A Bad Summer For My French Skills

When we left Paris, I was really on a roll. I no longer had a "deer in the headlights" look on my face every time someone spoke to me in French. I usually could even compose an answer without too many errors. But, without constant practice, this new-found fluency has been slipping away all summer.

I've made attempts to maintain my level. But, even this has been difficult. I signed up for lessons at Savior Faire in Redondo Beach just as they were taking their early summer month-long vacation. So, I had a month without classes.

So, I signed up for their summer program, which runs through July and August. The first week of class, there were a lot of familiar faces from years of taking french classes. The teacher was my first french teacher, Oahiba, who is smart, patient and knows how to keep the class moving forward. So, we were optimistic that it would be a good summer, language-wise.

But, last Tuesday we had a new teacher, Jennefer. The only nice thing I can say about her was that she is french. We'll leave it at that.

I was hopeful that this was a substitute teacher situation and one of the regulars would appear the following week. But, I just called the school and we are stuck with her for the rest of the summer.

Just as I was getting really frustrated, I reminded myself that I now have learned enough vocabulary words that I know many synonyms. So, maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself.

When I first started to learn french, I avoided learning two words that mean the same thing, thinking that I needed as much diversity as possible. But, that was before the day that a simple word almost cost me my dinner.

We were in St Jean Cap Ferrat. Just like in Paris, most grocery stores are closed on Sunday. We had nothing for dinner that night and wanted to eat at home. So, when we were driving home from the tennis club, we spotted a bucherie that was open. There was a long line, but that's normal when everything else in town is closed for the day.

Terry was driving, so he said he'd circle the block (no parking) and I should go in and get a poulet roti. Good plan.

I jumped out of the car and got in line. I was the only person in tennis clothes, which got a few stares. When I finally got to the front of the line, I confidently ordered a poulet roti. The butcher asked, "Vous avez commandé le poulet?" I stared. I didn't know the word "commander" and that was the key word in the sentence. He repeated the question. I started to sweat. Finally, I squeaked out a very little, almost inaudible "Non".

With this answer, he walked away. He eventually came back with a chicken in his hand, he wrapped it up, I paid and left, head held high that I had accomplished the mission, no matter how awkward the exchange.

In the car, I tell Terry the whole ugly story, and he informed me that "commander" means "to order", which makes perfect sense. But, I've always used the word, "reserver" meaning "to reserve" when it comes to ordering food. The words really mean the same thing, but since I had my rule of learning only one word, and the butcher used another word, I was out of luck.

So, it pays to keep studying. I'll have to get creative and find a way to keep up with my verb tenses, pronouns and vocabulary (sometimes even a synonym or two).