Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

A few years ago, the then President, Jacques Chirac, made headline news when he walked out of an EU summit meeting because a fellow Frenchman made an address in English. We may not agree with what he did, but we can certainly sympathise since the European Commission’s survey, Europeans and their Languages shows Britons to be bottom of the European league when it comes to speaking a second language, yet a high percentage of Brits live in France or have second homes here.

When looking for a house to buy in France, I was confident that I could more than ‘get by’ in French. Only when we had moved in, did we discover just how much work needed to be done to the old agricultural building we had fallen in love with. My husband didn’t have French and my schoolgirl French was sadly inadequate for the negotiations we would be undertaking, so it was with a certain reluctance that those books on French grammar were retrieved from the attic.

Already avid listeners of French radio, we bought a TV to watch the news in French, then promptly became addicts of weekly programmes on Arte like Des Racines et des Ailes and Thalassa. We also looked forward to the Sunday newspaper L’Independant, for giving us the French perspective on international events, as well as telling us of all the interesting happenings in our area that we had just missed!

Joining clubs is a great way of socialising, and for discovering what makes the French tick. It is here that you will encounter village politics – a great inducement to improve your French! Joining the village choir is one of the most rewarding things we have done since coming to France. After a while, the libretti are imprinted on one’s memory – a useful ‘invisible’ dictionary. Many of the songs in the repertoire are traditional folk songs, so we add to our knowledge of French history and customs in the process of meeting new people, enjoying new music and above all, having fun.

If my own experience is anything to go by, an elementary knowledge of a foreign language is a good basis upon which to build, but what there is no substitute for, is an interest in the indigenous people and their culture. With this, you will more than ‘get by’; your learning of the language will flourish and your life will be enriched by the new friends it will inevitably help you to make.