Bibi and Lulu say STUDY HARD!

(if you want to)

French is not the most difficult language to learn. I had 3 years of high school French (Bonjour à Mme Vick!) and then went on to get a Bachelor's at the University of South Florida. By the time I actually got to France (a year after graduation) I was afraid that I had lost a lot of my French. This was not the case. However I would just like to inform you of the following : 

• You won't understand anything in Paris.

•  You won't understand kids speaking to you.

• Forget the radio and television.

• The instant that you try to pronounce a word, the French will try to show you that they speak even worse English.

Does this mean you should despair? Nah! I took a couple of days and really listened to how they talk. I also prepared in advance by watching every French film I could find so that I could get used to different accents and the speed at which they talk. (Another hint*** while the fimls based on  Marcel Pagnol's stories, Manon des Sources, Jean de Florette, Le Gloire de Mon Pere et la Chateau de ma Mere are excellent films, they won't help your comprehension unless you plan on spending the majority of your time in the South of France). If you want to improve your French then don't bring friends. You will only speak ENGLISH. I came to France by myself met tons of people and in 6 yrs haven't spoken much English as a result. My French is great, my accent is definitely American, and I can kick butt at SCRABBLE in both languages. Regarding accents, when I was in high school the goal was who had the best accent. Another little bit of advice, unless you plan on being an intrepreter, keep the ducky American accent. The French LOVE it! A well turned sentence with a nice (American) accent is very charming.

Below you'll find some books that can help you along in your pursuit of the 
"langue sacré" . 

GRAMMAIRE FRANCAISE	"Cassel's Contemporary French : A Handbook of Grammar, Current Usage,  and Word Power"	"Essential French Grammar"
"Complete Guide to Conjugating 12000 French verbs"- Bescherelles *even the French carry this book around w/them!*	"Merde! The Real French You Were Never Taught at School" by Genevieve **My sister bought me these books cos she said that I should know if I was being insulted or not. Believe me they were very useful beyond that scope! "Merde Encore" by Genevieve
LITTERATURE FRANCAISE	"French Stories/Contes Français : A Dual Language Book",* includes stories by Balzac, Camus and others, very good book for those learning French!*	"Best Short Stories/Les Meillures Contes : A Dual Language Book" ,short stories by Guy de Maupassant
"Selected Fables/Fables Choisies : A Dual Language Book", by de la Fontaine	"Cousin Bette" by Honoré Balzac	"Pere Goriot" by Honoré Balzac
"Flowers of Evil" by Charles Baudelaire, this book is out of stock, but check back later	By Marcel Pagnol "My Father's Glory and My Mother's Castle" this book is on backorder please check back later   Jean de Florette"   "Manon des Sources"	"Le Petit Prince" by Antoine de Saint Exupery this is the French language edition.