How I Learned French and You Can Too

By Jean Dewitt

Have you ever wanted to learn another language? How about the French language? I myself LOVE the French language and have since I was a teenager. I can vividly remember taking French in High School. It was one of the few classes that I really thrilled in. Unfortunately I didn't continue the pursuit when I left school, so I lost a great deal of what I learned. Still, the love of the language stayed with me.

One day while in church our Pastor asked for a raising of hands as to how many wanted to travel. Lots of hands shot up in the air. In fact, the majority of the congregation had that desire. The Pastor then asked how many had a desire to visit France. That narrowed down the numbers, but still many hands were raised. Then he asked the $10 question, "How many of you have saved even $1 towards going to France?" Not one person raised their hand. Thus he concluded and made his point that wishing and dreaming IS NOT PLANNING.

I gave that little illustration a lot of thought over the next few days. It really caught my mental attention. I started to think about how many things I wanted to do or have, but hadn't put any thought or planning into. Eventually my mind went to the French language and I thought, 'That's it! I'm going to set myself to the task."

I went and bought a French book for beginners. I set up a plan for myself as to how I would approach my self-education. I was determined to look at it as if I was in college being held accountable to do my homework and studies. I bought myself a basic French/English dictionary by Larousse. I practiced, practiced, practiced and put in a minimum of thirty minutes each day, six days a week. In short, I devoted myself to the pursuit!

Over the course of time I'd hit walls, where I'd feel like I knew nothing and had such a long ways to go, but then I'd go through another burst of throwing myself headlong into it. I had to chill sometimes about my learning curve and give myself a break. It's just that I wanted so badly to be fluent, and I knew that I wasn't there yet. But I didn't want to mess up the journey, so I had to give myself pep-talks and remind myself of just how far I'd come. I may not have climbed the mountain, but I'd traversed many a hill!

I spent the first two years of my self-study in beginner's books and CDs. I learned a lot, there's no doubt about that, but I also wasted some time, effort, and money along the way through lack of knowledge and good book recommendations.

So far I've put in six years of consistent and constant devotion to learning French. I don't regret a single moment that I've invested. It's made my life richer in so many ways, not the least of which is that I have a friend in Calais, France who emails me regularly and encourages me. We've been friends now for almost two years and we only email each other in French. I'm sure it's one of the reasons that my French has improved so dramatically. Six years ago I struggled with reading French, now I understand about 70% of what I read. I can only imagine how exciting it will be when I can understand 100%!

If you've dreamed about learning French then this is my advice: Stop dreaming and start learning! You won't regret it.

I'm a writer of inspiration that can bring about determination! What I mean by that is that I try to write what I call "life messages." Because I believe that words can transform your world and even frame your world. Through poetry, essays, articles, and ebooks you can broaden your horizons and discover new vistas within yourself that you didn't know were there. At http://gloryjean.com you'll find a variety of writings with the above ideas as the cornerstone. You'll also find an ebook titled "How I Learned French and You Can Too." Don't forget: You're one-of-a-kind, so go forth and place your fingerprint upon the world!