This is an emergency situation! My husband and I are travelling to Canada in the fall for the Celtic Colours Festival with stops in Montreal and Quebec. Surely I need to be able to understand and speak a bit of French when I arrive.
The problem is that it's been a really long time (think Dark Ages) since I studied French in college. At that time, I was fairly proficient at traditional French grammar, I read great works of French literature, and I could write in French passably well, if not idiomatically. But could I speak French? Like so many language students of bygone years, I learned a lot about French, but not to actually say anything useful. I long to be able to at least request an order of poutine in French. I think my husband is going to love poutine because I understand the main ingredient is fried potatoes.
So I signed up for a MOOC in Beginning French on http://www.openculture.com. I am on Lesson 2 of 15, and I am congratulating myself for still being on task. The short videos to practice understanding French are great because I can play them over and over. It is fun to daydream about using some of the new phrases I'm learning with imaginary companions we may meet on the train from Montreal to Halifax. Je m'appelle Linda. Mon mari s'appelle Wayne. Et vous? But what if these companions ask a question that requires that I answer back? My goose will be cooked!
I harbor some anxiety (okay, quite a lot of anxiety) about trying to speak French. One of my college professors told me in class one day that I had the worst pronunciation of the French 'r' that he had ever heard in his teaching career. And he was elderly and had been teaching for a very long time, so my 'r' must have been particularly grating to him. Now every time I need to make that 'r' sound back in my throat, I become that shy twenty year old college student. What lasting damage language instructors do to others by giving criticism, deserved or otherwise.
But am I going to let a small problem with a French 'r' ruin my trip to Canada? Can I just avoid all words with the 'r'' sound? Probably not. Courage! (I tell myself).
