I just read most of the Friendly French message. Can someone recommend a summer French language course? I was thinking of spending three to four weeks somewhere in France, most not likely not in Paris. A capital city would probably be more expensive.
I would appreciate any help.

Hi Ap,

If you want to learn proper French, you can only do it in Paris.

>A capital city would probably be more expensive. <

Not necessarily. What's your budget?

This is all opinion, of course, but I think the only &quot;proper&quot; French is spoken in the Berlitz schools in the U.S. Parisian French is full of newly-minted <i>argot</i> as well as being liberally sprinkled with Americanisms. In the provinces, various dialects analogous to Bostonian or General Southern are spoken. So, in a sense, it doesn't matter where you stay because you aren't going to hear <i>Acad&eacute;mie Fran&ccedil;aise</i> French anywhere in the streets.

If your local cable or satellite outlet offers it, you might want to subscribe to a French language channel just to tune your ear (although if it's Canadian, you may be at a disadvantage once you get to where French is spoken ;-)).

Ira -

What exactly is that supposed to mean?

-Kevin

I spent 5 weeks this year in Tours at CLE (Centre Linguistique pour Etrang&egrave;res) and highly recommend the school and the city. There are a maximum of 7 students per class and the instructors are excellent. Also, the town is very inexpensive compared to Paris or other large cities.

I can't figure out where Ira is coming from with his comment. He knows there are no French in Paris, only foreigners! LOL

A survey of French teachers in France found that the most &quot;perfect&quot; French is spoken in two places: Tours and Angers, both in the Loire Valley. There are summer language schools in both places. Angers is one of my favorite cities; I don't like Tours all that much but I believe it has some good language schools.

I rise to respond to my inerlocuters:

Every Parisian(e) knows that the center of the universe is Paris. (Sometimes I agree)

It is also generally accepted (even in France) that &quot;The French don't care what they say, as long as they pronounce it correctly&quot;. (see 'My Fair Lady')

It is also generally accepted (even in France) that the Parisian(e) accent is the 'proper' accent.

Just listen to M. Chirac. (He even knows when to use the subjunctive mood.)

[Here them down in Soho Square/Dropping 'H's everywhere/
Speaking English any way they like]

The same is true for any village/town/city outside Paris. (French that is)

Had a waiter at a pleasant place in Pais whose accent was so thick that we had to speak English.

My LW had an interesting conversation with a gentleman in Chartres, although she was speaking Spanish, and he was speaking French.

I can't understand people from Liverpool.

My point precisely, ira.

M. Chirac doesn't speak Parisian, he speaks diplomatic. The two vary in the same degree as do Whitehall and BBC. Having said all that, I do think TV French is pretty pure. It corresponds to &quot;mid-Atlantic English&quot; as spoken by Alistair Cooke and his ilk.

The &quot;purest&quot; French: Tours, a lovely area, and you'll see why they call it &quot;le Jardin&quot;- the garden.

Ira - thanks for the clarification!

Down here in Provence, we consider Parigo to be some sort of bastardized dialect (and vulgar-sounding to boot). But they can be at least partially forgiven because their quality of life stinks (even if they do live in the center of the universe).

Personally, I always thought the purest French is spoken by the Qu&eacute;becois. But I try to keep that little opinion to myself (he wrote, having just posted it on Fodors for all the world to see)...

Cordialement,
Kevin

Kevin must be joking about the purest French being spoken by Quebecois (relative to what you will hear in Paris or elswhere).

Standard Quebecois French is perfectly easy on the ear, as is Standard Canadian English, which I speak. But for sheer euphony nothing can beat the best French French -- just as nothing can beat British speakers, (who are classically trained actors, not aristocrats).

ANd as a matter of personal taste: there is no regional or class accent in France that sounds as bad as the very worst of back-woods Quebec or back-street Montreal.

And for correctness of speech: French speakers are more frequently gramatically correct, in my experience.

Both have about the same amount of English infecting their speech -- it's just that it's a more recent phenomenon in France, hence more striking.

Maybe she/he just wants to learn french in a relatively friendly, more affordable, interesting location. Perhaps not necessarily seeking the location that speaks the ultimate &quot;pure&quot; french.

For a 3-4 week course, i doubt that the location will affect the worth of the studies themselves very much.

I'm with walkinaround. I understand there's a French language school in Villefranche (just outside Nice). 8-)

Hi

Montpellier is a popular choice.

5m from the Med, 80,000 students, wide choice of language schools.

Peter

&gt;I always thought the purest French is spoken by the Qu&eacute;becois.&lt;

Along the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the Low Country of the Carolinas and rural Georgia there are pockets of folks who speak a sort of Elizabethan English.

I have a good friend who is an editor at French Vogue. Her father teaches at the Sorbonne, and he once told me that the &quot;purest&quot; French is spoken in Tours.

I was in Tours a few years ago (only for a day) and thought it was a pleasant city. I wouldn't mind spending a few weeks there.

Quebecois French might be the &quot;purest&quot; French because a large part of the language is the French that was spoken when French settlers moved to Canada several hundred years ago (so it's pure because it's old).

But - to the more important part of your question. Where to study? There are several quality associations (I wouldn't call them certifications) for language training programs in Europe (generally) and France (specifically). One of the French associations is called SOUFFLE. You should take a course with a school that belongs to one of these standard-setting associations.

I've done French immersion in two different cities - Strasbourg and Grenoble. I enjoyed both, but the programs were somewhat specialized (business and law, respectively). I chose the schools because: 1) they belonged to quality associations; 2) they had the specialized programs I was looking for; 3) they were somewhat less touristic than other places - so there were going to be fewer English speakers; and 4) it was a holiday - and so I wanted to close to places where I wanted to travel on weekends. And I like the wines of the Alsace region (which led me to Strasbourg).

From my experience, you might draw the following conclusions. (1) Figure out what kind of course you want (general or specialized). (2) Pick a school that belongs to a quality association. (3) Pick a school in a smaller city. It doesn't have to be a tiny village. I favour university towns, because they're lively, have interesting cultural activities and usually have inexpensive housing and cafes. (4) Last but not least, pick a region you'd like to visit, and make sure that it has good transportation connections so that you can get out of town on the weekend to explore.

Grenoble is a great university town with a good language course and summer courses. The people who live in Grenoble tend to speak slower than the quickened Paris-speak (which sometimes gives me a headache from having to concentrate!), making discourse a lot easier. It's also a beautiful city and close to really neat places to visit, including Annecy, Chambery, and a quick 2 hour trip to the Lac Leman area in Switzerland.

<i>Just a minute!</i>

Why would Quebecois be any less tainted by other language influences than that spoken in Dijon? Unless a language-speaking group is isolated (as the inhabitants of the Maryland coast, see above), their tongue is always subject to modification by travel, trade, and tourism - not to mention the transplantation of terminology accompanying artifacts introduced into the culture for the first time.

Robespierre - I'm only repeating what I've been told. There are chunks of the Quebecois French that do not appear to have changed significantly for several hundred years and, therefore, are closer to the French that was spoken several hundred years ago in French. I don't know why, though (perhaps because it was a small, homogeneous, rural and relatively isolated population). Of course, other aspects of the French spoken in Quebec have been significantly influenced by their proximity to English Canada and the US (so there are a lot of anglicisms). And I have no idea what explains that accent ...