Learn a bit about the French subjunctive with the SVDP School article on the topic. The subjunctive is common in French and in Spanish, but you can get away without using it because people will know what you mean. Remember a main goal of language learning is to communicate, so don’t worry too much if you make mistakes.
Once you start learning a language you will soon realise that it is a big task. There is just so much to learn and absorb.
And there is so much choice in terms of what course to take, or what learning strategy to implement. There are literally thousands of courses out there. One thing to remember is that you need to pick a course or courses that suit your own learning style, pace, method and personality.
…and while it is a long, hard slog remember that learning a language is like eating an elephant - it can only be done one bite at a time, chunk by chunk. Chew it, digest it etc, and slowly your knowledge will build and build over time.
But you must put in the hours. The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) says that to get to what they call Level 1 which is basic pleasantries and basic conversation requires about 240 hours of study!
To get to a level of operational proficiency you need about 750 hours of study!
So get going!
The saying in French for ‘don’t pull any punches’, or to ‘not mince words’, or to ‘take the gloves off’ is:
ne pas prendre de gants…
… which literally means to ‘not put on the gloves’. That is to punch someone without gloves on and anyone who understands boxing will know that this means a greater likelihood of substantial damage to the recipient.
Here it is in a French sentence:
Valérie n’a pas pris de gants pour lui dire ce qu’elle pensait.
Valerie did not pull any punches when she told him what she thought.
Valerie did not mince words when she told him what she was thinking.
Learning idioms and proverbs and sayings is a great way of improving your French.
While the best time to learn a language is in one’s youth, Chris Lonsdale, author of the language learning book ‘The Third Ear’ argues that in fact, adults learn quicker than children on an hour-for-hour basis.
Children however learn to ‘fit in’ with their peers, and therefore MIMIC their counterparts to ‘be part of the gang’. In this way children develop a perfect accent, particularly if they learn a language prior to passing puberty.
One lesson here is that adults can better learn a language by mimicing their foreign colleagues if they are trying to learn a foreign language. They need to try and ‘become’ that person, or a person of that culture.
Children introduced to a new environment also are often ‘involved’ witeh the language, and subconsciously learn the rules in context particularly if in a total immersion situation. During play they see, act out and feel the language in its natural context and environment.
One language training organization says that you can actually develop your own simulated language immersion program which basically involves you listening to radio, watching TV, movies, videos and DVD’s in the target language that you might be learning.
By watching foreign movies in particular you see the words, phrases and expressions of your target language, being used in real live conversation, and being acted out in context.
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