Ah, French. It is the language of culture, romance, Voltaire and Rousseau; it is the vocabulary of art (think oeuvre) and ballet (think grand-plié), diplomacy (rapprochement) and war (reconnaissance). Although learning French is not an easy task, you may be surprised how much you know already.
Be you avant-garde, a part of the nouvelle vague, or stalwartly loyal to the ancien régime, improving your vocabulary will give you carte blanche access to a whole new world of delights. For example, tossing in a French word in a debate about the bourgeoisie may add a little bit of je ne sais quoi to your conversation; just be careful not to commit any faux pas—you do not want to come across as gauche.
If you dine one evening chez you-know-who—that attractive someone in your French class—you will want to maintain a smooth façade and not let your true excitement show. In lieu of planting your derrière too quickly in his or her chaise longue, you may wish to remain standing with a slight air of ennui to keep your cool. It is never de rigeur to come off as overzealous or déclassé; it may put him or her en garde. Au contraire, in such delicate situations, the most important thing is to relax. And if you fail? Oh well, c’est la vie.
There are plenty of other life situation in which the right French word can bring you to your rhetorical coup de grace. For example, you may be enchanté to meet the parents of your fiancé. You can order your sides à la carte at your favorite bistro. You can discuss the recent coup d’état and debate over the military leader’s true identity that lurks behind his nom de guerre. When you finally figure it out, don’t hesitate to shout j’accuse!
You may wish to dress au courant and spend all of your money on haute couture. Try to find a little something with panache so you can dress with a stunning amount of élan. Or if you prefer to keep news-related stories in your dossier, you can consider knowing French for reading a fait accompli in our global society. Is reportage not your preferred milieu? If the study of economics is your raison d’être, you can debate with your friends over laissez-faire policy or just let it be.
No student of French is né with the savoir-faire necessary to speak a new language—it is all about hard work. But whether you decide to pursue French or a mélange of new languages, you must put your whole heart into it. Because if you do learn some French, you must remember it well, or you might get caught with l’espirit de l’escalier.
Rebecca Quinn is a senior art history, Spanish and French triple major. She can be reached for comment at [email protected].
