molly4669

I want to take my 16 yr old son to two cities this Feb 2006 and hope to help him work on his French. Paris I know, but where else? And also, if we had 9 days and I could include a warmer European city but did not care about his french lessons, where would you send us?

elaine

I'm confused--I'm not being sarcastic, but French is spoken all over France, why have to pick places based on where he could work on speaking French? Except for some very small villages somewhere, you will encounter standard French, there are variations in accents, but that doesn't make it incomprehensible.

If anything, Paris may in a way offer fewer opportunities to speak it, as so many people there speak English.

molly4669

So sorry to confuse you elaine, but we are from US and since this is his first trip to Europe I was wondering if anyone knew of any special programs he might take while on vacation. Are there any other European cities where he could practice his french?

Eloise

If you Google <"language schools" "France">, you will get hundreds (thousands?) of hits. A few of the schools might offer one-week courses.

ira

Hi M,

>Are there any other European cities where he could practice his french?<

Outside France?

For 9 days where it would be warmer than Paris: South of France, Southern Italy.

Surfergirl

If you mean to enroll him in a french class, by the time you enrolled him, you'd probably already moved on. I personally think Paris is a horrible place to practice the French you have learned in the U.S.. I'm not being facetious -- they are "fast talkers", slur words together and use a lot of slang. I've found the further south you go, the slower the language, kind of akin to listening to a person from New York City talk compared to someone from, say, Alabama. In Grenoble, for example, they speak more the French you learn in high school and college in the U.S. The French spoken in the south of France is slower and more lyrical, in my opinion. You don't hear as many "shay pa" (phonetic spelling) as you would in Paris (this is the shortened version of "je ne sais pas". Also, the climate is warmer in the south, and if you are in Nice in February, you would get the extra added attraction of the yearly festival!

Surfergirl

Also, I forgot, other European cities where French is spoken -- Geneva, Lausanne, Montreux, to name a few.

cmt

If the goal is to give him opportunities to practice French, I think Paris may be the French city where he's least likely to get much practice, becasue so many people will speak English and he won't have to use his French to get along. I do not know which part of France is considered to have the most "standard" French spoken, with the most correct, clear, grammatical French spoken by local people. But if there's some consensus about where, then I think a small city or large town in that linguistically ideal area would be a good place to go. Or, you might just go to an interesting city that has good language learning programs for foreigners, e.g., Montpellier or Aix-en-Provence. If it were my decision, I'd pick Montpellier. I've never been there, but I'd like to go, and I think it would meet your needs.

elaine

molly4669, sorry but you hadn't said anything about lessons or schools originally, only that he wanted to 'work on his French', I thought you meant only opportunities to speak it.

Here are language schools in Paris, the first has branches all over the world

Alliance Francaise, courses at all levels, 101 Boul. Raspail

Institut Parsien de Langue et de Civilisation Francaises, courses on language and culture, 87 Boul de Grenelle, 15th

Eurocentres, classes have maximum of 13 students, 13 Passage Dauphine, 6th

indytravel

Hey cmt! Supposedly Tours has the most "pure" French accent. Like I would know. It's all too fast for me. Great little city with a nice fine art museum and half-timbered buildings downtown.

I completely agree with the people who have said Paris is the worst place to practice French. Big city, busy, they are way more likely to use English on you to get it (whatever it is) over with.

luugis

Just another idea that worked wonders for us...host a French student who speaks limited English...it is amazing how much of my 4 years of HS French came flooding back when I was forced to communicate something to him... I think we learned more about the French in those 3 weeks he was here than in all my studies and an actual visit to France.

cmt

Indy: I'd heard that, too, about Tours, but wasn't sure whether it was still true. (Heard it from someone in his 50s who heard that when he was in college, and therefore took some time to live in Tours to learn French.) I need to do something with my French. I never was much for speaking, but used to read and write well, but now can't even do tht well. I felt less uncomfortable speaking French in Provence, because my accent didn't sound quite so bad there. (I think I have an Italian accent in my French, but that didn't sound so off in Provence.) I was thinking of maybe taking a two-week immersion intermediate class in Montpellier some day. But maybe I'd be better off just going on vacation by myself and staying in a smaller place where not too much English is spoken. That worked for me with Italian. I'd forgotten so much Italian, but in a two-day visit to a tiny remote town in Sicily I HAD to speak Italian and I did, and I was amazed how much I spoke and how complicated some of the conversations were. From then on, I could speak when I visited Italy. (Unfortunately, I'm forgetting it again.)

MomKJC

Ditto for the south or south east of France Pick a small town enjoy the climate and if you choose one close to the Alps some skiing. Suggestion Albertville Anancy Chambery Grenoble
You'll get loads of practice of your French.
I was once told that the farther you get away from England the better the French. Fly into Lyon(you will miss the delight of CDG!) and fast train(TGV) it to Paris for a couple of days if you need to visit Paris.

rsb99

I had the most fun and the best opportunity to practice French with a man in a gallery in Gordes, in the south. He was an older gentleman, and genuinely did not speak English, so we fumbled along with gestures and limited vocabulary. We managed to communicate on the topics of ATM's in town, shipping to the US, and his wife the artist.

If there is an opportunity to place your son in a situation where he "has to" succeed, he will feel real success about his (even limited) ability. If you speak French yourself, perhaps you can initiate a conversation, and then let him take over.

Christina

You don't really say what level his French currently is, but I don't think it matters one bit as to accents and where the supposed purest accent is for someone just visiting casually a few days as a tourist and who may not be that advanced. I'd base my itinerary on where I wanted to go, that's all. You can practice French anywhere in France, but don't expect any major practice in just a few days trip on a vacation.

If the entire trip is to take only 9 days outside Paris, I don't think there are very many language programs you can enter, that's too short a time frame. It sounds almost like the 9 days is the entire trip, including Paris, in which case you really can't be attending classes. If you found any class to accept someone for one week, you'd be lucky.

Anywhere in France outside major metropolitan areas would be preferable to practice French more, as folks in smaller towns are less likely to know English, or at least know it well enough to want to speak in English when you try French if you don't know it well (which is what they will do in Paris).

I think the south of France is a fine idea, for one.

djkbooks

I've had the same experience in Paris as Surergirl. They tend to speak in a very low voice and speak very quickly, blurring all the words. I think, perhaps, they are having fun with us.

I've found that the best folks in Paris to practice French with are those wanting to practice their English with you, or one of those seniors who is really trying to be helpful. I love running into them in cafes and on buses or while waiting for a bus.

cocofromdijon

>They tend to speak in a very low voice and speak very quickly, blurring all the words.< I felt the same when I arrived in London! May be it is typical of big cities...
>Great little city with a nice fine art museum and half-timbered buildings downtown.< Indy I thought you were talking about Dijon ;-) (which is not that big) and where people speak "standard" French as well and IMO don't speak English enough so it would be a good place to practise.
I would avoid south west where the old people speak something you CAN'T understand at all! (Carcassonne for ex where I couldn't get a word at the train station voice) and in south east the marseillais accent is something very hard to understand (try to watch Pagnol films in French and you'll see what I mean...)
>Anancy<(not Nancy) but Annecy

have a great trip!
corinne

rex

topping...

suze

molly, as a participant on your earlier threads i'm thrilled to see you're planning a trip to europe for your son(instead of the caribbean or whatever).

my suggestion is a two city combo of Paris and Geneva. Fly into Geneva and out of Paris, taking the train between the two to maximize a short 9 day trip.

in Geneva go out of the city to the smaller towns of Morges, Lausanne, Vevey, and/or Montreux. you can get to these on the train very easily in approx. 1 hour. have your son purchase the train tickets, go shopping at the open air farmers markets, in the small local stores, go to the bakeries and grocery store (Migros) and magazine kiosks and book stores, etc. people are friendlier here than in big cities and more likely to chat with you.

if you want specific language schools recommendations you probably want to ppost yet another separate question. Since your title and top post don't mention that at all... BUT i kindly suggest that with only a 9 day trip there really isn't really time to do this anyway.

elaine

here is another current thread about a mother whose daughter took a one-week course in French

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34665727