How to Learn French While Traveling

French can be studied for a practical purpose – for example, to get a job in an international company, because French is the official language in 29 countries worldwide. Enter one of the public universities in France for free education.

Patriotism is not limited to a respectful attitude towards one’s football team: most cars on the streets of France are Peugeot, Renault, and Citroen, the most popular household appliances are Mulineks, and the French prefers clothes of “their” brands. And the people of France do not like to speak any other language.

Therefore, if you want to earn the favor of a Frenchman, speak French with him! Even if you do it like a “Spanish cow” (an expression that characterizes a speaker of bad French), the locals will appreciate it much more than your perfect knowledge of English. Moreover, far from tourist routes, English can not be understood.

France is the most attractive tourist destination in the world. Therefore, finding an average hotel in a good area can be challenging. But for those who speak the language well, new opportunities appear: you can rent cozy apartments or a more exotic option – a barge (if we are talking about Paris), and if the place of stay is outside the city – negotiate with the owners of the cottage.

When traveling to Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and most of the West African countries, it makes no sense to leave the hotel without a French-speaking interpreter.

Go to the Restaurants

Ordering dishes in a restaurant is better if you understand what is written on the menu.

Especially if you are a fan of authentic cuisine and not “restaurants for tourists.” The cult of food in France is comparable only to the cult of drinking wine. Actually, French people do not recognize quick snacks: eating is an important and responsible thing; they start it simultaneously, slowly, interspersing the change of dishes with table conversations. Such respect for the process is quite understandable because French cuisine is included in the list of the cultural heritage of humanity. And also wine! Where without it – France annually produces 7-8 billion bottles, and the country’s share in world wine exports is 18%. Wine is drunk on occasion and without, alone and in a noisy company, choosing different varieties for their corresponding snacks – and cheese is the most popular in this capacity.

Learn About Local Fashion

Having learned French, you also become an expert in the language of fashion.

Did you also think as a child that “haute couture” is a description of belonging to a particular fashion house? The term “high fashion” suggests that the items in these collections are not designed for everyday wear. Their vocation is to inspire, delight, and set trends. A wardrobe is a “keeper of dresses.”

France is a trendsetter, but the reality can be disappointing if you expect to see stylish Parisians in “little black dresses” on the streets. French women love black, but I prefer to wear comfortable jeans. But what is worth learning from them is the art of combining wardrobe items and complementing them with exquisite accessories – scarves from Hermès, for example.

Visit Museums

Numerous masterpieces of French culture are best understood without an interpreter.

After all, translation is always “a little bit about something else.” Moreover, French cultural life does not go in cycles of rethinking classic works of cinema, theater or fiction. Modern France produces many significant events: from great musicals and international festivals to highly professional documentaries. Without knowledge of French, all this is impossible to understand.

Go to the Markets

If you think that people in civilized countries prefer supermarkets over markets, this is not about France. Going to the market here is akin to a ritual. There, slowly wandering among the stalls with carefully laid out vegetables and fruits, they choose the freshest products, discussing the latest news with the sellers along the way. Although France is the largest agricultural producer in the EU, the quality and assortment of products in stores are also excellent.

Knowing a foreign language gives you great freedom of choice: from finding a business partner to organizing a spontaneous trip or reading your favorite writers in the original language. In the case of the French language, these possibilities are endless – we could only list a small part of everything. Opening other options is only a matter of your desire.