I have been through lots of trial classes for French speaking and have interacted with lots of people who took up French as a second language. We all tend to agree on a couple of things; first is that French is a really beautiful language that is worth all the time and effort you devoted to learning it, and second, that it will really take a lot of time and effort before you can even become a decent French speaker, much less a master of the language.
On the first thing we have agreed on, it is true that French is a beautiful language. It is common knowledge that French is considered the most romantic of all languages, due to its attention to detail and ability to describe situations and feelings that would leave other languages at loss for words, literally. Added to that, French also opens up the door to a variety of opportunities. It is a language spoken by a lot of elite and members of the upper class, and really, when you’re in a corporate cocktail party and one of the foreign visitors is looking for company, he’d probably gravitate towards the girl who can say “Je ne parle pas français” and know that it is just a joke.
The second thing me and my friends have agreed on, the part about French being difficult or too time consuming to master, is a bit related to the first agreed upon factoid. The verity that the French language is concise, accurate, and able to describe things up to the minutest details means that it is a very complex language, full of rules and exceptions to the rules. All of these complexities should be learned by someone who wishes to learn how to speak French and should memorize it to the point that responding in French becomes second nature and would not require much thought. Some of my friends posited that this need for thinking before speaking is the reason why a lot of French speakers are polite. It’s going to be very hard to put your foot in your mouth if you have to take a long, close look at every word that you’re thinking before they leave your oral cavities.
However, I seem to have turned a corner in the past few years, and realized that there are ways of expediting the process, which means you can learn how to speak French fast. I’m not talking fast as in “speak 200 word per minute” but rather, learn how to converse with native French speakers in as little as 2 months. This change in perspective is brought forth by the discovery of Rocket French, a downloadable French-speaking course that actually does what it promises to do, and does so in record time. I initially found it while doing random searches for French tutorial programs and being intrigued by the testimonials provided by its past users. I downloaded the free 6-day trial course and realized that it works halfway through the trial period. I immediately procured the full package and Voila! A few weeks later and I have gained enough grasp of the French language that I can sustain an entire afternoon’s worth of conversation with my French-speaking friends who spend months and even years of French language classes.
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