The pleasures and complexities of learning French

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡. Many of our pupils are learning a modern foreign language. Here one of our tutors explores the pleasures (and complexities) of the French Language.

𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞. French is widely considered the world’s most romantic language and its popularity has seen many people learning the odd phrase. You will likely know the words oui and non and bonjour and au revoir – not to mention the expression merci beaucoup. Sadly these words on their own will not really suffice if you really want to get by in France! The French are (rightly) very proud of their language and an ability to speak it by non-natives brings great warmth from the French and a wealth of benefits to those who can manage more than a few rote expressions.

𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐱 Whilst a very romantic language, French is also a Romance language, full of irregularities and exceptions to rules. Even the Académie Française (ombudsman of the French language) accepted this and 2016 saw the removal of the circumflex (the ^ above certain vowels) from hundreds of words. Of course, there are words where the circumflex indicates meaning, and here the circumflex was kept – for example “du” means “some” and “dû” is the past participle of devoir, “to have to”. Learners have to remember, though, which one is which! For English speakers the scrapping of the circumflex was a shame. For most words, the ^ represented the “s” that had dropped from the old French word - “hôpital”in French becomes “hospital” and “maîtresse” becomes “mistress”. Similarly “avec hâte” would become “with haste” and “fête” would become “feast/festival/party”.

𝐎𝐧𝐞-𝐭𝐨-𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚 𝐓𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 Learning French, whilst occasionally quite hard, is also highly enjoyable. At Minerva we have a vast amount of experience in tutoring French language (and its intricacies) and literature. One-to-one bespoke lessons are a sure way to make great progress.

𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚 𝐓𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡, 𝐆𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧, 𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐆𝐂𝐒𝐄, 𝐀 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 / 𝐈𝐁𝐃𝐏 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲-𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝.

For details of how we can help your child, please contact Valerie Weston on: Email: valerie.weston@minervatuition.com Phone: +852 6156 5705. We would be delighted to hear from you.