Since I have come here to France, I have already had plenty of opportunities to speak French, which has been really cool. I was initially intimidated by going to France with only a year’s worth of French, and yes I was afraid to speak it at first. Before coming to France I listened to a lot of French podcasts and music, but I would always have trouble understanding what was being said. I would try to speak with friends, but I would struggle to put together sentences. Long story short I did not have as much experience with the French language as I felt I needed, and that was scary to think about.

Coming in, I did not know what I was going to do or how I was going to survive,  but many of my friends on the program were already speaking a little French with each other and so I was able to practice a bit, which was super helpful. I became a little more confident with speaking French as a result. By my second day in Paris, I was already confidently ordering food and drinks in French, by my third, I was already having conversations with my friends in French.  I felt like my French was getting better daily. I was still struggling with comprehension and found myself simply smiling and saying “oui” when I didn’t understand anything ( I still do that ), but my French was improving so something must have been working.

Then on my fourth day in Paris, came a fateful night in which I truly shocked myself. I was out late in central Paris with my friends, so late that when we decided to get home, the metro was closed. Our only option was to take a taxi, after hailing a taxi and getting in I tried to tell the driver where our hotel address was (my friends were more experienced in speaking French, but I insisted talking to the driver to get the practice) The driver did not know what I was saying, and I did not understand him, my friend had to chime in to give him the directions.  I felt embarrassed and defeated. I felt like I was not good enough to learn French. As the taxi ride continued on, however, I felt like I wanted to give it another shot. Ça va? I asked the driver, Ça va, was his response, and like that, a conversation had begun. He asked us if we were from England to which we responded no. We then all talked about where we were from the U.S and, how we were here to study French.  As the conversation continued I found myself being able to understand him more and more, and I began talking more and more, I told him my parents were from Poland, learned that his parents were from Italy.  I talked about some French comedy films I’d seen and learned that he had plenty of family in the U.S etc. He told me that I spoke French very well (vous bien parlez en français, très très bien, he said excitingly), and was shocked when I told him I only had studied French for a year. Obviously, I was not speaking perfectly, and  I’m sure I messed up pronunciation and conjugations and tenses frequently in the conversation, but he was able to understand what I was saying, and I him, and that’s all you need for a conversation.

When we got to our hotel he complimented our French one more time, and we thanked him for the ride. When I got off my friend Penny told me that she was so proud of me for how well I spoke French, and I was just in pure shock. I could not believe it, I just held my own in a conversation in a foreign language! It was truly an amazing experience, and I am so proud of myself.  From this single experience, I learned about how important it is to just try when learning languages. As long as you can stick a sentence that makes sense together you will be fine, the locals will appreciate it so much and you will get practice, which is so important. As of now, my French obviously isn’t perfect, but I know I can make my way in this country. Unfortunately, I still find that my comprehension isn’t very good, it’s my weakest area, I simply cannot get everything they say unless I give my full undivided attention, and even then I struggle. But I’m here to learn and thanks to experiences such as my night in that cab, my French skills will improve.