could result in some disrespectful noise, the children suddenly (and miraculously?) fell asleep in their prams.  My wife and I enjoyed the sights and silence of the sacred space as the children slept. 

When we left the church, we crossed the river and walked to the Louvre museum, once the royal palace.  With the kids having just woken from their naps, we realized we would not be able to see this world famous museum from the inside.  Our goal was to get to the Eiffel Towel by sunset, and we would not have time to the enjoy the Louvre with just 15 minutes available.  We would have to imagine the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, and promise ourselves to come back one day.  We continued down the Champs-Élysées to the iconic Arc de Triomphe, which is far larger than it seems from photographs.  We took the underground pedway to get to arc, which sits in the center of the largest traffic circle I've ever seen.  The artistic detail on the arc was incredible.  Visitors are allowed to go to the top of the monument, but the clock was ticking and we were determined to view the city from the Eiffel Tower during daylight.

Just in time, we reached the Eiffel Tower and ascended.  The views were gorgeous, the experience magical.  We watched the sun set over the city.  After dark, the Eiffel Tower is self-illuminated.  It is covered with thousands of flashing lights, like a Christmas tree made from an enormous Erector Set.  It was getting quite late by that time, and after a very full day, we found the nearest Metro station and made our way back to the hotel.  Although we saw many highlights of Paris, we knew there was more -- much more -- to uncover about France.  We knew we would return.  We just did not know when.  The answer, it turns out, is Friday.

A Tale of Two Cities, part 2

Eurostar is a high speed train line that connects London to Paris through the Channel Tunnel.  From when the Channel Tunnel first opened in 1994, until 2007 when the terminal was moved across town, Eurostar carried nearly 82 million passengers from Waterloo Station through the tunnel to the continent.  My family and I were among those passengers in late January 2000 to board the sleek comfortable Eurostar train.  We were leaving the busiest train station in Britain, heading for the busiest station in all of Europe, the Gare du Nord on the north side of Paris.

Trains departing Waterloo pass the Battersea Power Station on the way out of town.  For unsuspecting travelers this is an unexpected surprise, as it was the setting of the cover of the Pink Floyd album "Animals".  We enjoyed watching the very urban London scenery pass by as the train made its way to the tunnel.  As we finally arrived at the tunnel, we made a fuss to the children about it.  But, although we were reaching top speeds of 189 miles per hour, we lacked a visual point of reference with which to enjoy the speed.  20 minutes later we emerged from the tunnel and were in France. 

We arrived at Gare du Nord, children and luggage in tow, and walked the few blocks to the Alba Opera Apart'hotel.  I have a tendency to forget that city blocks are larger than they appear on the map, especially when pushing prams and pulling suitcases through busy city streets.  We tried to contain our excitement long enough to get to the hotel and unpack our bags, but it was difficult not to gawk at this historic yet vibrant living city as we made our way just over half a mile to the hotel.

The Alba Opera Apart'hotel offers hotel rooms and small apartments, close to the border between the 9th and 18th arrondissement.  It is close to the historic Montmartre region, a reasonable walking distance to the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur and the Moulin Rouge caberet.  The hotel was as charming as could be.  The room was on the 3rd floor, and the elevator was so tiny (and cute) that we could only send the luggage up the elevator, and had to walk the stairs to meet the bags when they arrived.  Despite our inability to speak French, and the proprietor's inability to speak English, she gave us lots of great information and a local map showing us the Metro stations and nearby points of interest.  We exchanged information using gestures and even a bit of Spanish, since the proprietor was of Spanish descent.  As we re-loaded our kids into their matching prams and prepared to head out of the hotel for our first foray into the City of Lights, we knew this was going to be a fantastic adventure.

A Tale of Two Cities, part 1

As we near departure date for a trip to France, I think back to the three days we spent there in 2000 when the kids were just 3 and 4 years old.  Like many Americans on their first trip to Europe, we chose London as the starting point.  We sought the safety of the common language and similar culture.  Europe on training wheels.  London had the strongest presence of all European capitals in popular culture for young Americans in the 1970's, and I couldn't wait to see the city of Mary Poppins and Peter Pan, as well as Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Abbey Road, and on and on.

The south bank of the Thames River now boasts one of London's top tourist attractions, the London Eye.  Tony Blair officially opened the attraction on December 31, 1999 to usher in the new year; but as of late January 2000, it was still dormant and closed to the public.  The wheel wasn't opened until March of that year, which was a disappointment to the two young children in tow.

Just south of the London Eye is the Marriott County Hall Hotel, a 5-star hotel housed in London's former County Hall.  Having just wrapped up an extensive series of business trips, I had accumulated enough Marriott Reward points to enjoy this well-deserved splurge courtesy of Marriott.  Our large room faced the Thames River, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.  We rode the tube trains, and learned about London from a cabbie in his iconic black cab.  We enjoyed as much of London as a couple with two toddlers can, all the more so after we ventured to the Kensington neighborhood to buy a matching pair of prams.  With the liberation of our new prams, we strolled Kensington Gardens, and reflected at the makeshift memorial to Princess Diana, then just two years gone.

London was orderly, proper, clean, polite.  We loved it, but we were conspicuous.  Young children being silly, with my daughter in a bright pink winter coat.  We could not have stuck out more in this landscape of gray skies and black overcoats.  Certainly we were quickly spotted as Americans by our accents and bright colors.  We were thrilled to be in London, but it didn't fit my idea of an adventure.  I like to feel like a fish out of water.  There is no doubt that London is different than Chicago.  But it is different in the way that the Thames River (tidal and brackish with salty water from the sea) is different from the Chicago River (fed by freshwater from Lake Michigan).  We were looking forward to the second half of our trip to feel truly out of our element.

It is about 21 watery miles from England to France across the English Channel.  Swimmers have successfully made the crossing, as have hovercraft, hydroplanes, and of course ships.  But others had long dreamed of a faster and more comfortable crossing.  As early as 1802, a French mining engineer proposed tunneling under the water to the other side.  Ideas and proposals bounced back and forth over the years since then.  By 1988, a new plan had been conceived and work began in earnest on what would become the The Channel Tunnel.  Six years later, the tunnel was open for business, and another six years after that, I enjoyed one of the coolest train rides of my life.

Avez-vous des œufs?

Avez-vous des œufs?  (ah-vay-voo-day-zuhf)

In September of 1943, the US government issued a French phrase book, designed for the Allied soldiers as they helped the free French forces and resistance fighters defeat the enemy.  The allies worked their way across France, starting at Normandy on the northwest coast, and eventually working eastward toward Belgium and on to Germany.  Often without adequate supplies, they carried the phrase books to farmhouses and villages hoping to negotiate a meal.  As I told my uncle of an upcoming trip to France, he asked me "Avez-vous des oeufs?"  It is a phrase he learned in Normandy long ago, and shared with me last night.

This blog is not about my uncle's time serving with the country's armed forces and fighting the good fight, as one of the greatest of the greatest generation.  But it is about hospitality and cultural exchange.  Perhaps it is about paying it forward, generations later.  I hope it is not hyperbole to say my upcoming trip to France would not be possible without the work of my uncle and his comrades in arms, who not only helped free France from the Nazis, but also helped strengthen American ties to the country across the sea with whom we already had a long history.  We need look no further than New York Harbor, where we see a gift from the people of France, given to us 60 years before D-Day in Normandy.  The Statue of Liberty may be the most American of icons, and yet she is undoubtedly French.

The first thing I would want to know when reading the first post of a new blog is, who are you and why should I read this?  There are a lot of answers, which I hope will all come out in future posts.  The short answer, which suffices for now, is that I am a travel enthusiast, an amateur musician, an armchair chef, and a novice writer.  I dabble in all the above, but the majority of my time is spent managing computer systems at a large real estate company in Chicago.  I suspect that you, the reader, are much the same - maybe accountants, teachers, students.  Let's just say that you and I are all Renaissance men and women, born 500 years too late.  We were never comfortable with the idea that people should have only one interest in life.  We are inspired by Leonardo da Vinci.  Like da Vinci's "Mona Lisa", I will be in France next week.  I'll bring you along -- stay tuned!