[Susquehanna Patriot]

All true. FR seems spoken one way and written another. German - very structured .... know the rules, learn the vocabulary, plug it in and let it rip.

It wasn’t until I lived (immersed) for a year in Quebec “thinking (hence hearing and speaking) in French” kicked in. If one learned Parisian-FR from a text book or guidebook, Can-FR natives would (im)politely “help” me. Got to love that French pride.

[dfwgator]

It’s like those French have a different word for everything.

[dfwgator]

I need to brush up on the umlaut.

[dfwgator]

And plus just to make it interesting, the French like to say words in reverse, like “merci” becomes ´cimer’

[Myrddin]

I've had to survive in predominantly French speaks parts of Belgium. I learned enough to find dinner and shop at the local stores. A day trip to Paris required a bit more care to purchase tickets from the edge of the city to a station near the Eiffel Tower. The next "horror" immersion was coming back from Wales. I got into my car at Calais and missed my turn leaving the parking lot. I was driving a long way down a dark toll road without a map. A mini-mart on the inside median had maps. I purchased one using my best attempts to speak French. Figured out where I was and plotted a path back to Mons, Belgium. I rolled into the parking lot at 4 AM and just packed my bags and headed to the airport in Brussels for my flight home. I recovered the bad turn with just 90 minutes to spare.

[dfwgator]

LOL, if you actually pronunced it out “Je suis.....” as “juh sweee” instead of (J’suis) “shwee”, then you will give yourself right away as a tourist. Most French courses don’t teach that kind of stuff.