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Introduction and guidance

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Figure 1 Bonjour!

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Figure 1 Bonjour!

Welcome to this free badged course, Get ready for beginners’ French.

This course is for anyone considering learning French – whether you have never studied the language before, or if you studied it some time ago and would like to refresh your language skills. You will discover, through guided readings and activities, the many facets to learning French, and you will have the chance to try some practical exercises, as well as consider your own motivation for learning French, and your goals for the future. The key aim of this course is to give you the confidence to pursue your learning of French, and continue your studies feeling motivated and prepared.

The course lasts eight weeks, with approximately three hours of study per week. You can work through the course at your own pace, so if you have more time one week there is no problem with pushing on to complete another week’s study. You can also take as long as you want to complete it.

There are lots of opportunities to check your learning, including short quizzes at the end of each week. The quizzes at the end of Week 4 and Week 8 are a bit longer and will contribute towards earning a digital badge to recognise your achievement.

Badges are not accredited by The Open University but they’re a great way to demonstrate your interest in the subject and commitment to your employer/potential employer, and to provide evidence of continuing professional development. You can find out more about the badges in the next section.

Moving around the course

In the ‘Summary’ at the end of each week, you can find a link to the next week. If at any time you want to return to the start of the course, click on ‘Full course description’. From here you can navigate to any part of the course. Alternatively, use the week links at the top of every page of the course.

The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course before you begin, in our optional start-of-course survey. Once you complete the course we would also value your feedback and suggestions for future improvement, in our optional end-of-course survey. Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others.

Learning outcomes

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

After studying this course, you should be able to:

understand more clearly what learning French at beginners’ level is like
set some personal goals towards learning French
recognise and pronounce a few basic French sounds and words
explain a few basic notions of French grammar
recall some basic facts about French-speaking countries and communities around the world, and understand basic cultural differences
understand the skills developed by language learners, including intercultural communication skills.

What is a badged course?

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

While studying Get ready for beginners’ French, you have the option to work towards gaining a digital badge.

Badged courses are a key part of The Open University’s mission to promote the educational well-being of the community. The courses also provide another way of helping you to progress from informal to formal learning.

To complete a course you need to be able to find about 24 hours of study time, over a period of about 8 weeks. However, it is possible to study them at any time, and at a pace to suit you.

Badged courses are all available on The Open University’s OpenLearn website and do not cost anything to study. They differ from Open University courses because you do not receive support from a tutor. But you do get useful feedback from the interactive quizzes.

What is a badge?

Digital badges are a new way of demonstrating online that you have gained a skill. Schools, colleges and universities are working with employers and other organisations to develop open badges that help learners gain recognition for their skills, and support employers to identify the right candidate for a job.

Badges demonstrate your work and achievement on the course. You can share your achievement with friends, family and employers, and on social media. Badges are a great motivation, helping you to reach the end of the course. Gaining a badge often boosts confidence in the skills and abilities that underpin successful study. So, completing this course should encourage you to think about taking other courses.

How to get a badge

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Getting a badge is straightforward! Here’s what you have to do:

read each week of the course
score 50% or more in the two badge quizzes in Week 4 and Week 8.

For all the quizzes, you can have three attempts at most of the questions (for true or false type questions you usually only get one attempt). If you get the answer right first time you will get more marks than for a correct answer the second or third time. Therefore, please be aware that for the two badge quizzes it is possible to get all the questions right but not score 50% and be eligible for the badge on that attempt. If one of your answers is incorrect you will often receive helpful feedback and suggestions about how to work out the correct answer.

For the badge quizzes, if you’re not successful in getting 50% the first time, after 24 hours you can attempt the whole quiz again, and come back as many times as you like.

We hope that as many people as possible will gain an Open University badge – so you should see getting a badge as an opportunity to reflect on what you have learned rather than as a test.

If you need more guidance on getting a badge and what you can do with it, take a look at the OpenLearn FAQs. When you gain your badge you will receive an email to notify you and you will be able to view and manage all your badges in My OpenLearn within 24 hours of completing the criteria to gain a badge.

You can now go to .week 1

Introduction

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

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Figure 1 Why French?

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Figure 1 Why French?

Welcome to Week 1 of this free badged course, Get ready for beginners’ French. This week you are going to start by thinking about your personal reasons for learning French, and perhaps you’ll discover some reasons you hadn’t considered before. You will find out that French is spoken all over the world, and you will learn a bit more about countries where French is spoken. You will have a chance to think about what learning French will mean to you, and how your personal strengths can contribute to your language learning.

1 Reasons to choose French

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

There are endless reasons why people decide to start learning French. Here are just some possibilities.

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Figure _unit2.1.1 Figure 2 Possible reasons to learn French

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This image contains various coloured hexagons, each containing a possible reason for learning French. They are as follows: To prepare for business trips to Yaounde in Cameroon; Because my boyfriend is French; I’m a foody and want to travel to France to explore its gastronomy; I’ve accepted a new job based in Quebec; I’m training as a mountain guide and I want to move to the Alps; It’s the only language taught in my school; I love the sound of the language; My dream is to visit Tahiti one day; My mother is a French speaker from Haiti, I wish she had taught me her language; I want to work for the UN in Geneva; I live in the South of England and France is cheap and easy to travel to; I’m doing a PhD in History and want to research primary sources about the Huguenots; I speak Romanian so French will be easy to pick up for me; My best friend has moved to France and I intend to visit often; I have elderly French-speaking relatives in Morocco who I want to care for; I want to become a translator or interpreter from French to English; I’m from New Orleans and want to find out more about Cajun and Creole cultures; I have a passion for French-language cinema; I would like to teach English in France; I really enjoyed watching a French TV series on Netflix.

Figure 2 Possible reasons to learn French

So, what is your motivation for learning French? Can you relate to any of the reasons above? Perhaps you have multiple reasons. Consider how they fit into these broader categories:

Travel: French is spoken on all five continents. You will be spoiled for choice about where to go for practice!

Communication: Learning a new language gives you opportunities to meet new people. You will also develop your communication skills in general, for example in your first language.

Career opportunities: France is the fifth biggest world economy. The ability to speak French is an asset if you want to work in France, or one of the many other countries where French is spoken. By learning a new language you will also develop applicable skills that are highly desirable to employers, for example resilience and problem-solving.

Becoming a polyglot: You might find one language is just not enough! Learning French will aid you with other Romance languages, such as Italian or Spanish. You will develop good language-learning skills to carry over to other languages too.

Culture: Learning French will give you access to the great works of literature, films, theatre and music from around the French-speaking world. This includes the works of Molière, Victor Hugo, Jean-Paul Sartre, Aimé Césaire, Amin Maalouf, Jacques Brel, Félix Leclerc, Youssou N’dour, Céline Dion, Stromae, to name just a few prominent French-speakers of the past and present who can transport you to different worlds through their writing or music. Language learners also develop broader intercultural communication skills, giving them greater ability to interact with people from diverse cultures, whether they speak the same language or not.

Fun: There is something for everyone in language learning. You might enjoy the nitty gritty of grammar, or the performance aspect of speaking a new language, or just the challenge of learning something new. In any case, make sure you enjoy learning and practising.

Activity _unit2.1.1 Activity 1 Your motivation

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

So, what will learning French mean for you? Take some time now to consider your own reasons for learning French. They may have been mentioned above, or you may have particular reasons of your own. Make some notes in the box below.

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2 The French-speaking world

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

When you hear the word ‘French’, what immediately springs to your mind? Perhaps you have a picture of France as a beautiful landscape with sunflowers, lavender or vineyards. Or maybe it’s a bustling city with elegant buildings and streets lined with cafés. When you hear someone speaking French, do you wonder where they come from? You may be surprised as you discover more about the regions and countries in the wider world where French is spoken, and the important place the French language has in the world.

Below are some facts and figures about French and the French-speaking world (Organisation mondiale de la francophonie, 2018). Do any of them surprise you?

Over 300 million people around the world speak French.
France is the most-visited country in the world, with 75 million tourists every year.
Toulouse and Montreal are among the world’s leading cities in aerospace technology.
French film production is the second-largest in the world, producing 500 films per year. In Canada, Quebec films often outsell Hollywood films at the box office.
The French alphabet has 26 letters, and the longest word in the dictionary is anticonstitutionnellement with 25 letters! The French language also makes use of accented characters, for example, these accents used on the letter e: é and è. These are not counted as separate letters of the alphabet.
French is an official language in several countries in Africa, and it is a language used by part of the population in several more. Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is the world's second-largest French-speaking city after Paris.

You might like to do your own research into aspects of the French-speaking world that interest you most. If you live in a nearby country, perhaps there is an area of France that you visit frequently. See what you can investigate further: find out about the local industry, or whether any significant historical events occurred there. Is there a chance you might travel to a French-speaking country (other than France) for work? Try and find out more about that country – it could be very different to going to France! Armed with knowledge like this, you will feel more confident at striking up conversation with people who live there (whether that’s in French or in your first language).

The French-speaking world is collectively referred to as la francophonie. How many countries belong to la francophonie, do you think? Test your knowledge with this short activity.

Activity _unit2.2.1 Activity 2 French-speaking countries

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

How many countries can you name where French is spoken? Write as many names as you can think of in the text box below.

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Discussion

French is the fifth most spoken language in the world, and fourth on the internet.

Did you include any African countries in your list? 59% of the people who use French daily are located on the African continent. 88 countries are members of the Organisation Mondiale de la Francophonie.

You will find out more about the countries in which French is an official language in the next section.

3 French-speaking countries

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

So, as you’ve just learned, there are over 300 million French speakers spread across the world’s continents. You will now investigate this more closely.

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Figure _unit2.3.1 Figure 3 French speakers around the world

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This world map notates various sections of the world with the number of French speakers, as follows: Americas and Caribbean – 26.6 million; Europe – 141.8 million; North Africa and Middle East – 38.8 million; Sub-Saharan Africa and Indian Ocean – 105.3 million; Asia and Oceania – 2.7 million. Underneath this is the total figure: 315.2 million French speakers worldwide.

Figure 3 French speakers around the world

How many countries were you able to name when you completed Activity 2? The countries where French is an official language are, in alphabetical order:

Box _unit2.3.1

Belgium • Benin • Burkina Faso • Burundi • Cameroon • Canada • Chad • Djibouti • Equatorial Guinea • France • Gabon • Guinea • Haiti • Ivory Coast • Luxembourg • Madagascar • Mali • Monaco • Niger • Rwanda • Senegal • Switzerland • The Central African Republic • The Comoros • The Democratic Republic of the Congo • The Republic of the Congo • The Seychelles • Togo • Vanuatu

Did the list surprise you at all? Perhaps you’ve visited some of these countries, or otherwise know something about them. Try the following activity and see if you can identify four of the flags of French-speaking countries (which appeared in the list just now).

Activity _unit2.3.1 Activity 3 Match the flags

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Do you recognise these flags? Drag the country name to match up with its flag.

Using the following two lists, match each numbered item with the correct letter.

Belgium
Chad
Luxembourg
Senegal

The correct answers are:

1 = c
2 = b
3 = d
4 = a

Some of the countries which belong to la francophonie have more than one ‘official’ language. Canada, Belgium and Switzerland are examples of this. Then there are countries and territories where part of the population speaks French, but it is not an official language. For example: Algeria, Andorra, Dominica, Morocco, Saint-Lucia and Tunisia. And of course, there are people who speak French as a second language all around the world. Hopefully you will join their ranks soon!

French is also one of the three procedural languages for the EU. It is the only language used for deliberations at the EU Court of Justice and it is one of the recognised working languages of the United Nations. It is one of just two official languages of the International Olympic Committee.

Being used in so many different contexts, you start to get the picture of French being a globally important language. No wonder that over 300 million people speak it around the world!

4 Be inspired!

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

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Figure _unit2.4.1 Figure 4 Le français: un super pouvoir

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This cartoon shows two figures in superhero flying poses, wearing capes. A speech bubble shows them both saying: Le français: un super pouvoir!

Figure 4 Le français: un super pouvoir

Imagine this situation: you’re waiting in a train station concourse, and you notice a French visitor is having great difficulty sorting out her travel arrangements at the ticket desk. You can speak French – you can help them! You might feel a bit nervous about your pronunciation and getting things exactly right, but your motivation to communicate and provide assistance outweighs this, and your bilingual abilities resolve the situation. The employee at the station is relieved and impressed. The French visitor is very grateful for your help. In a way, speaking a language is like having a special power – and no-one knows until you suddenly reveal it.

In the same way, you never know who else might possess this special power! As it turns out, some famous faces are French-speakers. Actors like Tom Hiddleston, Bradley Cooper and Hugh Grant, for example, can conduct interviews in French, as can Serena Williams. American politician Mitt Romney was once filmed talking in French about his visit to the country. Jodie Foster and Kristin Scott Thomas can use French very confidently to talk about their experiences both in front of and behind the camera. And Eddie Izzard has performed whole comedy shows in French!

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Figure _unit2.4.2 Figure 5 Famous French speakers (L-R: Serena Williams, Hugh Grant, Jodie Foster, Kristin Scott Thomas, Eddie Izzard)

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This is a collage of photographs, showing each figure (Serena Williams, Hugh Grant, Jodie Foster, Kristin Scott Thomas, Eddie Izzard) in profile.

Figure 5 Famous French speakers (L-R: Serena Williams, Hugh Grant, Jodie Foster, Kristin Scott Thomas, Eddie Izzard)

You can find various clips online of the people above speaking or performing in French. Some examples are below if you are interested (make sure to open any links in a new tab/window so you can easily return to this page).

Serena Williams speaking French

Hugh Grant speaking French

Jodie Foster speaking French

Kristin Scott Thomas speaking French

Eddie Izzard speaking French

Now, you might not find yourself interviewed on TV, but learning French will enable you to communicate in all sorts of different situations, and you never know when it will come in handy!

5 Top tips

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Now you’ll meet three students who recently took a beginners’ French course. Drawing on their personal experiences of learning French, they’ll be contributing their top tips relating to each week’s content. You might find it helpful to keep notes on anything that sounds particularly useful for you. This will help you start your language learning journey on a good footing.

This week, Aisha, Helen and Stephen talked about what learning French has meant to them, and what they’d say to somebody who’s unsure about learning French. Here’s what they said.

Download this video clip.Video player: Video 1 What would you say to someone who’s unsure about learning French?

Video _unit2.5.1 Video 1 What would you say to someone who’s unsure about learning French?

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Transcript: Video 1 What would you say to someone who’s unsure about learning French?

[TEXT ON SCREEN]

What would you say to someone who’s unsure about learning French?

HELEN

If someone’s unsure about whether they should learn French, I’d say go for it! What have you got to lose? It’s really good fun, it keeps your brain active, and you’ll probably surprise yourself by the fact that you already know some French words.

End transcript: Video 1 What would you say to someone who’s unsure about learning French?

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Download this video clip.Video player: Video 2 What has learning French meant to you personally?

Video _unit2.5.2 Video 2 What has learning French meant to you personally?

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Transcript: Video 2 What has learning French meant to you personally?

[TEXT ON SCREEN]

What has learning French meant to you personally?

HELEN

Learning French has meant absolutely loads to me personally. I started again in 2017 after 31 years of not doing any study, and I actually felt really emotional at doing it. I had the time finally to focus on doing something for me, having taken early retirement from my job. And the support I got from the Open University helped me get my confidence back, and I’ve gone all the way through to getting a 1st class degree in Language Studies with French and German. That’s just something I never thought that I’d be able to achieve.

AISHA

I would say that learning French has meant that I am now able to appreciate the culture more, the different aspects of French society which contrast to the society that we live in. And not only the culture, but it’s allowed me to appreciate the language itself, its history, the people, in general.

End transcript: Video 2 What has learning French meant to you personally?

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Download this video clip.Video player: Video 3 What tips would you give to someone who’s about to start learning French?

Video _unit2.5.3 Video 3 What tips would you give to someone who’s about to start learning French?

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Transcript: Video 3 What tips would you give to someone who’s about to start learning French?

[TEXT ON SCREEN]

What tips would you give to someone who’s about to start learning French?

HELEN

So, a few tips if you’re just about to start learning French. Just listen to as much French as you can. Even if you don’t understand it and it seems really fast at first, it will get easier, and you will get used to the sound of the language.

STEPHEN

Get as much exposure to all things French as possible. Keep the motivation going. Get on it, and get going! The more you do, the easier it becomes to meet the new stuff. Make it a habit – do something every day. Listen to French music or radio. Watch French films and French news. These can all be done online these days, so find some French websites that interest you.

AISHA

If you are about to start learning French, I would say try to immerse yourself in French culture as much as possible. So, simple things such as listening to French music, watching French films. It could be YouTube videos that are in French, listening to French podcasts, reading children’s books even, things like that, just to get a sense of what the culture and language are all about. You don’t have to necessarily understand it – as long as you’re immersed and exposed to the language, that will really help you be in that headspace, so that you can effectively start learning the language.

HELEN

If you’re thinking of starting a beginners’ French course, there’s quite a lot you can do to prepare. I’d start by thinking about why you want to learn French. Is it because you want to travel to a French-speaking country, or is it connected with a hobby you might have? Or could it be the start of a degree course? I think if you’re really, really clear about why you’re doing it, and what you want to get out of it, then you’re probably far more likely to succeed.

End transcript: Video 3 What tips would you give to someone who’s about to start learning French?

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6 Your goals

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Before you embark on your language learning journey, think about what it will entail, and consider your goals.

What will you find challenging? For example, you might have negative memories from school about learning vocabulary and dread the thought of memorising long lists of words. Of course, learning a new language will inevitably involve remembering words and phrases – but you will receive some practical tips and advice which can help with that. As you work through this course, you will discover that there’s more to learning French than simply recalling vocabulary, and there are plenty of other aspects that will make your studies interesting and rewarding.

Learning French will take some time and commitment, so it’s important to maintain your enthusiasm and motivation. Keep sight of your personal goals while studying, and the situations in which you could use your French. Whether you just want to learn a few words and facts about France, or you’re aiming to become fluent and move to a French-speaking country, there is no such thing as a bad reason to learn French!

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Figure _unit2.6.1 Figure 6 Where will French take you?

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This image contains various circles, which each list a situation where you might use your French skills. These are: visit your friend in Senegal; ski in the Alps; tour the Loire valley; add a skill to your CV; accept a job in Montreal; keep your memory active; win a bet; talk to your new French grandchild.

Figure 6 Where will French take you?

To finish off this first week of study, take some time to recap and think ahead in more detail about your own goals and challenges.

Activity _unit2.6.1 Activity 4 Your learning journey

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

Consider the following questions about your goals and the journey to get there. Note down any thoughts in the box below.

Why am I going to learn French?
What will I be good at?
What might I find challenging?
How will I make the time?
What will keep me motivated?

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7 This week’s quiz

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Now that you’ve completed Week 1, you can take a short quiz to help you to reflect on what you’ve learned.

Week 1 practise quiz

Open the quiz in a new window or tab, then come back here when you’ve finished.

Introduction

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

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Figure 1 Start from what you know

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This decorative image shows the words ‘Start from what you know!’ surrounded by various well-known French words and phrases in assorted colours (e.g. faux pas, detour, en route, baguette, tête-à-tête).

Figure 1 Start from what you know

Welcome to Week 2! Now that you have a sense of the valuable role the French language plays around the world, you are hopefully starting to feel confident that French is the right language for you. It’s important to reiterate here that learning any language takes time; it isn’t going to come to you overnight. However, one of the advantages of learning French is that there are probably a lot of words you already use regularly that are French in origin. As you progress through this week’s activities you will also discover that understanding basic written French may not be as hard as you think.

Learning outcomes

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

recognise a number of words and expressions that are French in origin
understand the concepts of loan words (or borrowings), cognates, and false friends
recognise the importance of focusing on what you know, rather than what you don’t, when trying to understand French
appreciate some strategies that can be used to grasp the meaning of unfamiliar words.

1 What do I know already?

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

When you learn French as a beginner, you will practise quickly spotting words that you can easily understand or recognise. This includes French vocabulary which has transferred to other languages such as English – like the example in Figure 2.

Figure _unit3.1.1 Figure 2 ‘Restaurant’

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This image shows the phrase ‘Have you ever been to a restaurant?’, with the word ‘restaurant’ displayed larger and in coloured letters to mark it as the word that’s French in origin.

Figure 2 ‘Restaurant’

In this first activity, think about any French vocabulary that you already happen to know.

Activity _unit3.1.1 Activity 1 What French do you know?

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

See if you can list a few words or short phrases in French in the box below.

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Discussion

Well done if you came up with a few French words or phrases! Don’t worry if you couldn’t think of much – you may realise soon that you know more than you think.

Building on this, see how you get on with the next activity – perhaps it will contain some of your words from Activity 1.

Activity _unit3.1.2 Activity 2 French loan words

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Here is a paragraph containing various words used in the English language, which actually originate from French. See if you can identify them – click to highlight the words before revealing the answer. There are ten in total.

Active content not displayed. This content requires JavaScript to be enabled.

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You probably found that many of the words highlighted in Activity 2 are recognisably French in origin. Words like this are used in English all the time. They’re referred to as ‘loan words’ or ‘borrowings’. Sometimes, the original word expresses something that does not fully carry over to the language that is doing the ‘borrowing’. Being used within a different language, over the course of time, loan words can change slightly in meaning, according to the context in which they are used.

Consider, for example, the word ‘baguette’ – what comes to mind? How many possible meanings does the word have? In English it is only used to refer to a stick of bread, whereas in the French language it can also refer to different types of stick or baton: for example a chopstick, or a wand (une baguette magique).

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Figure _unit3.1.2 Figure 3 In English the word ‘restaurant’ is a loan word, or borrowing, from French

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The image shows two circles with words. The first circle contains the French words: bonjour, oui, merci, maison, vélo, université, français, musée, restaurant. The second circle contains the English words: hello, yes, house, thank you, bike, university, French, museum, restaurant. An arrow points from the French word ‘restaurant’ to the English word ‘restaurant’ to indicate it as a loan word.

Figure 3 In English the word ‘restaurant’ is a loan word, or borrowing, from French

The study of the history of words – their origins and how their meanings have developed – is called etymology. If you’re interested in the etymology of words, you will find some details listed in a good-sized dictionary. The next activity introduces some etymological information with the example of a few loan words.

Activity _unit3.1.3 Activity 3 Matching etymology

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

See if you can match these words to their relevant etymological information.

Using the following two lists, match each numbered item with the correct letter.

restaurant
café
dessert
chef

a.Borrowed from French, referring to the ‘head’ of a kitchen.
b.Borrowed from French meaning ‘coffee’ or ‘coffee shop’.
c.Borrowed from French verb meaning ‘to restore’, or food that restores one’s strength.
d.Borrowed from French verb literally meaning ‘to remove what has been served’, at the end of a meal.

The correct answers are:

1 = c
2 = b
3 = d
4 = a

Discussion

Well done if you matched them up! Here is a little more detail on some of these etymologies:

Restaurant – this is borrowed from the present participle of the French verb ‘restaurer’.
Dessert – the French verb referred to here is ‘desservir’.
Chef – this is borrowed from the French ‘chef de cuisine’, meaning head of the kitchen. ‘Chef’ here is originally derived from the Latin ‘caput’, meaning ‘head’.

2 Words can travel: borrowings

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

It’s no coincidence that all of the loan words so far this week come from the world of food and the kitchen! Gastronomy has been an important part of French culture for a long time, and one that has been exported, both by French chefs working outside of the country, and cooks from other parts of the world travelling to hone their craft in France. Those chefs took their vocabulary with them on their travels, and so the language travelled too, and French words ended up being ‘borrowed’ by other languages. Even if you’re not a master chef yourself, you’ve most likely come across a few other culinary terms which are used in their original French. Some examples can be seen in Figure 4.

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Figure _unit3.2.1 Figure 4 French culinary vocabulary

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The image shows the following French words: croquette, hors d’oeuvre, soufflé, bain marie, sous-vide, sous-chef, quenelle, canapés, coulis, béchamel, frappé, ragoût, velouté, crêpes, terrine, bouillon, beurre blanc, crème fraîche, charcuterie, confit.

Figure 4 French culinary vocabulary

Loan words can be found everywhere in everyday life, when you keep an eye out for them. You might like to start noting down other French examples as you come across them. In the next activity, you will identify a few more that are used in other, non-culinary contexts.

Activity _unit3.2.1 Activity 4 Complete the sentences

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Using the drop-down lists, choose the correct word to complete each of these sentences. The options are all words used in the English language that were borrowed from French.

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Of course, word borrowing is not a one-way street; the French language has ‘borrowed’ from English too. You will come across words such as le football, le rugby, le tennis and le cricket when you browse French-language media. There is a clear sporting theme here, which probably has a lot to do with where these sports have developed and become popular. But you will also see, for example, le marketing, le planning, le parking and le web among many other terms that originated in English.

Interestingly, words borrowed from English are not necessarily the same in different variants of the French language. Below is a list of English borrowings commonly used in the language spoken in France, and the equivalent word used by French speakers in Quebec.

Table _unit3.2.1 Table 1 Examples of French variants
France	Quebec
faire du shopping	magasiner
le chewing gum	la gomme (à mâcher)
le parking	le stationnement
le ferry	le traversier
le coach	l’entraîneur
le cupcake	le petit gâteau
vintage	rétro
le week-end	la fin de semaine

As a learner of French, spotting borrowed words in a text will provide clues to help you understand the meaning of the text, even if you don’t understand all the words.

3 A shared language history: cognates

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Most European languages have common historical roots. A good example of one of these roots is Latin which, with the spread of the Roman Empire, influenced the development of the languages in the countries it controlled. As a result, a number of words in European languages have the same linguistic derivation. These are known as ‘cognates’.

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Figure _unit3.3.1 Figure 5 Cognates derived from Latin in French, English, Spanish and German

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The image shows five circles with words in Latin, French, English, Spanish, German. It shows how cognates in French, English, Spanish and German are derived from Latin, e.g. the words ‘université’ in French and ‘university’ in English are derived from ‘universitatem’ in Latin, and the words ‘musée’ in French and ‘museum’ in English are derived from ‘museum’ in Latin. The other words are, in order of Latin/French/English/Spanish/German: salve, bonjour, hello, hola, hallo; ita, oui, yes, si, ja; domus, maison, house, casa, Haus; gratias, merci, thank you, gracias, danke.

Figure 5 Cognates derived from Latin in French, English, Spanish and German

In the table below are six example English words and the French equivalent, along with the correct article and gender (f. for feminine and m. for masculine) (you will find out more about these aspects in Week 4).

Table _unit3.3.1 Table 2 Article and gender
English	French
administration	l’administration (f.)
table	la table (f.)
direction	la direction (f.)
accent	l’accent (m.)
promotion	la promotion (f.)
information	l’information (f.)

Many cognates are nouns (naming words). Identifying them can be very helpful in figuring out the meaning of sentences or texts, even if your knowledge of French is relatively limited. Of course, if you were to hear a French speaker saying these words, they would sound different from the English – but notice that the spelling is identical. This isn’t always the case, but even when the spelling differs slightly, the meaning can often be deduced without much trouble. Try identifying some cognates yourself in the next activity.

Activity _unit3.3.1 Activity 5 Translate the cognates

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Have a look at the five French cognates below. What do you think their equivalents are in English? See if you can fill in the table.

Table _unit3.3.2 Table 3 French cognates
télévision	Table 3 French cognates 1, Your response 1
présentation	Table 3 French cognates 2, Your response 2
porc	Table 3 French cognates 3, Your response 3
adresse	Table 3 French cognates 4, Your response 4
carotte	Table 3 French cognates 5, Your response 5

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Answer

Here’s a completed version of the table:

Table _unit3.3.3 Table 3 French cognates
télévision	television
présentation	presentation
porc	pork
adresse	address
carotte	carrot

In Week 1, it was mentioned that learning French could open the door to learning other languages too – the cognates you see here demonstrate this quite nicely. Italian, Spanish and Portuguese (which, together with French are ‘Romance languages’) in particular share a number of cognates. Notice how in Figure 7, these expressions of greeting in French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese are all so similar (literally translating as ‘good day’), and how different they are to the ‘hello’ or ‘hi’ that is used in English.

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Figure _unit3.3.2 Figure 6 Bonjour!

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An image showing four speech bubbles with the following words: 1. Bonjour, 2. Buongiorno, 3. Buenos dias, 4. Bom dia.

Figure 6 Bonjour!

Figure 7 shows another example from these Romance languages. This time the word is ‘authority’. This demonstrates just how closely related many words can be.

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Figure _unit3.3.3 Figure 7 Autorité

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Image showing four boxes with the following words: 1. autorité, 2. autorità, 3. autoridad, 4. autoridade.

Figure 7 Autorité

4 False friends

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Hopefully you are now feeling more confident that French vocabulary need not be a huge challenge, when you have an arsenal of useful skills to aid your learning. Finding immediately recognisable words is a valuable tool for deciphering meaning. Beware though – there is a complication with what you’ve just learned. You are now going to enter the perilous world of the ‘false friend’. A false friend is a word that looks like a cognate – and therefore looks as if it means one thing – but in fact it has a different meaning entirely. The image below provides some examples.

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Figure _unit3.4.1 Figure 8 False friends

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This image contains several speech bubble shapes grouped together in threes. Each set has one bubble with a French word, then a bubble with the correct translation marked with a tick, and then a bubble with an incorrect ‘false friend’ marked with a cross. Together, they illustrate the following: the word ‘actuellement’ does not mean ‘actually’, but ‘currently’. The word ‘anciennes’ does not mean ‘ancient’, but ‘former’. And the word ‘divers’ does not mean ‘diverse’, but ‘various’.

Figure 8 False friends

Don’t let this undermine your growing confidence. Being aware that false friends are out there will drive you to learn vocabulary more carefully. When you encounter false friends a few times you’ll learn to recognise them. You may even find that you remember the false friends more easily – it sticks in your mind that they don’t have the meaning you initially expect. The next activity presents a few more false friends which you could try and memorise.

Activity _unit3.4.1 Activity 6 Translate the false friends

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Choose the correct translation for these French words, bearing in mind that they are all false friends.

a) attendre

to wait

to attend

The correct answer is a.

b) monnaie

money

small change

The correct answer is b.

c) joli

cheerful

pretty

The correct answer is b.

d) journée

day

journey

The correct answer is a.

e) librairie

library

bookshop

The correct answer is b.

f) location

place

rental

The correct answer is b.

g) coin

coin

corner

The correct answer is b.

h) préservatif

jam

condom

The correct answer is b.

Knowing the meaning of some false friends in one language will help you to recognise them in other related languages, where they are still cognates. For example, you might not know that the French for ‘advertisement’ is annonce, but with that established, it probably won’t surprise you very much that in Italian it’s annunzio, in Spanish anuncio and in Portuguese anúncio.

False friends have the potential to cause amusing or even awkward situations, but remember that misusing or misunderstanding a false friend will rarely cause any real communication problems. It is good practice for language learners to identify and learn false friends, but on the other hand, it’s also important not to get too preoccupied with avoiding errors. The rewards for learning French and communicating with people far outweigh any occasional slips!

5 Context clues

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

When you come across vocabulary that you don’t know, you can often use clues in the surrounding context to help you figure out the meaning.

While studying a language course, you might work on isolated words and sentences where there is no context to help. Remember that in real life situations though, there will often be plenty of clues to help you understand what somebody is trying to communicate to you, as the next activity will demonstrate.

Activity _unit3.5.1 Activity 7 Looking at context

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

Observe the situation depicted in each image, and read the sentence of French dialogue, focusing on the word or phrase that is underlined. Use the context to help you select the correct option to complete the translation.

Scenario 1

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This cartoon shows two business people wearing suits, in an office setting. One is saying to the other: ‘Je suis très satisfait car les affaires marchent bien.’

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Scenario 2

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This cartoon shows a group of young people at a bus station. Several coaches are visible in the background. One person is saying to the others: On va voyager en car.

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Scenario 3

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This cartoon shows two people talking, in front of a well-stocked bookshelf. One person is saying to the other: J’aime beaucoup la lecture.

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Scenario 4

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This cartoon shows two people talking, in a home setting, with three cats present. One person is petting a cat and saying: Je trouve les chats fascinants.

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Scenario 5

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This cartoon shows two people in a bakery. One person is carrying several loaves in their arms and saying: J’adore le pain en France.

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Scenario 6

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This cartoon shows two people in a park, stood chatting. One is saying to the other: Ouah, ton t-shirt est terrible, je l’adore. Tu l’as acheté où?

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6 Trying it out

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Now try this next activity, which presents some more new bits of vocabulary, and tests a few of the concepts you’ve been learning about so far.

Activity _unit3.6.1 Activity 8 Test your learning: vocabulary

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

See if you can match these words with their definitions. Look out for cognates and words that you can make sense of yourself and, using the context, watch out for the false friend!

Using the following two lists, match each numbered item with the correct letter.

l’aéroport
le jardin
le parc
la grappe
la banque

a.a place to grow plants, either to eat or look at
b.a location you travel from (whether that’s long- or short-haul)
c.a location where money is safely kept
d.fruits that grow together (like dates or bananas) are sold in these groups
e.a place to take your dog for a walk, or for children to play football and ride bikes

The correct answers are:

1 = b
2 = a
3 = e
4 = d
5 = c

Discussion

Your confidence in coping with slight differences in spelling, and/or the presence of accents (more on this shortly in Week 4) should have helped you match the definitions successfully. And by a process of elimination (another useful strategy when language learning) you will have identified the false friend.

Would you have translated the word grappe as ‘bunch’, or does it look like something else? Une grappe de raisins is French for ‘a bunch of grapes’. This shows how a French person learning English needs to be wary of false friends too. In French the word raisins means ‘grapes’, while the French word for ‘raisins’ is raisins secs.

Figure _unit3.6.1 Figure 9 Left: des raisins secs. Right: du raisin.

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This is a collage of two photos. The lefthand photo shows a bowlful of raisins. The righthand photo shows a bunch of grapes.

Figure 9 Left: des raisins secs. Right: du raisin.

There is no doubt that learning new words is the basis for achieving a good command of any language and you can see that this task does not have to be insurmountable. Starting from the knowledge that there are probably a number of words you can already recognise in French, from your observations of the context, and from your personal knowledge, you can develop the confidence to tackle brief written texts that otherwise you may have turned away from. As you discovered in this week’s activities, you can apply strategies to understanding the written word which go beyond simply trying to remember vocabulary. This shows you that developing strategies as a language learner, and as a language user, is as important as learning vocabulary. With experience, it will become second nature.

6 Top tips

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

This week, Aisha, Helen and Stephen talked about the top learning strategies they’d suggest for new learners, particularly when it comes to learning and remembering vocabulary. Here’s what they said.

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Video _unit3.7.1 Video 1 What are your best tips for learning French vocabulary?

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[TEXT ON SCREEN]

What are your best tips for learning French vocabulary?

HELEN

So, a few tips for learning French vocabulary. I always found it easier to remember vocabulary connected with things that interest me. So, I’m very interested in classical music and I teach the piano, so I found it quite easy to remember the type of vocabulary that might crop up in French classical music. Although that’s pretty niche I guess! I also really like to travel, so vocabulary around booking a hotel or choosing from menus really stuck in my mind. But my absolute top tip would be to always try to learn the gender at the same time as you learn the noun.

STEPHEN

One major piece of advice is to make sure you always learn the article with the item, so write them both on any stickers or labels, so that you learn the gender of the item at the same time.

AISHA

If you watch French films, you expose yourself to new vocabulary. That’s a way of learning the language. And most importantly, write it down. So, whatever vocabulary you come across, just make sure that you write it down or keep a note of it somewhere, and keep referring back to it.

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Video _unit3.7.2 Video 2 What strategies can you use as a beginners’ French learner to memorise vocabulary?

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[TEXT ON SCREEN]

What strategies can you use as a beginners’ French learner to memorise vocabulary?

AISHA

As a learner, I would say that in order to memorise vocabulary, it’s really important that you keep a record of it somewhere. I would say write it down in a notebook. It could be on flashcards. Ask somebody to test you on these, or test yourself even. Just keep referring back to these.

STEPHEN

Practise, practise, and practise. Use the words. Say them out loud. Write them down. Sing them. Shout them! Get used to hearing yourself saying them and envisaging what the words mean in an imagined conversation. Once you've learned enough vocabulary, you'll find you can start to construct some conversation. If you know someone else who’s learning French too, practise with them. You’ll be doing each other a favour getting used to speaking and listening and responding to the words.

HELEN

There’s probably a few strategies that you can incorporate as a beginner when you’re trying to memorise vocabulary. I think it’s easier to try and memorise the vocabulary in groups of subjects, rather than a random list of words. And if I’m learning nouns, then I want to learn them in context. So maybe try to learn a noun within a sentence, so that you learn the other vocabulary that might go with that noun. For me it just seems to stick better that way.

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Video _unit3.7.3 Video 3 What are the general learning strategies that you’d recommend?

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Transcript: Video 3 What are the general learning strategies that you’d recommend?

[TEXT ON SCREEN]

What are the general learning strategies that you’d recommend?

HELEN

So, if you’re a new learner of French, there’s a few strategies that you can adopt and develop. The best one is probably ‘little and often’. Try and have some exposure to French every single day. Maybe watching a film in French – even with subtitles is absolutely fine. Maybe listen to something on the radio – there are loads of radio stations available online. Or try to read something in French – maybe it’s a news story that you’ve already read in English, and then read it again in French. And perhaps try to write something out, even if it’s only a ‘to do’ list, or a list of vocabulary that you want to learn.

STEPHEN

I think one of the main strategies is to enjoy it! It is new and different, and you need to enjoy the fact that you are going to be challenged. It’s a bit like going into a gym for the first time. There are lots of machines and you need to learn to use them so that you can achieve your goal. It’s quite scary! In learning French, you will need to do a lot of learning, and then a lot of repetition of that learning. Just like in the gym, it's a great workout for the learning muscles in your brain! You will be learning new words; learning the grammar; learning pronunciation; how to write and type the words and full sentences; how to listen, and hear the language being spoken. Once those learning muscles get going, they'll start to remember the routine, and you’ll be able to add more and more, and it’ll become more and more enjoyable and motivating. So: practise, practise, and practise. The more you do, the sooner it sinks in, and the sooner you gain competency to achieve your language learning goals.

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7 This week’s quiz

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Now that you’ve completed Week 2, you can take a short quiz to help you to reflect on what you’ve learned.

Week 2 practice quiz

Open the quiz in a new window or tab, then come back here when you’ve finished.

8 Summary of Week 2

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Well done for completing Week 2!

This week you have been building your confidence to learn French by developing a ‘can-do’ attitude to unfamiliar language, and looking at the strong links between French and other European languages, including English. English-speakers already make use of a number of French expressions which have become part of the English language. This shared linguistic background, which goes back over many centuries, means that a huge number of words are immediately recognisable – but keep in mind that the spelling may differ, and accents may be present.

You should now be able to:

recognise a number of words and expressions that are French in origin
understand the concepts of loan words (or borrowings), cognates, and false friends
recognise the importance of focusing on what you know, rather than what you don’t, when trying to understand French
appreciate some strategies that can be used to grasp the meaning of unfamiliar words.

This week has involved some close examination of vocabulary, because words are the linguistic building blocks for a learner to practise and memorise. However, this is by no means the only aspect of learning a new language. There’s much more to it than learning lists of words! Next week, you will look at the bigger picture and investigate what else learning French will involve.

You can now go to Week 3.

Introduction

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

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Figure 1 What does learning French involve?

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This decorative image shows the words ‘What does learning French involve?’ surrounded by various terms involved in language studies: vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, reading, writing, listening, speaking, culture, intercultural awareness, academic skills, digital skills, professional skills, sounds, translation, conversation, people, interaction and themes.

Figure 1 What does learning French involve?

Welcome to Week 3! Last week you found that you probably already know a few French words, and can recognise others if your own language is another European language. You learned that as a language learner you can develop strategies for understanding, such as looking out for loan words and cognates, using logic and deduction, and using context to figure out what somebody is talking about.

This week, you will continue exploring what learning French will be like. There is much more to it than just learning words. Through this week’s activities you will get an overview of the different aspects of language learning, from recognising sounds to understanding culture and developing transferable skills.

Learning outcomes

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

identify the different components of language
recognise the knowledge and skills developed by learners of French
appreciate strategies for learning and memorising French vocabulary
understand that language learners develop a wide range of transferable skills.

1 The components of language

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

If you studied science at school, you will remember that you can take a micro- or macroscopic perspective on nature, looking at it from near or far. You can investigate the subject in question by looking at smaller and smaller parts, for example by looking at the human body, then the organs within it, the organ tissues, their cells and the atoms they are composed of.

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Figure _unit4.1.1 Figure 2 Microscopic perspective

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This image shows, in simple cartoon style, a human body. Magnifying glass icons then depict smaller and smaller components – lungs, lung tissue, cells, atoms.

Figure 2 Microscopic perspective

But you can also explore the surrounding environment by looking at bigger and bigger contexts, for example an ecosystem, the planet, the solar system or the wider universe.

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Figure _unit4.1.2 Figure 3 Macroscopic perspective

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This image shows, in simple cartoon style, a human stood beside a telescope. Telescope icons then depict bigger and broader contexts – the local geography, the planet, the solar system.

Figure 3 Macroscopic perspective

In a way, studying language is really no different to this. Learning to master a language requires skills and knowledge that relate to the big picture, as well as the smallest details. Imagine a camera lens – you need to be able to ‘zoom in’ and ‘zoom out’ to look at things in different ways. Activity 1 will check your understanding of the components of language and their relative sizes.

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Figure _unit4.1.3 Figure 4 Linguistic perspective

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This image applies the perspective concepts from Figures 2 and 3 to language. Two cartoon figures are having a conversation, with speech bubbles above them. Magnifying glass icons then zoom into the speech bubbles, showing smaller and smaller components of language: a paragraph, a sentence, a word, a letter.

Figure 4 Linguistic perspective

Activity _unit4.1.1 Activity 1 Components of language

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Order these components of the written language from smallest (1) to largest (6).

Using the following two lists, match each numbered item with the correct letter.

letters
syllables
words
sentences
paragraphs
texts

a.3
b.5
c.6 (largest)
d.4
e.1 (smallest)
f.2

The correct answers are:

1 = e
2 = f
3 = a
4 = d
5 = b
6 = c

2 The dimensions of language learning

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

If you open a French novel and examine its contents, you’ll observe that the whole text is made up of numerous chapters; each chapter contains many paragraphs; each paragraph is composed of several sentences. Within sentences are words, which can be broken down into syllables, which are each made of several letters. If instead of a novel you were examining a conversation in French, you would not break up the language into chapters and paragraphs, but you could consider the chunks of the language within each speaker’s turn, or between breaths. You wouldn’t see letters, but you would hear sounds.

Looking at the bigger picture with the French novel, you could consider it as one part of that author’s entire ouevre. Or you might see it as one book in a library that contains many novels alongside a wide variety of non-fiction (e.g. history, science, cookbooks and language textbooks). The books and the library are artefacts that form part of a community’s culture. That community is perhaps just one of many within a society and country. Likewise, the conversations people have when they interact reflect their social status, are influenced by their cultures and shape their identities.

As a language learner, you will acquire knowledge and skills that relate to many of these dimensions, as demonstrated in the next activity.

Activity _unit4.2.1 Activity 2 Beginner’s expectations

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

The list below shows several different stages and dimensions of learning French, from learning the basics to becoming a highly sophisticated user of French. Which of these would you expect to do in a beginners’ French course? Which best describe your ultimate aim, beyond your first course, as a learner of French, and why? Consider how this relates to your goals from Week 1. Reflect and make some notes in the box underneath.

Recognising and pronouncing the sounds of French which are new to you.
Recognising the accented characters of French and learning how to pronounce them.
Learning and understanding French words.
Learning French grammar to form sentences describing objects and situations, to ask questions, to express opinions, to talk about the past or the future, etc.
Understanding and creating texts/dialogues that tell a story, exchange information, argue a point, etc.
Reading different types of texts, listening to French in different contexts, watching films, reading or listening to news or taking part in conversations and understanding cultural references within them.
Interacting with people from French-speaking cultures (avoiding or correcting cultural assumptions), getting to know them, finding out about their background and identity, their cultural habits.
Translating sentences, texts, documents or discussions, taking cultural differences into account.
Developing learning skills (e.g. learning from mistakes), digital skills (e.g. using an online forum), academic skills (e.g. differentiating between different text types), professional skills (e.g. time management, planning and organisation) and/or other life skills (e.g. problem solving, resilience) through language studies.

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You may have considered some of the following questions during Activity 2. Try to keep the bits most relevant to you in mind – they will help you to reflect about your goals (and your progress towards them) as a learner of French.

Why are you learning French?

This could be for professional reasons (e.g. if you have new customers based in French-speaking parts of Switzerland), for family reasons (e.g. a relative is moving to France), for travel reasons (you are planning a trip to Quebec), for personal reasons (you need a new challenge), etc.

In what sort of context are you aiming to use your French?

This will be related to your answer to the previous question. You could anticipate having to use French in a business context (with your new customers), as part of daily life (e.g. shopping with your relatives in France), as a tourist (e.g. asking for directions or booking a hotel in Quebec), or just as part of your studies.

What sort of language will you be reading or listening to?

Will it be formal business French, informal conversations, short interactions with shop owners, watching French-speaking films and TV shows, reading news and magazines, chatting with fellow students in tutorials?

What sort of people are you aiming to interact with?

What part of the French-speaking world might they come from? How will you get to know them? Will they be your peers? Will you feel relaxed when you interact with them? How different do you think their culture(s) might be from yours?

What are your short- and long-term goals?

Are you aiming to learn the basics, so you can greet people, introduce yourself and survive as a tourist in a French-speaking part of the world? Or is your objective to be able to read and understand texts and documents and follow basic conversations in French? Perhaps you intend to learn French over a long period of time to become highly proficient? Whether you’re aiming for a few words and phrases, or complex grammar and idioms, these are all valid and valuable goals.

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Figure _unit4.2.1 Figure 5 Where will you go? (Clockwise from top left: Quebec, Canada; Paris, France; Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Lausanne, Switzerland)

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This is a collage of four photographs. The first shows a tourist sat on a hill in Quebec. The second shows a market in Paris. The third shows a market in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The fourth shows a building in front of mountains in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Figure 5 Where will you go? (Clockwise from top left: Quebec, Canada; Paris, France; Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Lausanne, Switzerland)

3 From words to communication

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

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Figure _unit4.3.1 Figure 6 Starting to communicate

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This decorative image shows various coloured speech bubbles containing short greetings, phrases, questions and answers. These are: oui, bonjour, voilà, merci, non, qui?, enchantée, non, au revoir, ça va?, très bien, à bientôt.

Figure 6 Starting to communicate

Some academic subjects are more content-oriented (e.g. history), whereas others are mainly based on learning skills (e.g. maths, art and design). The wonderful thing about language learning is that it’s a subject that combines content and skills-based learning, so there is something in it for everyone – as the next sections will show.

4 Acquiring language-related knowledge

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Knowledge is about knowing and understanding factual information and theoretical concepts. For a learner of French, this might involve, for example:

vocabulary
grammar rules
pronunciation rules
historical, geographical and cultural facts.

Knowledge is acquired by, for example, reading explanations and texts, listening to classes or lectures, or watching documentaries. As a beginners’ French learner, you might:

read an explanation on the difference between le and la
listen to a teacher demonstrating the difference between the sounds /u/ (as found in vous) and /y/ (as found in tu)
watch a video about a French-speaking community in Vietnam and their eating habits and cultural festivals.

Knowledge is retained by memorisation. As a learner of French, you will learn strategies and techniques to help you memorise what you learn. Try out the activities on the next page to have a go.

5 Have a go: learning and memorising words

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Now you will have a go at the kind of activity that will help you to acquire and consolidate knowledge. This is a good way for a French learner to learn new words and memorise them.

Activity _unit4.5.1 Activity 3 Learning vocabulary: colours

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

This is an example of the type of interactive activity you will engage with if you take a beginners’ French course with an online element.

Learn the vocabulary by matching the English words to the French, and checking your answers. If drag-and-drop functionality is difficult with the hardware/software you’re using, you can click for a more accessible version of the task below. Make guesses where you need – you can have as many tries as you like. Then try to memorise the words and their meaning.

Choose the correct English translation for each of the following French words.

Using the following two lists, match each numbered item with the correct letter.

bleu
rouge
vert
jaune
blanc
noir

a. green
b. white
c. blue
d. black
e. yellow
f. red

The correct answers are:

1 = c
2 = f
3 = a
4 = e
5 = b
6 = d

Here are two strategies you can use to learn, memorise or revise vocabulary in your studies. Strategy A can be used for any vocabulary topic, but strategy B as described here is intended for learning colours specifically. You may find ways to modify or develop other strategies that suit you best.

Box _unit4.5.1 Two vocabulary strategies

Strategy A:

Write the French words for each colour (or vocabulary for any other topic) on flash cards, using one card for each word, with a translation in your first language at the back.
To practise the meaning of the words, go through the stack of cards looking at the French side, and try to recall the corresponding translation for each word.
To practice the French words, go through the stack of cards looking at the translated side, and try to recall the French equivalent for each word.
Repeat the activity a few times a day, which will help you to become familiar with all the words.
If you prefer, there are free online tools to create online flash cards that you could use instead of paper cards.

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Figure _unit4.5.1 Figure 7 Strategy A in action

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This is an image of two index cards (representing the front and back of one card) which read ‘red’ and ‘rouge’.

Figure 7 Strategy A in action

Strategy B:

Write the French word for each colour on a sticky note, and position each sticky note on an object of that colour somewhere in your home.
Pay attention to the notes when you are in that room. Read them often.
Practise in another location (without any sticky notes) by trying to name the French colour for objects that you can see.

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Figure _unit4.5.2 Figure 8 Strategy B in action

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This is an image of a green cup, with a sticky note on it that reads ‘vert’.

Figure 8 Strategy B in action

6 Developing language-related skills

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Developing skills is about being able to put knowledge into practice, and improving through repetition. Think about, for example, the skills needed to ride a bicycle or to bake bread, or the craft required to make objects, furniture or clothes through carpentry, pottery, sewing, knitting, etc. Acquiring skills implies learning by doing, and it requires practice.

Crucially, it also involves making errors and learning from them. This is important to realise as a language learner: mistakes will be made along the way. You need to embrace the risk in trying new things out, and accept that occasionally getting it wrong is all part of the learning process! The key thing to remember is that your aim is to be understood, rather than to produce perfect sentences immediately. Communication is more important than accuracy.

In this section, you will find out more about developing the main language-related skills: reading, writing, listening, speaking and interaction skills.

Language-related skills also include translation and intercultural communication. You will find out more about these skills later in Week 7.

6.1 Have a go: language skills

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

French language learners will develop a huge range of skills. Firstly, there are the skills generally labelled as ‘language skills’:

listening
reading
speaking
writing
taking part in written and spoken interactions.

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Figure _unit4.6.1 Figure 9 Language skills

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This decorative image contains various coloured hexagons, each with a symbol to represent one of the language skills listed in the text: listening (headphones), reading (book) , speaking (microphone), writing (pencil), interaction (speech bubbles).

Figure 9 Language skills

Listening, speaking and taking part in spoken interactions (such as conversations) are skills related to the spoken language. Reading, writing and taking part in written interactions (like an exchange in an online text chat) are written skills.

Listening and reading can be grouped together as ‘receptive’ skills – meaning they require you to understand language written or spoken by somebody else – whereas speaking and writing are ‘productive’ skills, which involve producing language yourself. ‘Interactions’ are situations where a speaker needs to both receive and produce language: for example, when you take part in a conversation, you need to both listen and speak.

Activity _unit4.6.1 Activity 4 Developing language skills

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Read the list of activities below, which are all typically found in a beginners’ French course to help you learn and practice language skills. For each one, tick the skill that they help develop.

Playing an audio clip and ticking the word(s) spoken in the clip.

interaction

listening

reading

speaking

writing

The correct answer is b.

Looking over a short text and selecting the sentence that best summarises its content.

interaction

listening

reading

speaking

writing

The correct answer is c.

Looking at a list of words and recording yourself pronouncing them.

interaction

listening

reading

speaking

writing

The correct answer is d.

Producing a 50 word paragraph to introduce yourself, providing your name, nationality, where you live and what your occupation is.

interaction

listening

reading

speaking

writing

The correct answer is e.

Taking part in a role play.

interaction

listening

reading

speaking

writing

The correct answer is a.

Matching some sentences with images that represent their meaning.

interaction

listening

reading

speaking

writing

The correct answer is c.

Reading some questions in English and recording your answers aloud in French.

interaction

listening

reading

speaking

writing

The correct answer is d.

Taking part in a conversation class with a language assistant.

interaction

listening

reading

speaking

writing

The correct answer is a.

Reading forum posts written by other learners and adding your own contributions.

interaction

listening

reading

speaking

writing

The correct answer is a.

Using an app to record yourself practising your pronunciation.

interaction

listening

reading

speaking

writing

The correct answer is d.

6.2 Other skills

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Week 7 will introduce you to more language-related skills developed by learners of French, such as translation and intercultural communication skills. However, through your studies you will also learn a range of skills that are not specifically related to languages.

Linguists are highly skilled individuals and professionals, whether or not they use their language skills in their daily life or work. This course so far has stressed that learning a language involves much more than just learning new words. By progressively getting used to different sounds, different structures, and different cultural references, linguists develop problem-solving skills, agile thinking, flexibility, openness, and many more attributes which are highly sought after by employers. They also develop academic skills (e.g. citing sources), digital skills (e.g. using online forums or digital dictionaries) and general communication skills which make them well-rounded learners.

At The Open University, for example, language courses incorporate the development of a broad range of skills, represented visually by Figure 10.

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Figure _unit4.6.2 Figure 10 Skills developed by French language learners

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This diagram shows the skills developed by French language learners at the Open University. At the centre is ‘Language studies curriculum’. Numerous boxes encircle the centre, with arrows pointing in to show that these skills feed into the curriculum. These skills are: Themes, lexical competence, grammatical competence, phonological competence, language skills, intercultural communication competence, knowledge of the world, text types, academic skills, digital and information literacy skills, employability and professional skills, translation skills.

Figure 10 Skills developed by French language learners

To hear about some personal examples of transferable skills developed by language learners, watch the video below in which languages graduates talk about acquiring these skills and how they’ve benefited their careers, which span many different fields.

Download this video clip.Video player: Video 1 How languages can take your career further

Video _unit4.6.1 Video 1 How languages can take your career further

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Transcript: Video 1 How languages can take your career further

[PHONE RINGING]

JULIAN SMITH

(occupation: Recruitment Consultant)

I studied French and Italian at university, and have self-taught Spanish and Portuguese. The interesting thing is I don’t actually get to use my language skills at work, but I do feel they have contributed overall to both my sales skills, and also made me into a more confident communicator. It’s probably for this reason that I look for the ability to speak a second language whenever I’m recruiting staff for my own business. It makes for a well-rounded employee.

ON-SCREEN TEXT

There is a shortage of language skills in the UK.

[PHONE RINGING]

CAROLINE RAULT

(occupation: Artist)

Knowing French and knowing Italian and Russian Creole has really helped me be a better artist in a lot of ways. So I tend to paint, or make prints, about things that I imagine. And I wonder if knowing lots of languages means that you have a wider range of metaphors or visual symbols to draw on. Languages have really, really, really formed me as a person. I just think it changed my brain. It did something to it. It changed my neural pathways.

ON-SCREEN TEXT

70% of business owners have no foreign language skills. (Source: British Chamber of Commerce)

[PHONE RINGING]

DAVID GARRIDO

(occupation: Sky Sports News Presenter)

There are so many advantages to speaking languages. In my job, we use it to speak to foreign clubs, foreign players, check on transfer news, check if stories in the papers are true. Sometimes I even have to translate live on air, if the club releases a press statement.

ON-SCREEN TEXT

Language graduates are in high demand.

[PHONE RINGING]

KEEN POON

(occupation: Management Consultant)

Speaking Mandarin has made work life a lot easier. The most recent meeting I had in Hong Kong, I was able to use it to great effect. The majority of the attendees were Chinese, and the fact that I offered Mandarin as a secondary option for them to explain themselves and explain their ideas made the meeting go a lot smoother, and enabled everyone to be a lot more comfortable during the meeting.

ON-SCREEN TEXT

77% of firms identify the need for foreign language skills. (Source: CBI/Pearson Education and Skills survey 2015)

[PHONE RINGING]

RACHEL BLEETMAN

(occupation: Graduate Intern, Foreign and Commonwealth Office)

Being able to speak Arabic definitely helped me get into this internship at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. My language skills were especially important when I was working for an NGO, where I was required to translate documents from Hebrew into Arabic. This specific task illustrated to me that language learning isn’t just about communication, but it also helps with other capabilities, such as problem-solving.

ON-SCREEN TEXT

Language graduates are highly employable.

[PHONE RINGING]

SIR MICHAEL BRADY

(occupation: Professor of Oncological Imaging)

I started learning French again at the age of 49. The difference it’s made has been really quite remarkable. I started talking to a lot of people in French industry that I wouldn’t have been able to speak to before. And that meant that not only were we beginning to get research collaborations, we are starting to see top quality French students come and work in my company, on my labs.

ON-SCREEN TEXT

88% of language graduates are in employment or training 6 months after graduation. (Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency)

[PHONE RINGING]

ETIENNE LAMY-SMITH

(occupation: AFP Journalist)

I started learning Mandarin in order to do a job that I was already doing, but in a different country. And having learnt the language to a level where I could be conversational, I was then able to get exactly the job I wanted. As a journalist, it’s very important to be able to understand as much as possible by yourself. It’s useful having a translator, but there's only so much they can translate. And if you can understand the language, you can have a closer connection to the person you’re interviewing, to make the story stronger.

ON-SCREEN TEXT

60% of employers are concerned about school-leavers’ foreign language skills. (Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency)

[PHONE RINGING]

MORGAN PHILLIPS

(occupation: Educational Materials Producer)

I think the other thing with having a language is, it helps you think outside the box, because when you’re trying to translate something – whether it’s grammar or even just a sense of humour thing which doesn’t translate literally – you have to find another way to approach the situation.

ON-SCREEN TEXT

Language graduates develop core skills highly prized by employers.

End transcript: Video 1 How languages can take your career further

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7 Top tips

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

This week, Aisha, Helen and Stephen talked about what they particularly enjoyed while learning French, how their skills have proved useful in their personal lives and careers, and their top tips for developing a broad base of language skills. Here’s what they said.

Download this video clip.Video player: Video 2 Which part of learning French do you enjoy the most?

Video _unit4.7.1 Video 2 Which part of learning French do you enjoy the most?

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Transcript: Video 2 Which part of learning French do you enjoy the most?

[TEXT ON SCREEN]

Which part of learning French do you enjoy the most?

AISHA

Well, initially, when I was studying French, I would say that speaking scared me the most, and it was the part that I was the most apprehensive about. Now I would say that I really enjoy speaking because it just allows me to not only practise my skills, but also use what I have learned and put it into practice. And then hear other people, hear French native speakers, hear speakers which are learning or have learned French. I really enjoy that. I also really enjoy learning about French culture, just learning about different traditions, different customs which really differ from what I know, or what I’m aware of. I just find it really interesting.

HELEN

The part of French I enjoy the most is when I get the opportunity to speak French. I got a real buzz when I realised that people mainly understood what I was saying! And I just think that being able to have a conversation in another language is amazing.

End transcript: Video 2 Which part of learning French do you enjoy the most?

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Download this video clip.Video player: Video 3 Has any knowledge or skill from your studies been useful in your personal life or career?

Video _unit4.7.2 Video 3 Has any knowledge or skill from your studies been useful in your personal life or career?

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Transcript: Video 3 Has any knowledge or skill from your studies been useful in your personal life or career?

[TEXT ON SCREEN]

Has any knowledge or skill from your studies been useful in your personal life or career?

HELEN

I think the knowledge and skills I developed as a learner of French were useful in my personal life. I think-- I realised that it was never too late to learn something new, never too late to learn a new language. It really helped my self-confidence as well, and I think I gained quite a lot of analytical skills in terms of picking apart how the grammar worked, and learning how to structure and plan the written work.

STEPHEN

I find that your communication skills become more finely tuned as you learn. Your ability to communicate with people in French-speaking countries will be improved; your knowledge of the mechanics of grammar in a language will be strengthened and so you will find your written and spoken language improves in your own language; and you will find it easier to learn further languages. The mental gymnastics involved in learning a language is challenging and fulfilling, and your sensitivity to foreign culture will be enhanced.

AISHA

As a learner of French, I would say that you learn lots of different skills and knowledge which becomes useful in your personal life. The skill of just learning to accept cultural customs and cultural traditions which may appear different to you, and they might come across as a cultural shock sometimes. But learning to accept this wide range of linguistic diversity that French offers can be really useful for your personal life.

When you’re learning French, you develop the important skill of communication, so communicating by means of speaking to other people, and that’s really useful in your career. If you have to deal with speaking to someone who is French that could be really useful. But also just learning to speak to people who are of a different culture, who speak a different language to you. Those skills are transferable, whether or not you pursue a career in French or not. Also, developing the skill of listening, as a learner of French you really focus on your listening skills, and trying to listen out for different aspects. And I think that becomes very useful in your career, just trying to take a step back sometimes, listening, honing in to what the other person is saying, things like that.

End transcript: Video 3 Has any knowledge or skill from your studies been useful in your personal life or career?

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Download this video clip.Video player: Video 4 What are your top tips for developing language skills?

Video _unit4.7.3 Video 4 What are your top tips for developing language skills?

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Transcript: Video 4 What are your top tips for developing language skills?

[TEXT ON SCREEN]

What are your top tips for developing language skills?

HELEN

I’ve got a few tips for developing language skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. But my top tip would be: don’t be afraid to make mistakes when speaking. We all make mistakes, and we all correct ourselves, even in our mother tongue. And if you’re talking to a native speaker, they’ll understand that you’re learning the language and they’ll make allowances for you. They’re actually likely to be impressed that you’re speaking French at all!

For reading, my top tip would be: get hold of some of the ‘easy reader’ books that are available. They use short chapters of short stories, and they have vocabulary lists at the end of each chapter, and the stories tend to contain lots of reinforcement of common words. I found it a really huge confidence boost to be able to read a story in another language.

I’d also recommend watching films and television programmes with the subtitles on. It’ll help you ‘get your ear in’ and get you used to hearing French in a natural setting, even if you can’t understand much at first.

I think writing is the most difficult skill to acquire if you don’t have anyone to check what you’re writing. You could use an app like DeepL, which is an online translation tool, to ‘back translate’ what you’ve written, and check whether it works. My other tip would be to try and think in French, rather than trying to translate something that you’ve written in English across into French.

End transcript: Video 4 What are your top tips for developing language skills?

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8 This week’s quiz

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Now that you’ve completed Week 3, you can take a short quiz to help you to reflect on what you’ve learned.

Week 3 practice quiz

Open the quiz in a new window or tab, then come back here when you’ve finished.

9 Summary of Week 3

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Well done for completing Week 3!

This week, you found out more about the different components of language, and examined language learning in closer detail. You worked through some examples of the types of activities typically found in a beginners’ French language course. You have also reflected on the range of skills developed by language learners.

You should now be able to:

identify the different components of language
recognise the knowledge and skills developed by learners of French
appreciate strategies for learning and memorising French vocabulary
understand that language learners develop a wide range of transferable skills.

Next week, you will continue to explore the knowledge and skills involved in learning French, focusing specifically on basic French grammar.

You can now go to Week 4.

Introduction

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

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Figure 1 What does French look like?

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This decorative image shows the words ‘What does French look like?’, around which are names of various linguistic concepts like grammar, punctuation, nouns, verbs, conjugation, adjectives, feminine, masculine.

Figure 1 What does French look like?

Welcome to Week 4! By now you are hopefully feeling quite confident that you will be able to tackle learning French. You have thought about what learning French involves, with an overview of spotting words that you already know and learning new ones. You have read about the range of skills that language learners develop. You have also seen that there are a lot of cultural elements that are not only essential to ‘getting things right’ but interesting to learn in their own right.

There is one aspect of language learning that many people find challenging, however, and that is grammar. This difficulty often stems from the way it was taught at school. This week you are going to have a look at French grammar, and you’ll find it doesn’t have to be a chore, but it’s rather more like a tool to empower you. Knowing the right vocabulary is of course highly important, but if you can’t assemble words together into sentences, you won’t be able to communicate in French. Grammar is the set of principles that provides structure to language. Some of these principles are similar in different languages; others are very different. This week you will get a taster of what learning French grammar is like.

Learning outcomes

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

explain which accents and diacritics are used on some letters in French
recognise and understand some basic grammatical terms
identify a few differences between French grammar and the grammar of your own language
understand what learning French grammar entails.

1 The letters of the French language

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

The French language uses a script written horizontally (unlike some written vertically e.g. traditional Chinese or Japanese) from left to right (unlike Arabic or Hebrew). You found out in Week 1 that the French alphabet is comprised of 26 letters. It is the same alphabet as used in the English language, sometimes referred to as the Latin alphabet (as opposed, for example, to the Greek or Cyrillic alphabets, used by Greek and Russian respectively).

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Figure _unit5.1.1 Figure 2 French alphabet

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The image shows in multicoloured font the 26 letters of the French alphabet: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l,m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z.

Figure 2 French alphabet

Alphabets are a writing system where letters represent sounds. This is different from non-alphabetic systems (e.g. Chinese) where a single character can represent a whole word.

In addition to the 26 letters of the alphabet, French uses diacritics (signs added to letters, for example in é or ç) and ligatures (two letters combined together, for example œ). Note that letters with diacritics or ligatures don’t count as separate letters in the French alphabet.

Activity _unit5.1.1 Activity 1 French diacritics

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Do you know which of the following letters with diacritics or ligatures are used in the French language? Try and select the five correct ones. Don’t worry if you don’t know the answer, have a go anyway: you’ll get feedback about how many are right/wrong and you can keep trying.

The correct answers are a, b, d, f and g.

French uses the following diacritics and ligatures:

Table _unit5.1.1 Table 1 French diacritics and ligatures
English term	French term	How to write
acute accent	accent aigu	é
grave accent	accent grave	à è ù
circumflex accent	accent circonflexe	â ê î ô û
diaeresis	tréma	ë ï ü
cedilla	cédille	ç
ligature	e dans l’a / a–e entrelacés / a–e liés e dans l’o / o–e entrelacés / o–e liés	æ œ

The most frequently used ones are the acute, grave and circumflex accents. When you learn French vocabulary, you will need to remember whether words are spelt with any accents. With some practice it will become second nature!

Some of the diacritics in French are used to indicate different pronunciations of the same letters. You will learn how to distinguish and pronounce them when you start learning French. In Week 5 you will do a taster activity about this.

2 Grammar terminology

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

It is important to stress up front that a French sentence can look fairly similar to a sentence written in English or another European language (like the Romance languages you read about in Week 2). A sentence in French will start with a capital letter, and end with a full stop. Punctuation marks are broadly used in the same way as in English. Word order within sentences is also very similar.

When you learn French, though, you will be learning not just the names of things but also how to ask for things and express your opinion, and how to communicate on a more meaningful level. To do that, as a beginner, you will need to know a little more about what makes a sentence, and some basic grammar that forms the structure of the French language.

Words are the building blocks of sentences, and grammar is the set of principles that allows you to put them together in a way that ensures that others will understand what you want to communicate. Grammar provides tools to describe how language is used. It includes terminology which is useful to name different parts or aspects of language, for example ‘noun’, ‘verb’, ‘tense’, or ‘question’. Are you familiar with terminology like this? Try the activity below.

Activity _unit5.2.1 Activity 2 Grammar terms

Timing: Allows about 5 minutes

Read the sentence below, and select the correct term to refer to each individual word. Take a guess if you’re unsure, check your answers and read the discussion beneath to find out more.

Example _unit5.2.1

Scout is a black dog.

Scout…

adjective

article

noun

verb

The correct answer is c.

… is …

adjective

article

noun

verb

The correct answer is d.

… a …

adjective

article

noun

verb

The correct answer is b.

… black …

adjective

article

noun

verb

The correct answer is a.

… dog.

adjective

article

noun

verb

The correct answer is c.

Discussion

Here are a few explanations for these terms:

A noun is a naming word, referring to people (‘Mary’), animals (‘Scout’, ‘dog’), objects (‘table’, ‘book’), or abstract notions (‘love’, ‘intelligence’).

A verb denotes an action or state: ‘do’, ‘is’, ‘eat’, ‘jump’, etc.

An adjective adds information to a noun, for example to add a description, like ‘black’, ‘nice’, ‘difficult’.

An article is a word that can be used with a noun, like ‘a’ or ‘the’ in English.

Don’t worry if grammar terminology is completely new to you! If you found the activity above challenging, don’t be disheartened. Learning to use terminology like ‘nouns’, ‘adjectives’ and so on is part of learning a new language. You will become accustomed to these terms over time as you develop your skills.

3 Nouns and articles in French: introducing gender

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

So, as was just discussed, a noun is a naming word. When learning French, this is a well-established place to start: learning lists of names for things. Usually these are tangible things: dog, breakfast, hotel, swimming pool, son, daughter. If you have a good memory for these things, you can often get by in a French-speaking country, buying tickets or booking accommodation relatively successfully. Once you start to go beyond the naming of everyday things to, for example, the discussion of your own passions (white-water rafting, volunteering, wine tasting?) and achievements (black belt in judo, spiritual enlightenment?) you will see that nouns become far more exciting to learn.

If you want to practise learning some French vocabulary, why not start by taking some time to research the French for the key nouns you would use to describe your own life, like your family, your home, your hobbies or interests? If you do look up some nouns in a bilingual dictionary (whether that’s a physical book or online), you will notice that the French translations are followed by ‘m.’ or ‘f.’. You will now find out what this means and why it’s provided.

Activity _unit5.3.1 Activity 3 Comparing French and English

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Look at the word list below. What do you notice when you compare the French and English?

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Figure _unit5.3.1 Figure 3 Bilingual word list

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The image contains a list of words in English with their French equivalents. The words in English are: a tree, a dog, a book, a bike, a table, a sock, an apple, a house. The words in French are: un arbre, un chien, un livre, un vélo, une table, une chaussette, une pomme, une maison.

Figure 3 Bilingual word list

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Discussion

What is interesting to notice from the list is that there are two words in French which are equivalent to the English ‘a’: these are un and une.

The word list in Activity 3 was a list of nouns, but each noun was preceded by ‘a’ in English, and by un or une in French. These are articles, or more precisely ‘indefinite articles’. So why does French have two of them when English only has one?

This is because in the French language, all nouns are categorised as masculine or feminine. This is termed as ‘gender’. As a result, French grammar has a different article for each: un for masculine words, and une for feminine words. There are also masculine and feminine versions of the ‘definite article’ (equivalent to ‘the’ in English): le is masculine (le livre = the book), and la is feminine (la maison = the house). Note that if a noun starts with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) then both le and la are replaced by l’ (un arbre > l’arbre: the tree; une école > l’école: the school).

Gender is not unique to the French language: Spanish, Italian and German, for example, also categorise nouns according to gender. The grammatical notion of gender exists in English too, but it’s limited to differentiating between male and female individuals and animals. For example, English has the masculine pronoun ‘he’, and the feminine pronoun ‘she’ (among others like ‘they’). Objects and abstract concepts are normally referred to as ‘it’, which is neither masculine or feminine.

What is different in French, and other languages, is that the notion of gender applies to all nouns. For example, the list in Activity 3 shows you that the French nouns for tree, dog, book and bike are masculine, whereas the French nouns for table, sock, apple and house are feminine. This does not mean that each naming word has a particular ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ quality, so it’s important as you learn French not to look for that kind of rationale. For example, the word for a man’s shirt in French is feminine (une chemise), but for a woman’s blouse it’s masculine (un chemisier).

This shows how the grammatical notion of gender in French is abstract and arbitrary. As a learner of French, this means that whenever you learn a new noun, you will also have to learn its gender, by learning the article that goes with it. In a dictionary, the gender of French nouns is usually indicated by a small m. or f., for masculine or feminine.

4 Memorising nouns and their gender

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Think about how you might memorise masculine and feminine nouns. Some people like to colour-code their written vocabulary notes. Others learn sentences using the noun. Although you will not necessarily be misunderstood if you make a mistake with gender, it is nevertheless important to get to grips with this challenge early on; the more you repeat words and become familiar with them, the more likely you are to remember gender without much effort.

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Figure _unit5.4.1 Figure 4 Vocabulary flash cards

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This image shows the same word list as seen in Figure 3 written on a flash card, with French words written in blue if they are masculine (un arbre, un chien, un livre, un vélo) and orange if they are feminine (une table, une chaussette, une pomme, une maison).

Figure 4 Vocabulary flash cards

As well as these tips, you will start to notice patterns as you build up your knowledge of vocabulary. For example, most nouns ending in -ion (you may remember the work you did with cognates in Week 2) are feminine, for example la télévision, la présentation,and l’organisation. Most nouns ending in -age are masculine, for example le garage and le montage. And most ‘loan words’ from English to French are also masculine, for example le weekend, le marketing, and le web. It is always useful to spot patterns when learning a language, and you will feel more empowered to use your new skills if you have a reliable base of rules (even though there are inevitably exceptions to them).

Now, it’s time to turn to verbs.

5 Verbs in French: introducing conjugation

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

You may remember that a verb is a ‘doing’ word. In other words, verbs denote actions.

Here are some English verbs, and their French equivalents.

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Figure _unit5.5.1 Figure 5 Some common verbs

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The image shows a list of verbs in English, with their French equivalents shown underneath. The verbs are, in English: love, eat, walk, finish, choose, know, take, read; in French: aimer, manger, marcher, finir, choisir, savoir, prendre, lire.

Figure 5 Some common verbs

When used in sentences, verbs are preceded by ‘subjects’ which refer to the person or thing doing the action described by the verb. Subjects can be nouns, like ‘Simon’, ‘Debbie’ or ‘the cat’, or pronouns, like ‘I’, ‘he’, ‘she’ or ‘you’.

In many languages, verb forms can change depending on the subject used with the verb.

Activity _unit5.5.1 Activity 4 Verb endings

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

Look at the following verb endings in English. What do you notice? Make a quick note.

eat:
I eat
you eat
he/she eats
we eat
you eat
they eat

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Discussion

This example shows us that the verb form for ‘eat’ used with ‘he’ or ‘she’ changes to ‘eats’.

Now, you will compare ‘eat’ to its French equivalent. See how the French verb ‘manger’ changes depending on the subject. Pay close attention to the spelling – what’s different?

manger:
je mange
tu manges
il/elle mange
nous mangeons
vous mangez
ils/elles mangent

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Discussion

There’s more variation in the verb endings in French than in English.

The variation of verb forms is called ‘conjugation’. In the activity just now, you saw that verb forms can vary depending on the subject used with the verb. It can also vary depending on the tense used, i.e. whether you are using a verb form to refer to the present (je mange = I eat), to the past (je mangeais = I used to eat) or to the future (je mangerai = I will eat).

Learning verb conjugations can seem quite daunting at first, but when you start learning French, you will study these step by step, so you will have plenty of time to memorise them gradually. Your tutor and/or learning materials will also help you to identify patterns which will make your learning a lot easier. For example, all the verb endings for the subject tu always end in -s, and all of those for the subject vous end in -z.

Another pattern is that most of the verbs that end with -er (manger, aimer, marcher, etc.) follow exactly the same conjugation forms, so once you have learned those for one -er verb, you can work out how to conjugate almost all of the other -er verbs. Try the next activity to practise this.

Activity _unit5.5.2 Activity 5 -er verb endings

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Manger and marcher are both regular -er verbs, so their conjugation patterns use the same verb endings. Look at the example below, and then write the appropriate ending to get the correct form for the next three instances of marcher, mirroring the pattern of manger.

Example _unit5.5.1

je mange

tu manges

vous mangez

ils mangent

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Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

As you keep learning, you’ll become very familiar with these verb forms and find them much easier to recall.

6 Word order in French: adjectives

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

In the early stages of a beginners’ French course, you’ll start by learning some words and key phrases for communicating basic information, like your name and where you come from. When you reach the point of forming your own phrases and sentences, you will learn some grammar rules about word order, as this can differ between languages.

In Week 3, you learned some words (adjectives) for colours in French. Look at the two phrases below. What do you notice?

Example _unit5.6.1

a green tree

un arbre vert

This example illustrates the fact that in English adjectives are always placed before the noun, whereas in French most adjectives (but not all of them!) are placed after the noun. Try applying this knowledge in the next activity.

Activity _unit5.6.1 Activity 6 Place the adjective

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Practise using adjectives in French by translating the phrases below. Use the drop down boxes to put the words in the right order.

1. a green tree

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2. a blue bike

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3. a red apple

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4. a yellow sock

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7 Gender and adjectives: introducing agreeement

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

You now know that all nouns in French have a gender, either masculine or feminine, and that they must be used with the appropriate article, un/le (or l’) or une/la (or l’).

You also know that most adjectives, including adjectives for colours, are placed after what they describe in French sentences.

There’s another important grammar rule you must familiarise yourself with in your studies. Adjectives also have a masculine and a feminine form, and you need to use the appropriate form to match the gender of the noun they’re describing. In most cases, the feminine form is formed by adding an -e to the masculine. The grammatical term for this is ‘agreement’: adjectives need to agree with nouns.

Take a look at the following examples:

Example _unit5.7.1

un vélo bleu (a blue bike)

une maison bleue (a blue house)

un chien noir (a black dog)

une table noire (a black table)

Now you can have a go at forming nouns and adjectives that agree.

Activity _unit5.7.1 Activity 7 Noun/adjective agreement

Translate the phrases below, using the correct form of the adjective for each noun. Then reveal the discussion to check your answers.

1. a blue sock (a sock = une chaussette)

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2. a blue book (a book = un livre)

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3. a black bike (a bike = un vélo)

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4. a black house (a house = une maison)

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Discussion

The correct answers are:

une chaussette bleue
un livre bleu
un vélo noir
une maison noire

Note that when an adjective ends in -e in the masculine form (for example rouge and jaune) then the feminine form is the same. You do not add another -e. Here’s an example:

Example _unit5.7.2

un vélo rouge

une chaussette rouge

To wrap up your learning this week, see if you can produce your first complete sentence in French in this final activity.

Activity _unit5.7.2 Activity 8 Your first full sentence

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Try and produce a translation for the full sentence ‘I eat a green apple’.

You will need to:

use the correct form of the verb manger
use the correct form of the adjective vert
use the noun for apple, une pomme
check the word order.

Take your time, and look back to earlier pages/weeks if you need to review any grammatical rules.

Have a go in the box below, and then reveal the discussion to check your answer.

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Discussion

The correct answer is:

Je mange une pomme verte.

How did you do? Check the following:

Did you use the correct form of the verb manger, i.e. je mange?
Did you use the correct form of the adjective vert, i.e. the feminine form verte? It needs to agree with the noun pomme which is feminine, as indicated by the use of the article une.
Did you check the word order, i.e., place the adjective after the noun it describes?

8 Top tips

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

This week, Aisha, Helen and Stephen talked about how they remember French spellings and accents, and their top tips for overcoming anxiety about learning grammar. Here’s what they said.

Download this video clip.Video player: Video 1 What are your best tips for memorising word spellings, accents, etc.?

Video _unit5.8.1 Video 1 What are your best tips for memorising word spellings, accents, etc.?

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Transcript: Video 1 What are your best tips for memorising word spellings, accents, etc.?

[TEXT ON SCREEN]

What are your best tips for memorising word spellings, accents, etc.?

HELEN

It can be quite hard to memorise how to spell words in French, because there are accents which we don’t use in English. So I try to think about how the word sounds. For example, the sound of the c with the cedilla underneath it in français. Knowing how that ç is pronounced helps with the spelling of other words that have it, like the expression ça va.

STEPHEN

Some people use flashcards. Some use mnemonics or rhymes to help them remember things. I just see the accents as being as important as letters of the alphabet, and so they should be learned with the word. When you get to writing on a word processing app that can switch between languages, you’ll find that you can have the typewritten words spell-checked and it will fill in the accents for you. But you should still learn the correct spelling of the word and where the accents go, because they have an influence on how the word is pronounced.

AISHA

In relation to memorising word spellings, especially words which have accents on them, I would say that you should continuously write that word down. If you continuously write it down and refer to that, you will remember the different accents that go on specific words. And that will really help you in terms of remembering the way that a word is spelled.

End transcript: Video 1 What are your best tips for memorising word spellings, accents, etc.?

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Video _unit5.8.1 Video 1 What are your best tips for memorising word spellings, accents, etc.?

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Download this video clip.Video player: Video 2 What would you say to encourage a new learner who is anxious about learning grammar?

Video _unit5.8.2 Video 2 What would you say to encourage a new learner who is anxious about learning grammar?

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Transcript: Video 2 What would you say to encourage a new learner who is anxious about learning grammar?

[TEXT ON SCREEN]

What would you say to encourage a new learner who is anxious about learning grammar?

HELEN

If you’re new to learning French, you might be a bit anxious about learning grammar, but don’t be. Think of it as a way to unlock the language. The building blocks that will enable you to express yourself in another language. And it’s the thing that will take you from single words to whole sentences. And there are tons of online resources that can help you too (blogs, videos). I just think it’s so important to get over that fear of grammar.

STEPHEN

Learning grammar is like adding another tool into your tool kit. It is progress. It is new stuff and new challenges. It’s the part of the journey that will make the ride more comfortable. As you learn the grammar you strengthen your skills, and you make it possible to do more with the language you’re learning.

AISHA

Initially I would say that learning grammar was a very daunting aspect of studying French, because it appeared really difficult and really different from English. But I think now I would say that learning grammar really has provided me with knowledge about the way that the language itself works. Not only that, I would say that it’s helped me to understand English grammar more as well. I would say that-- a lot of grammatical structures I didn’t even know I use on a daily basis in English, but I’m more conscious of them now when I’m speaking. But that’s thanks to the fact that I learned these grammatical structures in French.

End transcript: Video 2 What would you say to encourage a new learner who is anxious about learning grammar?

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9 This week’s quiz

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

It’s time to complete the Week 4 badged quiz. It is similar to the previous quizzes but this time, instead of answering 5 questions, there will be 15, covering Weeks 1 to 4.

Remember that the quiz counts towards your badge. If you’re not successful the first time, you can attempt the quiz again in 24 hours.

Week 4 compulsory badge quiz

Open the quiz in a new window or tab, then come back here when you’ve finished.

10 Summary of Week 4

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Well done for completing Week 4!

Quite a lot of terminology was used this week; some of it was probably familiar, but maybe not something you’ve thought about for a while (since your schooldays perhaps). There is no need for your French studies to include an in-depth study of grammar – unless you want to of course. Nor do you need to spend time analysing sentences and looking for verbs and nouns and so on. But as a learner of French, you’ll find that you encounter and learn some of these terms in the process.

You should now be able to:

explain which accents and diacritics are used on some letters in French
recognise and understand some basic grammatical terms
identify a few differences between French grammar and the grammar of your own language
understand what learning French grammar entails.

Hopefully this week’s study has piqued your interest, and clarified some terms you might’ve wondered about. Perhaps grammar is an element you will enjoy tackling?

You’ve had a preview of what French looks like. Next week, you will start exploring what French sounds like.

You are now halfway through the course. The Open University would really appreciate your feedback and suggestions for future improvement in our optional end-of-course survey, which you will also have an opportunity to complete at the end of Session 8. Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others.

You can now go to Week 5.

Introduction

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

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Figure 1 What does French sound like?

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This decorative image shows the words ‘What does French sound like?’ surrounded by words: speaking, listening, pronunciation, accent, sounds, rhythm, conversation, silence, as well as sound-related symbols like musical notes, speech marks and IPA phonetic notation.

Figure 1 What does French sound like?

Welcome to Week 5! Earlier in this course, you found out about several key dimensions to learning French. While Week 4 focused on understanding written French, this week the spotlight will turn to speech. As a learner of beginners’ French, you will come to recognise new sounds, you will practise pronouncing them, and you will develop listening and speaking skills. This week’s content and activities aim to give you a taste of what it’ll all be like. You will also hear tips from students about developing pronunciation skills, listening strategies and, very importantly, about developing confidence to speak!

Learning outcomes

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

recall some basic facts about French pronunciation
complete the kind of listening and pronunciation activities found in a beginners’ French course
appreciate what is involved in developing listening skills
understand the importance of having the confidence to have a go and speak.

1 The ‘music’ of French

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Would you recognise someone speaking in your own language with a French accent? What are the distinguishing elements that make an accent sound ‘French’? Perhaps you have visited a French-speaking country and heard conversations in French. What does that sound like?

Activity _unit6.1.1 Activity 1 The sound of spoken French

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Listen to the audio clip below. You will hear snippets of spoken conversation recorded in a bar in France. Listen without trying to understand what the people are saying – as if you’re listening to a piece of music. What are your overall impressions? Can you tell immediately that the language spoken is not English, or your own language? How exactly can you tell? What is the ‘music’ of the language like? You can make some notes below if you’d like, before revealing the discussion.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: Audio 1 French bar conversation

Audio _unit6.1.1 Audio 1 French bar conversation (note: audio contains overlapping voices and background noise with no main dialogue, so there is no transcript)

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Audio _unit6.1.1 Audio 1 French bar conversation (note: audio contains overlapping voices and background noise with no main dialogue, so there is no transcript)

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Discussion

Your thoughts on these questions will be specific to you, and might also depend on how close your own language is to the French language. People often think that French speakers talk much more quickly than in many other languages. Do you think that’s true?

Here are some other questions you might’ve considered:

Did you find that people’s voices were monotonous or musical?
Did the pitch of people’s voices vary, from high-pitched to low-pitched (think about the difference between soprano and bass singers), or did it sound more constant?
Did you notice any variation in how loudly people speak?
Does it sound like people interrupt each other at all?

These are all factors which can vary from one language to the next, but also from one speaker to the next. As a language learner, you will develop an ability to notice how people speak French, and to imitate them.

If you want to hear some more variety, you could try this activity again using different sources. For example, you might listen to one of the national radio channels in France live on the internet for a couple of minutes, and note down your observations. If you are interested, Radio France channels can be found at radiofrance.com (make sure to open the link in a new tab/window so you can easily return here). Look out for links labelled écouter (meaning ‘listen’) to tune in.

In order to understand spoken French (and speak it yourself of course), you’ll need to concentrate on the two key aspects of spoken language: pronunciation and intonation. You may recognise someone speaking your language with a ‘French accent’ because they pronounce words a bit differently to a native speaker. Listening to a conversation between two French people will demonstrate how the intonation works, the way sentences ‘rise’ and ‘fall’ and the overall rhythm of the utterances – what’s meant by the ‘music’ of the language.

It is this difference in intonation between French and other languages that often gives the impression that ‘French people speak more quickly than we do’ when in fact, we just need to train our ears to track the new sounds. When you’re more familiar with French, it gets easier to pick out the key information being communicated, because it won’t seem like such a ‘blur’ of sound anymore. When you speak French, incorporating the appropriate pronunciation and intonation will make you easier to understand too.

2 Training your ear

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

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Figure _unit6.2.1 Figure 2 Recognising French

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This image shows numerous cartoon people, each with two speech bubbles above them. The first one shows a greeting in French (Bonjour, Salut, Bonsoir, Enchanté, Bienvenue). The second shows the same greeting written phonetically using IPA.

Figure 2 Recognising French

When you start learning French, you will learn how to recognise and produce some unfamiliar sounds. Which sounds these are will depend on the languages you are already familiar with. For example, if your first language is English, you might initially find it tricky to pronounce the French sound /y/ which often corresponds to the letter ‘u’ in French. Listen to the audio clip below to hear examples:

Download this audio clip.Audio player: Audio 2 The letter ‘u’

Audio _unit6.2.1 Audio 2 The letter ‘u’

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Transcript: Audio 2 The letter ‘u’

PROFESSEURE

u, tu, une, unique, urgent, université

End transcript: Audio 2 The letter ‘u’

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Audio _unit6.2.1 Audio 2 The letter ‘u’

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However, if you speak other languages, you may already be familiar with that sound. In German, for example, the sound /y/ usually matches the letter ‘ü’, like in the word Übung.

In any case, you shouldn’t worry about which sounds you might find tricky in French: any beginners’ French course will contain many activities to help you practise pronunciation. For example, in Week 4 of this course, you found out that some of the diacritics in French, like accents or the cedilla, are used to indicate different pronunciations of the same letters. You will learn how to distinguish and pronounce these. As a taster, the next activity demonstrates the kind of pronunciation activity you will encounter.

Activity _unit6.2.1 Activity 2 The letter ‘e’

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Used on the letter ‘e’, the acute (é) and grave (è) accents depict two different sounds in French. This activity will help you to distinguish them.

First, listen to the three sounds spoken out loud in these examples:

Example _unit6.2.1

Download this audio clip.Audio player: Audio 3 e

Audio _unit6.2.2 Audio 3 e

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Audio _unit6.2.2 Audio 3 e

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Download this audio clip.Audio player: Audio 4 é

Audio _unit6.2.3 Audio 4 é

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Audio _unit6.2.3 Audio 4 é

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Download this audio clip.Audio player: Audio 5 è

Audio _unit6.2.4 Audio 5 è

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Audio _unit6.2.4 Audio 5 è

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Now listen to each of these clips, and see if you can determine which letter is being pronounced.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: bfr_1_w5_audio02.mp3

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The correct answer is a.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: bfr_1_w5_audio03.mp3

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The correct answer is b.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: bfr_1_w5_audio04.mp3

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The correct answer is c.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: bfr_1_w5_audio04.mp3

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The correct answer is c.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: bfr_1_w5_audio03.mp3

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The correct answer is b.

Now listen to these two clips, and see if you can tell whether each word contains the sound of é or of è.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: Audio 6 é or è

Audio _unit6.2.10 Audio 6 é or è

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Audio _unit6.2.10 Audio 6 é or è

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The correct answer is b.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: Audio 7 é or è

Audio _unit6.2.11 Audio 7 é or è

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Audio _unit6.2.11 Audio 7 é or è

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The correct answer is a.

Discussion

The first word was très, which means ‘very’. The second word was été, which means ‘summer’. It contains the sound of é used twice.

3 From letters to sounds

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

The alphabet used in English and French has 26 letters – but there are more than 26 sounds in the English and in the French languages. This is because, as you saw in the previous activity, diacritics can be used to transcribe different sounds for the same letter (like é and è). Another factor is that letters can be combined to form new sounds. There is, therefore, no direct correspondence between sounds and letters. This is not unique to French, but it does mean that while you study, you will need to ensure that you check how words are pronounced when you learn new vocabulary.

In a beginners’ French course, if you have a tutor they will be able to demonstrate pronunciation, but you will also work with audio and perhaps video clips to practise pronunciation. There are many freely available online dictionaries and translation tools which provide audio clips for pronunciation too. Other resources make use of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to transcribe sounds. You will come across this when you use a large bilingual dictionary, for example. The IPA is a useful tool for language learners. For example, it distinguishes between the different sounds that the letter ‘e’ and diacritics can spell: the sounds corresponding to the accented letters ‘é’ and ‘è’ are transcribed /e/ and /ɛ/. If you learn a new French word with the letter ‘s’ but are unsure whether it should be pronounced as a soft ‘s’ (as at the start of the word ‘sound’) or like a ‘z’ (for example at the end of the plural ‘sounds’), then checking the phonetic transcription will help you out. Here are a couple of examples of IPA:

Example _unit6.3.1

The English word ‘sounds’ is transcribed /saʊndz/.

The French word été is transcribed /ete/.

The French word très is transcribed /tʀɛ/.

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Figure _unit6.3.1 Figure 3 IPA in French

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This image shows several French words (bonjour, voilà, merci, au revoir) in thought bubbles, and the same words written phonetically in speech bubbles.

Figure 3 IPA in French

The International Phonetic Alphabet is a useful tool, but it is complex – even for seasoned linguists. The good news is that as a beginner, you will absolutely not be expected to memorise it, or even use it at all if you don’t want to. But it’s useful to know about it, and to be able to recognise it. Knowing a few of the symbols will provide some handy clues about pronunciation.

Activity _unit6.3.1 Activity 3 Très

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Look at the spelling of the French word très, and compare it to the IPA transcription, /tʀɛ/. What does this tell you about how the word is pronounced?

Example _unit6.3.2

très

/tʀɛ/

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Discussion

Comparing the spelling and the IPA transcription of très shows you that the letter ‘s’ is not transcribed phonetically. This means that it is completely silent, and that the word is pronounced as if it was spelt ‘trè’.

Listen to the audio clip below to hear this word again, paying attention to the absence of an ‘s’ sound at the end.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: Audio 6 (repeated)

Audio _unit6.3.1 Audio 6 (repeated) très

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Transcript: Audio 6 (repeated) très

PROFESSEURE

très

End transcript: Audio 6 (repeated) très

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Audio _unit6.3.1 Audio 6 (repeated) très

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4 Sounds and silence

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

As you’ve now seen, another characteristic of French language pronunciation is that some letters are silent. An important difference compared to English is that the final letter of words is often (but not always) silent. Have a go at Activity 4 for some more examples.

Activity _unit6.4.1 Activity 4 Silent endings

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Listen to the audio clips below and decide whether each final ‘t’ is pronounced or silent.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: Audio 8

Audio _unit6.4.1 Audio 8 et

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Audio _unit6.4.1 Audio 8 et

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T is silent

T is pronounced

The correct answer is a.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: Audio 9

Audio _unit6.4.2 Audio 9 lait

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Audio _unit6.4.2 Audio 9 lait

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T is silent

T is pronounced

The correct answer is a.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: Audio 10

Audio _unit6.4.3 Audio 10 test

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Audio _unit6.4.3 Audio 10 test

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T is silent

T is pronounced

The correct answer is b.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: Audio 11

Audio _unit6.4.4 Audio 11 ticket

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Audio _unit6.4.4 Audio 11 ticket

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T is silent

T is pronounced

The correct answer is a.

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Audio _unit6.4.5 Audio 12 petit

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Audio _unit6.4.5 Audio 12 petit

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T is silent

T is pronounced

The correct answer is a.

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Audio _unit6.4.6 Audio 13 huit

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Audio _unit6.4.6 Audio 13 huit

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T is silent

T is pronounced

The correct answer is b.

Discussion

For information, here is the meaning of each word:

et: and
lait: milk
test: test
ticket: ticket
petit: small
huit: eight

5 Accent, stress and rhythm

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

If your first language is English, you will be used to emphasising at least one sound in each word (whether or not you do this consciously). Learners of English have to study the stress pattern of each word and commit them to memory. For example, they have to learn that in the word ‘English’, it is the first sound ‘en’ which is stressed.

One of the reasons English speakers often exhibit a ‘foreign’ accent – at least during early French studies – is because they transfer the stress patterns of English words across to similar words in French. The good news here is that word stress is much more regular in French than it is in English. In French, the norm is for the emphasis to be placed at the end of words. There are of course exceptions, and it gets more complex than this, but it’s a good rule of thumb to follow when you start learning French.

This means that the rhythm of the French language feels a little more ‘monotonous’ than the rhythm of English. To demonstrate this, it’s useful to compare the pronunciation of cognate words (remember from Week 2 that cognates are words that are identical, or almost identical, in two languages) in English and French.

Play the following audio clips to compare the way the cognates are pronounced in English and French. For the English words, the main word stress is identified in the caption.

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Audio _unit6.5.1 Audio 14 television (stress on ‘vi’)

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Audio _unit6.5.2 Audio 15 télévision

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Audio _unit6.5.3 Audio 16 cathedral (stress on ‘the’)

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Audio _unit6.5.4 Audio 17 cathédrale

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Audio _unit6.5.5 Audio 18 intelligence (stress on ‘tel’)

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Audio _unit6.5.6 Audio 19 intelligence

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Audio _unit6.5.7 Audio 20 opera (stress on ‘o’)

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Audio _unit6.5.8 Audio 21 opéra

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Activity _unit6.5.1 Activity 5 Practise French pronunciation

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Now you can have a go at some French pronunciation. Play the model audio for each word below, then record yourself and listen back for comparison. Try them each a few times until the pronunciation feels familiar.

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6 Developing listening skills

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

As you progress through your learning, you will become more and more familiar with the general sound of the French language, and with some pronunciation rules. This will progressively help you improve your listening skills. As part of a beginners’ French course, you will also engage in activities specifically designed to help develop your listening skills.

The key difference between listening and reading is the time you have available to process the material. When you are deciphering a written text you usually have time to re-read it, or go over sections to check that you fully understand. When you listen, however, you are more likely to be in a situation where you need to recognise words and phrases instantly so that you don’t miss what is coming next. Consider, too, that the kind of language you listen to will probably be different from the language that you read. For example, in casual conversations people use a different, less formal level of language. They will pause or repeat themselves, you will hear ‘filler’ sounds (like ‘umm’ in English or ‘euh’ in French) or words (such as ‘kind of…’ and ‘like’ in English, or tu sais and en fait in French) and unfinished sentences. These can act to your advantage, as you get a little more time to process what you hear, and if you pick up these French filler words yourself, you can use them to give yourself time to think as well.

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Figure _unit6.6.1 Figure 4 Immerse yourself

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This image shows a central circle with the message ‘Immerse yourself in spoken French’ with six surrounding circles that suggest ways of doing this. They are: watch French language films, listen to French radio, watch French series on TV, find French audio clips online, listen to French language podcasts, listen to French language songs.

Figure 4 Immerse yourself

It’s fundamentally important that you are prepared for how the language will sound when you hear it. You will do this through your studies, but it’s a good idea to think about the other opportunities available to immerse yourself in the French language, and to take advantage of them. You could, for example, watch some French-language films with subtitles. While you read the subtitles, listen carefully to the dialogue to develop a ‘feel’ for how it sounds. You could occasionally listen to French-language radio or watch French-language TV; as a beginner you won’t be able to understand the content, but you will get used to the sound and rhythm of the language. Another very enjoyable way of developing your listening skills is through music. Look up some French artists in the genres that you like and start listening to French songs (and maybe learn to sing along with them!). One great advantage of listening to music is that there are often repeated phrases, so you can imitate the sounds and repeat them. All of this will improve your listening skills while having fun.

7 Top tips

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

This week, Aisha, Helen and Stephen discussed their favourite things about spoken French, the advice they’d give for learning to pronounce new sounds, and tips on developing speaking skills in particular. Here’s what they said.

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Video _unit6.7.1 Video 1 What is your favourite thing about spoken French?

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Transcript: Video 1 What is your favourite thing about spoken French?

[TEXT ON SCREEN]

What is your favourite thing about spoken French?

AISHA

I would say my favourite thing about spoken French is the way that every single word just seems to link so well to each other. They’re all interlinked. And different words in a sentence will interlink to make the whole sentence just sound beautiful. As cliché as it sounds, I would say that spoken French just flows naturally, it sounds delicate, it sounds completely different to other languages, and that’s what differentiates it from the other languages that are in the world.

STEPHEN

French is so different from English! It’s really hard as an English person to sound French – you have to adopt an attitude and really act it out, and get used to pursing your lips and making some sounds that don’t always come naturally!

HELEN

I think French sounds pretty musical, I love the way it sounds. It’s actually so much more musical than English. The rise and fall of the French language, and the intonation, are just so different. And it sounds just really exotic to me.

End transcript: Video 1 What is your favourite thing about spoken French?

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Download this video clip.Video player: Video 2 What are your top tips for remembering new sounds and practising pronunciation?

Video _unit6.7.2 Video 2 What are your top tips for remembering new sounds and practising pronunciation?

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Transcript: Video 2 What are your top tips for remembering new sounds and practising pronunciation?

[TEXT ON SCREEN]

What are your top tips for remembering new sounds and practising pronunciation?

AISHA

I think it’s really important as a new learner of French to practise the sounds that you have learned. Also, in order to recognise new sounds, it’s really important that you listen to French music, or French podcasts, or watch French films, so that you can pick out these sounds that you have heard, and see the different ways in which they have been used.

It’s also important that you’re not afraid of making mistakes when pronouncing, because the more that you practise speaking a specific word or the pronunciation of something, it will help you realise whether something sounds correct or doesn’t, and then you will eventually fix that, and then master a word.

STEPHEN

OU language courses are really good at helping you with pronunciation. There are always plenty of audio files to listen to and practise with. You can supplement this with learning on something like Duolingo, which also makes you say the words. All the practice you can get will help, and the more you do it, the more likely you are to remember how certain spellings of words should sound when spoken out loud.

Unless you’re a very gregarious character, it’ll probably take some time to lose your inhibitions about speaking French and pronouncing things correctly. But the sooner you get started, the sooner you become more comfortable. And nobody expects you to be perfect as a beginner learner. So be bold. So long as you keep trying, you’ll get there. Practise, practise, practise!

HELEN

There’s one tip I could give you, if you’re a new learner of French and you want to think about how to recognise and remember new sounds, and that’s to try and remember that the last consonant of a word doesn’t get pronounced unless it’s followed by a vowel. It’s a bit tricky to get your head around at first, but once you’ve got that, it will really unlock the way to pronounce French words.

A tip to help you practise your French pronunciation is just lots and lots of repetition. Find something to copy and try to imitate the sounds that you hear. I always think of myself as trying to do an impression of a French person when I speak French. It kind of works for me!

End transcript: Video 2 What are your top tips for remembering new sounds and practising pronunciation?

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Video _unit6.7.3 Video 3 What advice would you give a new learner about developing their speaking skills?

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Transcript: Video 3 What advice would you give a new learner about developing their speaking skills?

[TEXT ON SCREEN]

What advice would you give a new learner about developing their speaking skills?

AISHA

So that you can develop speaking skills as a beginners’ French learner, it’s really important that you put speaking into practice. So, practise with a native speaker, or practise with another student who’s studying French, anyone that you meet that knows French, things like that – it’s really important. The more that you practise speaking, the better that your speaking will inevitably get.

HELEN

If you’re just beginning to learn French and you’re starting to develop your speaking skills, the best advice I can give you would be: don’t be afraid to have a go. Everyone makes mistakes, even in their native language.

It’s also great if you can find a regular conversation partner to practise with. You could do that through an online conversation exchange site. How that works is, you help them by speaking with them in your native language for a little while, and then in exchange they speak with you in French. I’ve been doing that for a couple of years now, and it’s really helped me a lot with my French and German.

End transcript: Video 3 What advice would you give a new learner about developing their speaking skills?

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8 This week’s quiz

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Now that you’ve completed Week 5, you can take a short quiz to help you to reflect on what you’ve learned.

Week 5 practice quiz

Open the quiz in a new window or tab, then come back here when you’ve finished.

9 Summary of Week 5

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Well done for completing Week 5!

Earlier in this course, you found out about the multiple dimensions involved in learning French. This week you’ve focused specifically on what’s involved in understanding spoken French. You’ve had a taste of French pronunciation, and tried out the types of listening activities that you can expect in a beginners’ French course. All of this has hopefully shown how you will attune your ears to the sound and rhythm of the French language as you study.

You should now be able to:

recall some basic facts about French pronunciation
complete the kind of listening and pronunciation activities found in a beginners’ French course
appreciate what is involved in developing listening skills
understand the importance of having the confidence to have a go and speak.

This week you have also been encouraged to find opportunities to experience French-language media and entertainment. This will give you a chance to be immersed not just in the sound of the language, but also in the cultures of the French-speaking world. Week 6 will pick up on this and show how learning about culture is an integral part of learning the language. You will be thinking about where your French can take you, so get ready to travel in Week 6!

You can now go to Week 6.

Introduction

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

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Figure 1 Exploring cultures

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This decorative image shows the words ‘Exploring cultures’ surrounded by various cultural icons: landmarks, religious symbols, musical notes, nature and geographical features, food and drink, buildings, sports, hobbies, and flags.

Figure 1 Exploring cultures

Welcome to Week 6! This week you will imagine yourself – as a budding French speaker – trying out your skills in the real world. You’ll think about how you might put your growing confidence into action, interacting with people from French-speaking countries and learning about their cultures.

At the start of this course, you considered your personal goals in learning French. Keep those in mind as you now begin a virtual trip around the French-speaking world. Whatever context you might use your French skills in – holidaying in France or another French-speaking country; studying abroad; travelling for business – just imagine how useful speaking and understanding the language will be. Even if it crosses your mind to think ‘well, everyone speaks English anyway’, remember that you’ll make a strong impression if you have some French at your disposal, if just to break the conversational ice. Perhaps you’ve heard the expression that ‘you buy in your own language and sell in the other person’s’ – speaking to somebody in their language rather than yours can entirely shift the tone of the conversation.

The focus this week will not be on learning words, grammar or sounds, but rather investigating new environments and ways of life, and the history, art, customs or traditions shared among diverse communities. Through this week’s activities you will get a flavour of the richness of the worlds you will delve into as a learner of French. All of this makes the language learning journey so much more exciting.

So, where would you go in the French-speaking world? You have your passport and you want to speak French – it’s time to set off. First stop: France!

Learning outcomes

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

recognise some of the cultural monuments and customs for which France is famous
identify some overseas French territories
discuss the French-speaking province of Quebec in Canada
understand why French is a growing language in Africa
describe how French is spoken across each continent on the planet.

1 Visit Paris as a tourist

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

France is a leading tourist destination, welcoming visitors from all over the world. If you live in the United Kingdom, then this is a convenient place to start, with a short trip across the Channel. You can get there by train, via the environmentally friendly Eurostar, arriving right in the centre of Paris.

Paris is one of the most-visited cities in Europe (and the world). It is home to the Eiffel Tower – the most-visited tourist site in the country – an iconic structure which seems to represent Paris in its own right.

If you like to spend your holidays sightseeing in cities, there’s much to see and do in Paris. You can stroll up and down the Seine, and browse the bouquinistes stalls selling antiquarian books and artwork along the banks; you might stop at the Notre Dame cathedral and marvel at the architecture; or visit world-class museums such as the Louvre or the Musée d’Orsay. Take your companions to the Centre Pompidou or walk up the Champs Elysées to the Arc de Triomphe. Look in at the luxury shops along the way (good for some window shopping!). When you reach the Arc, take a moment to pause at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, before climbing the monument for an unforgettable view of the city.

Activity _unit7.1.1 Activity 1 French monuments

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

How many Parisian monuments and attractions do you recognise? Match the names to the correct photos. Don’t worry if you’re not familiar with all of them. You can make guesses, or click to reveal the answers.

Using the following two lists, match each numbered item with the correct letter.

The Eiffel tower / la tour Eiffel
Book and art stalls along the Seine / les bouquinistes
The Notre Dame cathedral / la cathédrale Notre Dame
The Louvre museum / le musée du Louvre
The Pompidou museum / le centre Pompidou
The Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysees / l’Arc de Triomphe et les Champs Elysées
The Sacré Cœur / le Sacré Cœur

The correct answers are:

1 = g
2 = a
3 = c
4 = b
5 = f
6 = e
7 = d

2 Observe the local way of life

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

So you’re getting together your checklist of sights to see. You just need to figure out how to fit everything in during your stay! If you have the language skills to buy tickets and traverse the Métro (the underground train system in Paris), you can get from one monument to the next in no time.

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Figure _unit7.2.1 Figure 2 Métro

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This photograph shows a metal sign with ‘Métro’ on it.

Figure 2 Métro

But if you want to get an insight into the authentic life of Paris residents, rather than just the tourist hotspots, you need to visit the places they go. This is where having some cultural knowledge will help you make the most of your stay.

Despite the growth in supermarkets, most French people still buy their bread from the neighbourhood bakery, and will often visit the local open air market to stock up on fresh, locally produced fruit and vegetables, and meat. Spending an hour or two at a marché, observing people and noticing what the stalls sell, will tell you a lot about the importance of food in French culture.

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Figure _unit7.2.2 Figure 3 A market in Paris

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This photograph depicts a market in Paris – people are milling around looking at broad, colourful displays of fruit and vegetables.

Figure 3 A market in Paris

If you take a stroll through any neighbourhood in Paris, you will soon notice how many cafés there are. When you want to take a break, or have a bite for lunch, do visit them. Immerse yourself in the sound of chatting customers, and gauge how important these places are for people to socialise with their colleagues and friends. If you are on a budget, you only need to order a coffee and you can take your time absorbing your surroundings – as long as the café is not in a highly touristy area, where the ‘rules’ will differ. Be aware of cultural differences in coffee too: if you order un café, you’ll be served a single espresso, the locals’ drink of choice. If you prefer a larger, weaker coffee, ask for un grand café or un café allongé. For a white coffee, order un café au lait.

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Figure _unit7.2.3 Figure 4 A French café

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This photograph shows a café in Paris called Le café noir. A few people are sat at tables inside and outside the café.

Figure 4 A French café

You will learn about other cultural differences during your studies and travel experiences. For example, you will find out that the typical time for dinner in France is around 8 p.m.. If you come from the UK, you might find that very late. If you are Spanish, however, you will be used to dining much later. Your own cultural reference points will inevitably influence your experiences in French culture.

This section has hopefully demonstrated to you that food and meals are important cultural touchstones in Paris, central to the way people socialise. Of course, this isn’t exclusive to Paris – as you will now find out.

3 French regional food cultures

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Beyond Paris, many French people place a great deal of importance on food – much like the British often resort to talking about the weather, French people will chat about what they had for dinner the night before, or what they’re thinking of cooking that evening. And although the pace of modern life has certainly affected how people eat, preparing food and taking time to enjoy it remains important.

Because the geography of France is so varied – from the coast of Brittany in the West to the mountains of the Vosges, the Jura and the Alps in the East – most regions boast an impressively diverse menu. From bouillabaisse (a fish soup from Provence) to choucroute (a dish of sauerkraut, sausages and pork, popular in Alsace), there are dozens of dishes and drinks to try when visiting a new region. Some regional specialities, such as foie gras or champagne, have become internationally famous.

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Figure _unit7.3.1 Figure 5 French foods

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This is a collage of two photographs showing examples of French food. One image shows a salami and brie baguette with cornichons. The other shows a bakery window with a variety of pastries on display (chaussons pommes, croissants, palmiers, pains au chocolat).

Figure 5 French foods

Activity _unit7.3.1 Activity 2 French dishes

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Many French dishes are popular all over the world. Here are some well-known regional specialities, with only the first word given. See if you can match them up.

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Discussion

Have you ever tried any of them? Here’s some information on which part of France each dish comes from:

Moules marinières: from the coast of Northern France, near Calais and Dunkerque.
Quiche Lorraine: from the North East, near Metz and Nancy.
Bœuf bourguignon: from the Burgundy region, near Dijon.
Crêpes Suzette: from Brittany, near Brest, Lorient and Rennes.
Ratatouille niçoise: from the South coast, near Nice.
Fondue savoyarde: from the Savoie region in the Alps, near Annecy and Chambéry.
Gratin dauphinois: from the South East, near Grenoble.

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Figure _unit7.3.2 Figure 6 Map of France

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This is a map of France, with the locations from Activity 2 marked on it.

Figure 6 Map of France

How much do you know about the regions and towns of France? When you take a beginners’ French course, you will learn more about the geography of the country, and the many vibrant regions and towns it contains. And this extends beyond just France. Look at Figure 8 to see how varied French landscapes can be.

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Figure _unit7.3.3 Figure 7 Clockwise from top left: Brittany, the French Alps, fields in Central France, the tropical forest of Martinique

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This is a collage of photographs showing French landscapes. The top left photo shows a house, rocks and beach on the coast of Brittany in France. The top right photo shows tall rocky mountains, with some snow at the top, and mountain lake in the French Alps. The bottom right photo shows agricultural fields in Central France, South of Paris. The bottom left photo shows tall palm trees in a tropical forest, with a volcanic peak in the background, on the French Caribbean island of Martinique.

Figure 7 Clockwise from top left: Brittany, the French Alps, fields in Central France, the tropical forest of Martinique

Some of these photos may have surprised you – particularly the French Caribbean island of Martinique. The next activities will show you how far from Europe some French territories are.

4 French overseas territories

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

The knowledge of geography you’ll develop as a learner of French will help you to understand a range of cultural references and idiomatic phrases. One example of this is that mainland France (or la Métropole) is often referred to as l’hexagone (the hexagon). This is because, as shown in Figure 9, you can roughly draw the six-sided shape over the map of France. L’hexagone is a phrase used frequently on French news – and now you’ll know why when you hear it!

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Figure _unit7.4.1 Figure 8 L’hexagone

However, it’s important to recognise that referring to France as l’hexagone leaves out some important parts of the country. The island of Corsica (la Corse), situated further south in the Mediterranean sea, is absent from this description of the mainland.

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Figure _unit7.4.2 Figure 9 La Corse

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This is a photograph of a Corsican landscape, showing a wide expanse of grass and shrubland, with mountains in the distance.

Figure 9 La Corse

L’hexagone also excludes overseas territories which are governed, to a greater or lesser extent, by France. The term l’outre-mer describes all of the French territories located outside mainland France.

The départements ou regions d’outre-mer, or DROM, have the same administrative status as any other département or région in metropolitan France. At time of writing this course, there are ﬁve DROMs: Guadeloupe and Martinique in the Caribbean, French Guiana (la Guyane française) in South America, and Mayotte and Réunion in the Indian Ocean. The links between DROMs and mainland France are strong, and the inhabitants of DROMs are represented in the French Parliament in Paris. Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion are themselves popular tourist destinations for residents of mainland France.

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Figure _unit7.4.3 Figure 10 A beach in Guadeloupe

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This is a photograph of a beach in Guadeloupe. It shows a stretch of sand and water, with foliage and palm trees.

Figure 10 A beach in Guadeloupe

The other French overseas areas – known as collectivités d’outre-mer (COMs) and territoires d’outre mer (TOMs) – have more autonomy from metropolitan France, meaning that to varying degrees they’re self-governing. In 2022, these territories include: Saint-Pierre et Miquelon in the North Atlantic, Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin in the Caribbean, Nouvelle-Calédonie (New Caledonia) and Wallis-et-Futuna in the southwest Paciﬁc, Polynésie française (French Polynesia) in the Paciﬁc, and les Terres australes et antarctiques françaises (French Southern and Antarctic Lands) in the Antarctic. Some COMs enjoy considerable autonomy. New Caledonia, for example, can pass its own laws.

The status of some territories as governed by France is disputed in some parts of the overseas territories. New Caledonia, for example, was granted special status in 1998 under the Nouméa Accord. This agreement between the local parties and the French State required a later independence referendum. At the time of writing this course, three have been held (in 2018, 2020 and 2021), with each vote confirming New Caledonia as part of the French Republic. This situation continues to develop – if this interests you, you might want to do some further reading.

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Figure _unit7.4.4 Figure 11 French around the globe

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This is a picture of the world map, with various French-speaking territories from the text above labelled.

Figure 11 French around the globe

5 Quebec

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

There are many French territories around the world, but the majority of French language speakers actually live in other countries. One of the largest French-speaking communities is located in Quebec.

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Figure _unit7.5.1 Figure 12 Montréal (left), Québec city (right)

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This is a collage of two photographs. The first is Montréal, showing a tree-lined road covered in heavy snow. The second is Québec City, showing a small city square, with shops and a church visible.

Figure 12 Montréal (left), Québec city (right)

Le Québec is the largest of Canada’s provinces. Its capital is Québec City, but the city with the largest population is Montréal. French is the ofﬁcial language in the province; it’s the mother tongue of about 80% of the population, and around 95% of the total population are able to speak it. Overall, there are 8 million speakers of French as a first language across Canada (23% of the population), and a further 6 million (18%) who are French and English bilingual speakers (Government of Canada, 2019).

Quebec was a French colony settled on territory inhabited by native Americans and Inuits. In the 16th century, the French explorer Jacques Cartier encountered what he named Terre Neuve (Newfoundland), and then explored and mapped the St. Lawrence river which ﬂows through Quebec. The names ‘Canada’ and ‘Québec’ were taken from local words: Iroquois kanata and Algonquin kebec. In the 18th century, the French and British crowns went to war over borders and territories in Canada, and France ceded Quebec to the British Crown in 1763. Quebec remained French-speaking, but after this direct French influence ceased, the French spoken in Quebec and the variety spoken in France evolved along slightly different paths.

There are only minor grammatical differences between French as spoken in Quebec and France. They share most but not all vocabulary, and pronunciation does occasionally differ. If you have been learning the French spoken in France, you will easily be understood in Quebec. Indeed, you will receive a warm welcome for travelling such a long way to practise the language that they love! But plan your travel carefully, because winters in Canada are long and cold – as a result, the Québecois (people of Quebec) really know how to celebrate in the summer with street and outdoor festivals.

The Québecois form a large French-speaking community, but you will see in the next section that the largest is found on a different continent.

6 Francophone Africa

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

The presence of the French language in Africa is a legacy of French colonialism, a painful historical era which was recognised as a crime against humanity by French President Emmanuel Macron in 2017 (France24, 2017). It is therefore not surprising that it’s a source of tension, and the French language has been rejected in some parts of Africa where it was previously more commonly spoken. For example, French is spoken but is not an official language in the three North African nations which were once governed by France: Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

As it stands currently, 59% of the people who speak French as their main language on a daily basis around the world are located in Africa (OIF, 2018), and this is increasing due to the high birth rate and population growth in francophone countries in Africa. It has been predicted that 85% of the world’s French speakers could be located in Africa, principally in sub-Saharan Africa, by 2050. Most African people speak French alongside another language, e.g. Arabic in North African countries or Wolof in Senegal. And while French is associated with France’s colonial impact on the continent, it is nonetheless seen as an important shared language, with the majority of French speakers in Africa wanting their descendants to be French speakers too. If you would like to find out more about French on the African continent, you may wish to do some independent further reading – there’s a BBC article from 2019 linked in the References section at the end of this week that can get you started.

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Figure _unit7.6.1 Figure 13 A school in Kpevego, Togo

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This photo shows a teacher writing on a blackboard in a rural school in Togo. French words can be seen on the blackboard.

Figure 13 A school in Kpevego, Togo

Africa, then, is a continent where the population is truly multilingual, with French being one of the languages shared by speakers with diverse backgrounds and a variety of first or second languages. By becoming a learner of French, you will join their ranks as a budding polyglot and develop a link to countless new cultures.

7 La Francophonie

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

It’s clear by now that French is spoken all over the world, by people with hugely different cultures, and often more than one main language. The term la francophonie refers to the areas of the world where French is spoken. Here are some key statistics about the French language’s place in the world (auf.org, 2019):

The French language is the fifth most spoken around the world (after Chinese, English, Spanish and Arabic).
Around 60% of the people who use French on a daily basis live on the African continent.
French is an official language in 32 states and governments, and an official language in most international organisations.
French is the language of education (at school or university) for over 80 million people from 36 countries and territories.
French is learned as a second language by over 50 million people.
French is used widely by international media, on French channels like TV5Monde, RFI or France24, but also Euronews, BBC News, the Chinese channel CGTN, and the Russian channel RT.
French is the fourth most commonly used language on the Internet.

In much the same way that dozens of countries, being former territories of the British Empire, have joined together through the Commonwealth of Nations, an organisation was formed in 1970 to bring together nations who share French as a language. Today this institution is called the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), commonly referred to as la Francophonie. (Note that this official organisation is written with a capital F – it’s different to the earlier concept of la francophonie, with a small f.)

The OIF brings together 57 French-speaking member countries, in order to share cultures and economic goals. Every four years since 1989, it has organised the Francophone Games, les Jeux de la Francophonie. Thousands of athletes from member nations (as well as a few associate member nations and observer nations) travel to participate in various sports – like a French-speaking Olympic games. In addition to the sporting events, this is a celebration of the diversity of the participating nations, and there are competitive cultural events in disciplines such as song, poetry and dance.

There are strong economic links between countries within the OIF, especially in the creative industries, due to the shared French language. These countries export and import cultural products to each other. This includes newspapers and books, films, visual art, video games, music and musical instruments, as well as jewellery, craft and design products.

This week has introduced a plethora of French-speaking communities around the world. Throughout your studies you’ll become progressively more acquainted with a diverse range of countries. Courses and study materials often focus on the more local areas: if you’re studying in the UK, you will probably learn more about the French-speaking countries in Europe; if you’re based in America, you will probably learn more about French-speaking parts of Canada. But in any case, you will see that learning French as a language used within specific cultures, and learning about their way of life, geography or history, will make it a lot more interesting to learn alongside vocabulary and grammar, and will give you greater motivation to keep going!

8 Top tips

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

This week, Aisha, Helen and Stephen talked about the importance of learning about French-speaking cultures while studying the language, and some of the cultural knowledge that particularly intrigued them. Here’s what they said.

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Video _unit7.8.1 Video 1 Is it important to learn about the cultures of French-speaking countries alongside the language? Why?

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Transcript: Video 1 Is it important to learn about the cultures of French-speaking countries alongside the language? Why?

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Is it important to learn about the cultures of French-speaking countries alongside the language? Why?

HELEN

I think it’s really important to learn about the cultures of French-speaking countries when you’re learning the language. I think it makes the language just so much more satisfying. I really wanted to be able to understand about French history, politics and society, and so learning the language while also learning something about those areas was really interesting to me. I also think that having some cultural awareness helps you to look at historical and current affairs with a more open mind.

So, one of the things I learned about French culture when I was learning French was that-- I learned about France as a secular state with separation of church and state, and particularly about the implications of that for education. I knew nothing about this at all before learning French with the OU, and I just found it really interesting, and actually quite different from education in the UK.

AISHA

I would say that as a language learner, it’s really important to learn about the cultures of French-speaking countries because they differentiate from other parts of the world, and it’s really important that we as a society are aware of the differences, we tolerate the differences, we accept these differences. And in essence it’s really useful for us – especially if you’re travelling to a Francophone country, it’s really useful to know things that you should and shouldn’t do. The different customs perhaps, that you might not be aware of, just so that you don’t get a cultural shock when you do visit these countries.

For example, the double kiss greeting, which is predominant in all French-speaking countries. As for me, I would say personally that was a major cultural shock for me. I didn’t realise that it was done even among, for example, colleagues. Something that I found really interesting about French culture, I learned that in the workplace, French people do not have a culture of ‘snacking’, having snacks while working. It’s actually something that is really frowned upon. And that was really interesting but bizarre at the same time, considering that in England I think it’s absolutely normal. You do get to see that snacking is essentially British culture.

STEPHEN

For me, it’s the icing on the cake to learn about the differences between French culture and my own. It’s fascinating learning the history and culture of another country, and learning the language makes it all the more possible to delve deeper.

There’ll always be customs and practices in other countries that you need to be aware of, so you don’t offend the hosts if you go against these unwritten rules. In particular, it’s important to be respectful to older or more senior people. For instance, knowing whether or not to use the polite forms of ‘you’ is a necessity in French. In English, we use the same form no matter what the hierarchy, but we have other ways of showing deference to someone more senior. All of these nuances that are taken for granted in a foreign country are important to the indigenous population, and so they should be respected.

Find the stuff that you’re interested in – whether that’s history, art, sport, politics, film, literature, or anything else – and keep digging. Continuing to study French will bring you all the tools and skills necessary to follow your interests.

End transcript: Video 1 Is it important to learn about the cultures of French-speaking countries alongside the language? Why?

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9 This week’s quiz

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Now that you’ve completed Week 6, you can take a short quiz to help you to reflect on what you’ve learned.

Week 6 practice quiz

Open the quiz in a new window or tab, then come back here when you’ve finished.

10 Summary of Week 6

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Well done for completing Week 6!

This week you’ve been discovering how much can be gained from learning French, besides a knowledge of vocabulary and grammar and the development of your language skills. Being able to speak some French will be your passport to enjoying a wealth of new cultural experiences. Even with very limited French, you will be able to greet people, introduce yourself, and simply show your willingness to engage with other people on their own terms, and find out more about their communities and their way of life.

You should now be able to:

recognise some of the cultural monuments and customs for which France is famous
identify some overseas French territories
discuss the French-speaking province of Quebec in Canada
understand why French is a growing language in Africa
describe how French is spoken across each continent on the planet.

Next week, you will continue to explore French-speaking cultures, by reflecting on cultural differences and how they influence people’s behaviours and expectations. You will learn about ‘intercultural communication competence’, and how you can develop this as a learner of French.

You can now go to Week 7.

Introduction

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

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Figure 1 Communicating across cultures

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Figure 1 Communicating across cultures

Welcome to Week 7! So far in this course you have been looking at what learning French involves, including grammar, pronunciation and language skills. In Week 6, you also got a taster of the wealth of cultural knowledge you will acquire as a learner of French. By now you have realised that there is so much more to communicating than just knowing the language.

This week, you will continue reflecting on this, focusing more specifically on the skills that learners of French develop to help them communicate across languages and cultures. You will see that knowing a bit more about the French-speaking country you are visiting, even if you are not fluent in French, can go a very long way to helping you fit in and communicate. You will find out about intercultural communication skills, and about translation skills.

Learning outcomes

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

explain some differences in forms of address between French and your own language
talk about some ‘do’s and don’ts’ when visiting France
explain what is meant by intercultural competence
recognise how translation skills are an important part of learning French
understand that translation requires intercultural awareness and context sensitivity to convey meaning accurately.

1 Greeting people

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

In Week 6 you read about the wealth of cultural content that you’ll discover as a learner of French, and you came to understand that learning French is about much more than learning language skills. What you will acquire, however, is not just cultural knowledge – it is also about behaviours and attitudes.

When you learn French, you will learn about expected behaviours and common attitudes in some countries where French is spoken. You will become aware of differences in social behaviours, and will thus develop ‘intercultural competence’. This means you’ll understand the importance of communicating with others in a way that is appropriate, beyond speaking their language.

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Figure _unit8.1.1 Figure 2 Social greeting

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This photograph shows two young adults who appear to be in a Paris street. They are mid-greeting with their cheeks close together.

Figure 2 Social greeting

The way people greet each other is a good example of a behaviour that can be different in different cultures.

Activity _unit8.1.1 Activity 1 Your greeting etiquette

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Imagine that you are hosting a guest from a francophone country. It is their first time visiting your country. They would like to find out how they are expected to greet people when they first meet them. What advice will you give them? Make some notes in the box below.

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Discussion

If you are based in the UK, you would probably explain to your guest that the most common greeting upon meeting somebody is a handshake, and that they should introduce themselves using their first name, as greetings tend to be fairly informal. You might add that very close friends might exchange a kiss instead of shaking hands. You could also mention that in more formal settings, they could hear ‘How do you do?’ (or a similar phrase) as a greeting, and that they should not answer the question but simply also respond ‘How do you do?’.

If you come from a different part of the world, the expected behaviour when meeting people for the first time could be very different.

In France, there can be a fairly high degree of formality on display when people greet each other: people shake hands when they greet others, and when they leave them. This social rule is followed by men and women, young and old. This applies to business settings in particular, where you would be expected to shake hands with everybody present upon arriving and leaving.

Among good friends and relatives, instead of shaking hands, people often kiss each other on both cheeks. Two men from the same family will kiss too. Two male friends might shake hands instead. Kissing is not a universal habit in all French-speaking countries, so it’s always best to ask for advice. Similarly, French Muslims may not exchange kisses as often as other French people do.

Formality and courtesy will be shown in the way people address each other in France. It is expected that ‘Monsieur’ or ‘Madame’ will be used. To say ‘hello’, you would therefore either say ‘Bonjour Monsieur’ or ‘Bonjour Madame’ unless you were close friends; to say ‘thank you’, you would use ‘Merci Monsieur’ or ‘Merci Madame’, etc. If you visit France, you will notice this if you listen to exchanges in public places, like shops. In a work setting, many colleagues will use ‘Monsieur’ or ‘Madame’ and last names. If you ever interact with business partners or customers in France, it is a good idea to keep your language and greetings formal until you are invited to use first names.

Such degrees of formality and courtesy are reflected in the French language too. There are two different words for ‘you’ in French, tu (which is informal) and vous (which is formal). As vous is more formal than tu, it’s used when the speaker wishes to address the listener respectfully; this may be due to differences in age or perceived status, or in more formal situations when meeting someone for the first time. Tu is normally used among friends and relatives, and when talking to children. Teenagers and young adults, between themselves, will tend to use the tu form from the outset.

In the next sections, you will look more closely at the language used in business settings, and communicating across cultures.

2 Behaviour expectations at work

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

If you’re planning to use your French skills for work, it will be very useful to find out about cultural differences in business settings too. This may not be something that is taught in all beginners’ French courses, but if it’s relevant to your goals, you should keep an eye out for opportunities to explore this topic further. In this section, you will get a flavour of what attitudes and expected behaviours are like in France. Do keep in mind that things will be different in other French-speaking countries.

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Figure _unit8.2.1 Figure 4 Business etiquette

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This photograph shows a group of four business people. Two of them are shaking hands, presumably they are meeting for the first time.

Figure 4 Business etiquette

What many international business people notice when working with partners or customers from France, especially if they come from a British or North American background, is the higher degree of formality in relationships at work in France. This is manifested, for example, through more formal dress (like suits and ties being the norm for men). Formality and hierarchy are also marked in several ways linguistically: through the use of formal titles (e.g Madame la Directrice), last names rather than first names (e.g. Monsieur Beaupin), and vous rather than tu. There is often a strong sense of hierarchy, with team leaders or managers being somewhat detached from the team, and decisions being made at the top.

High professionalism and courtesy are expected, and displaying these behaviours will yield trust and respect. Punctuality is valued. Hard work is also expected, but without tipping over into excessive workaholism. Indeed, keeping clear boundaries between the professional and private spheres is considered to be important too. This can be seen in the way conversations are held over meals. Formal business lunches and informal lunches with colleagues are commonplace, and are a way of developing relationships between partners and colleagues. The conversation is likely to keep personal lives well separated from business discussions.

There are also differences in communication styles between people from different cultures. For example, people from France will generally have a much more direct communication style than British people. It is acceptable to state very directly that you disagree with an idea in France (e.g. by stating ‘je ne suis pas du tout d’accord’ meaning ‘I completely disagree’) whereas the norm in Britain is to make very indirect statements to indicate disagreement (with phrases such as ‘this is interesting’ or ‘this could be something to look into’, which are often used to express conflicting views). Other different behaviours such as making more direct eye contact, and more physical contact, can also be observed. You may have noticed the latter if you have ever observed the behavioural differences between French and British politicians at international summits.

Activity _unit8.2.1 Activity 2 Your business etiquette

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

What are the business behaviour expectations in your own culture? How different are they to the expectations in France as described here? You could think about the following aspects:

degree of formality and courtesy
sense of hierarchy
communication style
attitude to punctuality and time management
mixing of private and professional spheres.

If you aren’t particularly involved in business culture, you can adapt this to your own circumstances, and think about relationships and interactions between people in any formal environment.

Reflect and make some notes in the box.

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It is worth noting, of course, that many variations will be found from the behaviours and expectations described here. Degrees of formality will change depending on the culture of specific businesses, how close the relationship between colleagues might be, and simply due to personal differences. And some middle ground will be reached between cultures too – French companies that frequently do business internationally tend to adapt their own culture and behaviour to match that of their partners. They will, however, appreciate it if those partners make an effort to understand and adopt French business customs.

3 Intercultural communication skills

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

This week you’ve been learning about the effect of cultural differences on attitudes in the workplace. As a learner of French, you will become more attuned to the differences between French-speaking countries and your own culture. But there’s a bigger picture here: through your studies, you will also develop a more open attitude to cultural differences in general. Getting used to communicating with people from different cultures – whether or not you speak their language, or have any prior cultural knowledge – is valuable. These particular skills are often referred to as ‘intercultural communication competence’.

Intercultural communication skills are useful in any social situation involving people from different cultures, and they’re highly valued by employers in all multicultural contexts. Transport or hospitality industries might immediately come to mind, as employees will communicate with tourists from all over the world. But think more broadly and you’ll find applications for these skills in many other fields: nurses caring for patients from all over the world; teachers with pupils from a range of backgrounds; charity workers helping out refugees; sales people with international customers; scientists cooperating with researchers around the globe.

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Figure _unit8.3.1 Figure 5 Intercultural communication in medicine

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This is a photograph of a person doing volunteer medical work in Haiti.

Figure 5 Intercultural communication in medicine

Activity _unit8.3.1 Activity 3 Interaction across cultures

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

Can you think of situations in your private or professional life in which you interact with people from different cultures? This could be at work, at school or university, while on holiday, volunteering with a charity, or any other context in your own life. Reflect on the potential differences in your cultural backgrounds and behaviour expectations. Do you think increased awareness would impact these interactions at all? Make some notes about your reflections.

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Developing intercultural communication skills will mean being able to keep an open mind when meeting new people, and not being fazed when they behave differently. You will also be able to pre-empt possible conflicts in communication. For example, if through learning French you have become aware that French people tend to have a more direct communication style, then when you are confronted with a customer who speaks their mind very directly, you will be able to reflect on the situation and understand that no offence was meant by your interlocutors. If you are a nurse, you may encounter patients whose understanding of personal space differs from yours; your intercultural awareness will allow you not to misinterpret this as a breach of respect. If you are a teacher, a new pupil who’s recently arrived from a different country may address you less formally than expected; if you have developed intercultural communication competence, you will be more likely to know how to react to the situation.

Language learners mostly acquire intercultural communication skills implicitly, by observing and reflecting on what they learn and getting used to different perspectives and ideas. They cultivate an appreciation of and respect for other cultures, are aware of different communication styles, and develop a natural ability to react to situations involving cultural differences with empathy. They are also able to reflect on their own behaviours and beliefs and to adjust to others’, and generally display openness, curiosity and flexibility. This group of skills is a key reason why linguists are regarded as highly employable, even for jobs which do not directly involve using another language.

4 Translation

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

In this section you’ll learn about translating language and translating culture. Knowledge of French-speaking cultures, and reflection on language and culture differences in general, are important when you’re translating from one language to another. Indeed, translation skills are another set of skills that you will develop as a learner of French. Of course, it takes years of practice to become a translator, but as a beginner you will nevertheless start developing basic knowledge and skills related to translating. This section will give you a flavour of what that is like.

4.1 Translating language

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Translation is both a tool which can aid people learning a new language (by using their first language as a reference point), and a valuable subject-specific skill developed over time.

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Figure _unit8.4.1 Figure 4 Translation

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This is a photograph of a slab with ‘A translation from one language to another’ engraved on one side. The other side of the slab is written in Dutch: all that can be seen in the image is ‘een vertaling’.

Figure 4 Translation

An activity earlier in Week 3, involving the French words for colours, introduced translation as a language-learning approach for remembering equivalent words in two languages. Remember the recommended strategies for vocabulary flash cards with the English and French on each side. In a beginners’ French course, you can expect to complete activities which involve translating short phrases or sentences from and into French, to help you learn and memorise them. Try the activity below for an example, and to recap some earlier learning.

Activity _unit8.4.1 Activity 4 Vocabulary test

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Can you remember some of the words you learnt in the first few weeks of this course? Translate the phrases below into English (or into your own language) to check your memory. See what you can recall before revealing the answers.

Le vélo bleu.
La chaussette noire.
La maison rouge.
L’arbre vert.

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Discussion

Here are the translations in English:

The blue bike.
The black sock.
The red house.
The green tree.

Now, see if you can translate the following into French.

The green apple.
The yellow table.
The black dog.
The red book.

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Discussion

Here are the translations in French:

La pomme verte.
La table jaune.
Le chien noir.
Le livre rouge.

For all phrases, check that you used:

the correct vocabulary
the correct article, i.e. le for masculine words and la for feminine words
the correct form of the colour adjective.

For example, in translating the first phrase, check that you remembered to use the feminine article la, and the feminine form of the adjective vert, which is verte.

As you progress further in your studies, you will learn more complex structures and engage with more authentic content, and you will soon come to realise that translation is more than a learning tool – it’s a sophisticated skill in its own right.

One important aspect of translation is that languages do not match up perfectly. French can’t be translated word-for-word into English, or any other language. The ultimate goal is to translate meaning, not just words. There are often contexts where a good translation involves using different words or phrases to produce the equivalent meaning in the target language. Try the next activity to explore this idea.

Activity _unit8.4.2 Activity 5 Retaining meaning in translation (1)

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Have a look at the following sentences. What do you notice about the differences between the word-for-word English translations, and those which more accurately convey the meaning? Make some notes about your observations, then read the discussion.

Example _unit8.4.1

French sentence: J’ai 40 ans

Word-for-word English translation: ‘I have 40 years’

Accurate English translation: ‘I am 40’

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Discussion

The word-for-word translation shows you that in French, the verb equivalent ‘to have’ is used to give one’s age, whereas in English the verb ‘to be’ is used (with forms like: I am, you are, she is, and so on). A second difference is that the number is followed by the word for ‘years’ (ans) in French, whereas in English you don’t need to use it. If you did choose to use it in English, you would need to add ‘old’, as in ‘I am 40 years old’.

So, as you can see, different languages use different structures to express the same meaning, and translation can be very useful in highlighting these variations between languages. Here is another typical example, but this time it’s an idiom – a culturally-specific phrase where the meaning is not literal but relies on the use of imagery.

Example _unit8.4.2

French sentence: Il pleut des cordes

Word-for-word English translation: ‘It rains (some) ropes’

Accurate English translation: ‘It’s raining cats and dogs’

The nouns here – the French cordes and the English cats and dogs – do not refer to actual ropes or animals, of course. This example shows you that idioms are language-specific, and need to be translated by equivalent idioms. A word-for-word translation would be completely meaningless.

Another good example of this is how French and English refer to something being very unlikely. In English, people will talk about ‘when pigs fly’, while in France, people will say quand les poules auront des dents. Translated literally, this refers to ‘when hens have teeth’.

Idioms can be great fun to learn. If you’re interested, you could look up more French ones: try finding the meaning of être dans la lune, or avoir du bol.

Idioms are a good insight into how culture is intricately linked to language. As a result, while translation skills will certainly involve a strong structural understanding of the language, good cultural knowledge is required too. As a learner of French, you will become more and more adept at recognising cultural references and converting the underlying meaning. You will reflect on this further in the next section.

4.2 Translating culture

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

The previous section showed how languages cannot be translated word-for-word, and that cultural knowledge is integral to a meaningful translation. This section’s activities will explore this further.

Activity _unit8.4.3 Activity 6 Retaining meaning in translation (2)

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

As you did in Activity 5, read each sentence below: the French sentence, the word-for-word translation into English, and the more meaningful translation. Make some notes about your observations below, then reveal the discussion.

Example _unit8.4.3

French sentence: Ma fille a 11 ans. Elle est en 6ème.

Word-for-word English translation: ‘My daughter is 11. She is in 6th.’

Accurate English sentence: ‘My daughter is 11. She is in Year 7.’

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Discussion

This example shows the differences in how classes, forms or year groups are defined between cultures. In the French secondary school system, years are counted backwards, from classe de 6ème for 11-year-olds, 5ème for 12-year-olds, and so on, until 1ère for the penultimate year of secondary school for 16 year-olds, and terminale for the final year.

By contrast, in England the counting starts in primary school, with Year 1 being for 5-year-olds, counting up to Year 13 for the final year. A Year 7 student in England will start the school year aged 11. Note that the terminology varies between different Nations within the UK, which shows how culturally specific some translations need to be. In Scotland, for example, the equivalent would be P7 (this illuminates further cultural differences, as pupils in Scotland leave primary school a year later than their English counterparts).

If you are not British, how would you need to translate this example to produce a meaningful equivalent to classe de 6ème in your culture?

Now, it’s time to have a go at producing a short translation. In the next activity, you will be given a sentence in French, and a word-for-word translation. Think about how you would translate it into English (or into your own language), thinking carefully about any underlying cultural references that might be relevant to the translation.

Activity _unit8.4.4 Activity 7 Retaining meaning in translation (3)

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Look at this French sentence and its word-for-word translation, then try and produce your own culturally informed translation into English (or your own language). Are there multiple options? If so, briefly explain them.

Example _unit8.4.4

French sentence: J’ai mis l’enveloppe dans la boîte aux lettres jaune.

Word-for-word translation: ‘I have put the envelope in the letterbox yellow.’

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Figure _unit8.4.2 Figure 6 A postbox in France (left), A postbox in Great Britain (right)

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This is a collage of two photos. On the left is a French postbox. This rectangular box is yellow and shows the words ‘La Poste’ across the top. On the right is a British postbox. This pillar-shaped box is red.

Figure 6 A postbox in France (left), A postbox in Great Britain (right)

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Discussion

There are several aspects you might have considered here.

You may have noted the need for language/grammar amends in the word-for-word translation. For example, the placement of the adjective ‘yellow’ (it should be used before the noun ‘letterbox’), or use of the preposition ‘into’ rather than ‘in’.

Looking at Figure 5, you might’ve noted a cultural consideration: the sentence mentions a yellow letterbox because that is the main colour of the post office brand in France, and hence the colour of postboxes in France. The second photo shows you that postboxes in Great Britain are red. There are contexts where it would therefore be appropriate to change the translation and to use the colour ‘red’ instead of ‘yellow’. This would depend on whether you were aiming to make the translation culturally relevant to the source language and culture (French and France) or to the target language and culture (e.g. English and Great Britain).

As a learner of beginners’ French, you will not be far along the track to becoming a highly skilled translator – not yet, anyway! But you will gradually become more attuned to differences in language structures and cultural references, and better equipped to reflect on those differences. This aptitude for openness and reflection is common among language learners.

5 Top tips

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

This week, Aisha, Helen and Stephen spoke about intercultural communication skills, and whether they’ve made use of the skills developed through their studies (aside from actually speaking French). Here’s what they said.

Download this video clip.Video player: Video 1 What are your top tips for developing intercultural communication skills?

Video _unit8.5.1 Video 1 What are your top tips for developing intercultural communication skills?

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Transcript: Video 1 What are your top tips for developing intercultural communication skills?

[TEXT ON SCREEN]

What are your top tips for developing intercultural communication skills?

AISHA

In order to develop intercultural communication skills, I think it’s really important that first and foremost you actually converse, or try to converse with someone who has a different culture to you. From there on you’ll learn the idea of acceptance, learning how societies work differently, even though you might not be accustomed to the way that something works in a different culture. Just learning to accept that there are differences, and by that it’s really important that you continue to communicate with people that belong to a different culture to you.

HELEN

In terms of top tips for developing intercultural communication skills, I would say, be really open and don’t judge based on ‘how we do it here’ or ‘how we do it in my country’. I think that having differences are just as interesting as the things we’ve got in common.

End transcript: Video 1 What are your top tips for developing intercultural communication skills?

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Besides actually speaking French, have you been able to make use of any other skills developed through your studies?

AISHA

I would say that having learned French, well-- having some basic knowledge of French then pursuing it to a greater degree at university, has helped me to know how to communicate with people that speak a different language. Making sure that they comprehend you in the best way possible. So, you might come across someone who speaks a completely different language, but I would now know to speak slower, to use hand gestures for example, things like that I wouldn’t have initially known had I not studied the language.

HELEN

I think the skills that you develop when you’re learning French help you in lots of other ways as well. All the skills that I developed while learning French have also helped me learn German, because while the grammar and vocabulary is different, the basic principles of language learning are the same. And I’d like to learn Spanish, which would be completely new for me, and I think that having studied French will hopefully help with that. I also think that learning French has given me more self-confidence and prompted me to want to help other students, which I’ve been lucky enough to be able to do as a student buddy for the Open University.

I’d like to think that I’ve always been open and respectful of other cultures, but learning French has certainly broadened and deepened my understanding of French culture. And I think that cultural understanding has got to be one of the most important competencies that we can have. And ultimately, I don’t know, surely it can even help prevent wars through diplomacy and mutual understanding.

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6 This week’s quiz

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Now that you’ve completed Week 7, you can take a short quiz to help you to reflect on what you’ve learned.

Week 7 practice quiz

Open the quiz in a new window or tab, then come back here when you’ve finished.

7 Summary of Week 7

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Well done for completing Week 7!

This week, you have been looking at aspects of learning French that go beyond the study of words, grammar and pronunciation.

You have learned about the potential differences in etiquette you may experience: the gestures, attitudes and behaviours seen in everyday life and business settings. You have seen that when you learn French, you develop intercultural competence – increasing your sensitivity to the subtleties of acceptable behaviour/language, and recognition of cultural differences. You’ve also reflected on how this knowledge is used to develop competent translation skills.

You should now be able to:

explain some differences in forms of address between French and your own language
talk about some ‘do’s and don’ts’ when visiting France
explain what is meant by intercultural competence
recognise how translation skills are an important part of learning French
understand that translation requires intercultural awareness and context sensitivity to convey meaning accurately.

You are nearly at the end of this eight-week course! Is there anything you want to look back at before you move on? In the final week, you will be pulling everything together and looking ahead. You will consider where learning French may lead you in the future, and what your next steps should be.

You can now go to Week 8.

Introduction

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

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Figure 1 Get ready

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This decorative image shows the words ‘Get ready’ surrounded by various French greetings and short phrases.

Figure 1 Get ready

Welcome to Week 8 – the final week of this course! By now, you should have a much clearer idea of what learning French involves, and the challenges and rewards that your studies will present.

This week, you are going to start getting your plans into firmer shape. You will do this by reflecting on the work you have been doing over the last seven weeks and considering your next steps. Thinking about the aspects of language learning that you will enjoy the most, as well as what you might find challenging, will be good preparation for moving ahead. You will also receive some helpful tips for effective study habits, like making time for your learning, developing confidence and creating opportunities for practice.

At the end of this week, you will take the final quiz required for you to gain the course badge. The quiz covers Weeks 5 to 8, so if there’s anything you’d like to revise, do feel free to go back over any of the previous weeks at any point.

Learning outcomes

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

understand some of the challenges commonly faced by learners of French
determine some strategies for finding the time and space to learn French
understand what constitutes successful communication
plan the next steps of your French language learning journey.

1 Why do I want to learn French?

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

In Week 1, a number of reasons for choosing to learn French were discussed. Figure 2 shows the broader categories for these reasons again.

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Figure _unit9.1.1 Figure 2 Reasons for study

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This image shows the broad reasons for studying French listed in coloured circles. These reasons are: travel, communication, career opportunities, becoming a polyglot, culture, fun.

Figure 2 Reasons for study

Since then, you have found out a lot more about what learning French is like, and about the type of things you will learn in a beginners’ French course. Has that changed your view about the French language and about why you might want to learn French? Reflect on this in the next activity.

Activity _unit9.1.1 Activity 1 Your views on study

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Take a few minutes to review the reasons above (in Figure 2), and rank them in order of importance for you personally. You can note your feelings in the box below.

At the beginning of this course, did your reasons for wanting to learn French differ to these categories? Has this course influenced your reasons, or your thoughts on learning French generally? Note down anything relevant.

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2 What will I enjoy the most?

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Throughout this course, you’ve considered various aspects involved in learning beginners’ French. The precise content you study will vary by the course you take, but you will certainly learn the basic French vocabulary and grammar necessary for communication in a range of everyday situations. For example, you’ll most likely learn how to:

introduce yourself, greet other people, and talk about yourself and your family
express which foods you like and dislike, and order and pay for food and drink
ask for directions and describe places, and make travel arrangements
describe daily routines, work and studies
discuss hobbies and holidays, and organise holiday accommodation in French
interact in common locations like shops, or at the doctor’s
talk about events in the present and the past.

You will practise recognising and producing new sounds, which will help to develop your listening and speaking skills – handy in situations like the above. You will learn more about French-speaking cultures, developing your intercultural communication skills, as well other interpersonal skills that are highly valuable for life and work. You will also do some translation along the way. As you progress in your learning (to courses beyond beginners’ level, and/or real-life use of your French) and consolidate your skills, your increasing vocabulary and knowledge of grammar and structure will enable you to communicate in a wider range of situations.

Regardless of subject or study level, there will always be aspects that are more relevant to your personal goals, and parts that you will enjoy more than others. Reflect on what you’ll enjoy about studying beginners’ French in this next activity.

Activity _unit9.2.1 Activity 2 What will you enjoy?

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

Take a few minutes to think about which aspects of a beginners’ French course you are likely to enjoy the most, and which ones will be more relevant to your personal goals. Make some notes in the box.

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3 What challenges will I face?

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

This course has put a lot of emphasis on the benefits of studying French, and you’ve just thought about what you expect to enjoy most. Keeping these positive elements in mind will help you stay focused on the big picture as your French improves day by day. It’s very important though, that you also consider the challenges you may encounter from time to time. If you do some forward planning before embarking on your learning journey, you’ll be well prepared to overcome any possible obstacles.

So, what will be the main challenges as you start to learn French? These will often be quite specific to your particular circumstances – perhaps a few things come to mind immediately. Consider them further in the the next activity.

Activity _unit9.3.1 Activity 3 Your challenges

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

Take a few minutes to think about the personal challenges you might encounter in learning French. These may be things that crop up beforehand, like the task of finding the right course for you. Perhaps your family circumstances, or work, or other obligations will present challenges. Or this could relate to aspects of the study itself, and your own specific concerns about learning and practising a new language.

Make some notes about these challenges in the box below.

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The next few sections will discuss three significant challenges encountered by practically everyone learning a language. They are:

difficulty in finding time to study
insecurity with getting things wrong
not having the opportunity to practise what you learn.

You will now consider these challenges in more detail, and receive some practical tips for tackling and overcoming them.

4 Finding time to learn French

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

‘How will I find the time?’ is a question that prospective students will usually ask themselves at some point. This section will help you think about the best ways to make time for you.

Was ‘becoming fluent’ one of your motivations for learning French? Or maybe obtaining a degree in the language? These are really great ambitions, but it’s important to realise as a beginner that becoming fluent in any language does not happen overnight. This level of success comes with commitment over a number of years. Of course, your ambition might be gaining conversational French skills rather than obtaining qualifications – this is a fantastic goal that will nevertheless require time and effort. The good news is that whatever your goal may be, you’ll develop the competency to ‘get by’ in French relatively quickly. What’s more, you will notice your clear progress developing over time. Of course, if you aren’t aiming to become a perfectly fluent speaker, you will learn enough French to meet your goals in a shorter period of time. What you need to do is consider the likely timeframes for meeting your goals, and plan accordingly.

The most important thing to remember is that language learning is a marathon, not a sprint. You will build your skills piece by piece, over the long term, through much practice and repetition. Did you ever ‘cram’ just before an exam when you were at school? Perhaps you had a list of historical dates, or set of mathematical formulas, and you went over them again and again, in the hope they’d be fresh in your mind for a while. Unfortunately, that will not work with French! (It may not have worked with the subject you were studying either!)

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Figure _unit9.4.1 Figure 3 A marathon, not a sprint

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This image shows two stick figures running. A speech bubble over one of their heads reads ‘Learning French is a marathon, not a sprint’.

Figure 3 A marathon, not a sprint

Here’s another way of thinking about this learning journey. Imagine a young relative is desperate to learn to drive, because she wants to visit friends in a far away town. She has her provisional licence. Would you accompany her on the motorway for a practice journey? Apart from this being illegal, what other reasons would you give for saying ‘no’? She needs to realise that driving skills are accomplished with time, understanding and practice. Likewise, you wouldn’t take a novice skier straight to the top of a black run, or take somebody who can’t swim into the deep end of the pool. Learning a language is similar.

Perhaps you’ve had some similar learning experiences before. Use the activity below to explore this.

Activity _unit9.4.1 Activity 4 Strategies for success

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

Think back to something you’ve achieved which required time and effort (e.g. passing your driving test, gaining qualifications, learning an instrument, joining a sports team, starting yoga classes). What was this experience like? Consider these questions.

What difficulties did you face?
How did you control your environment to help you successfully complete the task?
What strategies did you develop to be successful?

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So, given that you’ll need to dedicate time to your learning, what will be the best method of study for you? There are various options available: an evening class; a distance learning course (like those offered by The Open University); French language books, mobile applications and online resources. Or a combination of all of these! They each have potential advantages and disadvantages, so you should consider your preferences.

Focus, discipline and motivation will be important tools in commencing your studies and staying committed to them, whichever method of study you choose. Keep that original motivation in mind as you decide how you’d like to study.

Finally, share your plans with friends and family. Support and encouragement from those around you goes a long way. Often it’s sticking with language learning over a long period of time that is the hardest thing of all. This is not necessarily because you lose interest and want to give up – it’s because unexpected things happen in life. You need to factor in other demands that could crop up, in your social life, at work, or other personal commitments. Consider this as you plan your method of study and your allocation of time, and think about the ways you might draw on your support network to help you succeed.

To summarise:

learning French takes time, but you can learn enough to get by quickly
learning French is a marathon, not a sprint, and ‘little and often’ is the best way to learn a language
choose the method of study that suits you best
plan your study time to fit your circumstances, and share your aims with your friends and family.

5 Having a go – not aiming for perfection

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

One of the key goals in learning French is being able to communicate effectively with others (even if your goals do extend much further to developing perfect knowledge of French vocabulary and grammar). While you will need a certain level of grammar and vocabulary knowledge to achieve this, it’s useful to remind yourself that ultimately you’re aiming to understand others, and to be understood. You may well use the wrong gender or the wrong tense sometimes as you try to get your point across, but that won’t matter so long as the other person understood what you meant. Effective communication will be measured by your successful interaction in French, not by how accurate your grammar is. Here’s a situation that demonstrates this.

Imagine yourself at a train station in France. You need a train ticket to travel to a nearby town. If you have an exchange in French that ends with you buying the correct ticket, then you were 100% successful in communicating in French. This remains true even if you made some errors as you spoke or failed to understand some of the words used by the ticket clerk.

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Figure _unit9.5.1 Figure 4 Successful communication

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This image decoratively displays the message ‘Getting more information across whilst making some errors is more successful communication than conveying very little information in perfect French’.

Figure 4 Successful communication

As a learner, it’s crucial to keep in mind that the most important thing is having a go.

This matters in your learning journey, because you need to get comfortable with trying your French out from the very start. Down the line, you’ll find the best preparation for using your skills in a real situation – for example, in an actual train station in a francophone country – was having practised consistently in a ‘safe’ situation, i.e. as part of your French course. Whichever method of study you choose – an evening course with a teacher and other students, an online course with virtual tutorials, or independent learning – you will need to practise speaking up and using your French as you learn. You will find ideas and inspiration for doing this in the final sections.

To summarise:

being understood is more important that producing perfect sentences
successful communication is about getting things done in French, not about grammar
always have a go and try using your French.

6 Creating opportunities to practise French

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Never forget that learning a language means learning a new way to communicate, so you should seek out as many ways of communicating as possible. If you enrol on a course with a group of other people, see if you can find someone to work with you, a ‘study buddy’ that you can keep in contact with and meet occasionally for practice.

Think of the different skills you will be developing as you learn French: reading, listening, writing, speaking. Reading and listening can be considered ‘passive’ skills; you may be able to read a dialogue in French and understand a good deal of it, or get the overall gist when listening to some spoken French. Writing and speaking, on the other hand, draw on ‘active’ skills; you are producing the words and structures yourself, from memory. When you are speaking, you may be doing so spontaneously or without a script. You can prepare yourself for this challenge by working with another French learner. Each time you learn a new structure or new set of vocabulary, practise it with your study buddy. Keep your own set of written notes too, and keep practising the new structures and vocabulary so they become more and more familiar.

If the study buddy approach doesn’t appeal to you right now, don’t worry! It’s understandable to feel a bit shy – talking in another language can feel awkward. It’s still important to work on your active language skills though. If you have a pet, try talking to them instead. Animals are excellent listeners, and they won’t criticise you for your accent! And if your home is pet-free, perhaps you have a friendly pot plant or cactus that can step in. The aim here is to produce language out loud, by whatever means you feel comfortable.

Nowadays we have a huge range of technology at our fingertips, which can come in very handy when learning another language. Aside from all the language apps that are available (which may well be worth investigating), it’s quite simple to record yourself and play it back on most devices, so make the most of that too. Hearing recordings of ourselves is another thing we often dislike, but it’s useful to try and overcome this feeling early on. By doing this, you can start listening critically to what you say and how you say it.

Finally, seize every opportunity to communicate next time you visit a French-speaking country. Keep a positive ‘can do’ attitude and try out what you know. Don’t worry if you don’t get everything exactly right. You will feel pride in your progress when you convey what you want to say successfully, and you will go from strength to strength.

To summarise:

you are learning a communication skill, so communicate whenever you can!
use technology to aid your learning
have confidence and try your skills when you visit a French-speaking country.

Activity _unit9.6.1 Activity 5 Address your challenges

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

Think about how you might put this into practice. You considered the challenges you’ll encounter earlier this week – now it’s time to think about ways of tackling them. Here are some questions to consider.

How will you address the challenges that you have identified this week?
How will you make time to learn French?
How will you make sure you always have a go?
How will you create opportunities for practice?

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7 Where will my French take me?

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Becoming proficient in French is a fantastic challenge! It will take you on a fascinating journey as you learn many aspects of the language, and find out a lot more about cultures around the world. You will learn new things about your own language too, and have plenty of opportunities to reflect on your own culture(s) and to make comparisons.

There will be many other personal gains too. In Week 1, speaking a language was described as being like a ‘special power’, hidden from sight but valuable.

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Figure _unit9.7.1 Figure 5 Skills and benefits associated with language learning

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This image shows a number of coloured boxes, each of which lists a skill or benefit associated with language learning. These are: productivity, trade and business, community and social cohesion, soft power and diplomacy, defense and security, public services, health and wellbeing, cognitive capacity, social mobility, equality of opportunity, analytical skills, literacy and communication skills, agility, creativity, openness, confidence, adventurous, collaborative, multitasking, originality.

Figure 5 Skills and benefits associated with language learning

Research has shown a huge range of benefits associated with learning French, and languages in general. Activity 6 will examine this a little more.

Activity _unit9.7.1 Activity 6 Where can French take you?

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

Read a few short quotes from various reports below (you might be interested in investigating them further – links can be found in References ), and think about whether anything here links in with your aspirations.

French is one of the three languages the most in demand by UK employers.

(CBI, 2019)

French is one of the world languages that affords its learners one of the highest financial ‘language bonuses’.

(The Economist, 2014)

[Languages] are important for productivity, trade and business; literacy and skills; community and social cohesion; soft power; culture; diplomacy; defence and national security; public services; health and wellbeing; cognitive capacity; social mobility; and equality of opportunity.

(The British Academy, 2020)

Employers say that they value competence in specific languages, but also the analytical, linguistic, literacy and communication skills acquired through language learning, and the intercultural agility that enables people to work across different cultures and countries.

(The British Academy, 2020)

In many sectors […] including the tourism and hospitality sector, […] employees with language skills and/or with a mindset of cultural agility provide a better service; in the creative industries such people are more open, confident, and adventurous in collaborating across cultures on a creative project.

(The British Academy, 2019a)

Being bilingual (or multilingual) is generally agreed to improve an individual’s cognitive flexibility, mental switching and ability to multitask.

(The British Academy, 2019b)

There is a strong positive correlation between creative flexibility, fluency, originality and foreign language learning.

(The British Academy, 2019b)

Now look more closely at yourself. Think about these questions and make some notes.

Where do you see yourself in, say, five years’ time, with the ability to speak French?
Did you relate to any of the quotes you’ve just read?
Which of the skills mentioned would you value the most?
Is there a particular job or activity you would like to use your French language skills for?

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8 Get ready

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

You can prepare for learning French in so many fun and creative ways. Make a miniature French-language area at home and fill it with all things francophone. Try a recipe from a French-speaking country at home and invite your friends and relatives. Find some French language music or watch a film in French (in the original version with subtitles if you can), or browse French newspapers and magazines.

Think about the topics that are personally relevant to you – it’s a good idea to expand your knowledge independently in these areas. If you’re taking up French for professional reasons, you may be more interested in studying the economies of the French-speaking countries you might do business with, or their behaviour expectations in the workplace. If you’re a sports fan, you might want to find out more about French-speaking teams in the sport you follow, or learn about other popular sports in French-speaking countries. If you’re a musician, you could get acquainted with the French-speaking music scene.

There are plenty of resources you can use to familiarise yourself with just about any aspect of French-speaking culture. As a starting point, you could try some of the following French publications:

lemonde.fr (news)
courrierinternational.com (news)
parismatch.com (news and celebrities)
elle.fr (fashion and entertainment)
lesinrocks.com (rock/pop music and culture)
sciencesetavenir.fr (science)
lequipe.fr (sport)
lire.fr (reading and literature)
avivremagazine.fr (architecture and design)

The following are French radio stations:

For French TV and radio news, try:

francetvinfo.fr

For music:

francemusique.fr (classical)
nrj.fr (popular music)
mouv.fr (rap and urban music)

These suggestions are limited to French media, but with some quick research you will easily find more from other French-speaking countries.

Browse a few pages or listen for a few minutes. See what you recognise – can you guess the meaning of any news headlines, or interpret the chorus of a song, or just follow a conversation? Surround yourself in the sound of the French language, be curious, and have a go at noticing.

If you are more confident and extroverted, you will probably enjoy ‘having a go’ and want to practise repeating the sounds, words or phrases you pick up. If you are more quiet and shy, you might find it more enjoyable to read written material and look up the new words. We’re all different, and we all bring our own strengths and preferences to the table when we’re learning. There is something for everyone to enjoy in learning French.

Now, for the final activity this week, you’ll think of a few things you can start doing right now to get you started on your learning.

Activity _unit9.8.1 Activity 7 Start your learning!

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

Think back to all the activities you’ve been doing over the last eight weeks, and write down three concrete actions you can take to kick off your French learning journey.

Perhaps you could seek out and watch a French film each week, or start buying a French newspaper. You could look at your work/life schedule and make some practical decisions about how you’ll fit in your French learning. You could look at the courses and resources available and decide which would suit you best. Or – if you’re feeling very brave – just book a holiday in Montreal!

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9 Top tips

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

This week, Aisha, Helen and Stephen talked about their final study tips, particularly around managing your time, and what they’ve achieved by studying French. Here’s what they said.

Download this video clip.Video player: Video 1 How did you make time for studying French? Do you have any advice for this?

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Transcript: Video 1 How did you make time for studying French? Do you have any advice for this?

[TEXT ON SCREEN]

How did you make time for studying French? Do you have any advice for this?

AISHA

I would say that sometimes, no matter how much passion you have for a language, it can be really difficult when it comes to finding or setting aside time to actually study it. Because of course, there are aspects of studying a language that you will not like, or that appear unfavourable to you. However, it’s really important that you manage your time. It could be an hour every day, just to make sure that you’re studying the language. Sometimes you might be put off by studying a specific unit as a beginner, or studying a specific topic. But as long as you make sure that you’re studying something every single day, it could be that one day you simply listen to French music or French podcasts – that is still a form of studying. But it’s really important that in terms of studying the French module, you dedicate a certain amount of time for this. So, I would say for me, what works best is planning my week, so I set hours for when my study times would be, and that really helps me to make sure that I stay on top of studying the language.

HELEN

I think it can be really hard to find time to study French. I was lucky that I wasn’t working when I studied French again in my 50s, but I still needed to be really disciplined. I found that my brain seemed to work best in the mornings, so I set aside some regular time to study in the morning. And then in the evening I watched French films, or French television programmes. And I think that was really helpful, in that I was hearing and listening to French and picking up more than I realised, without having my head stuck in a grammar book when I was tired.

If you’re thinking about learning French as a beginner, my advice would be to make sure that you set aside some time each week – or even better, each day – to devote to learning French. Even if it’s only 10 or 20 minutes a day, try to make space for yourself to have that time to learn French.

End transcript: Video 1 How did you make time for studying French? Do you have any advice for this?

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Download this video clip.Video player: Video 2 What did you achieve by studying French?

Video _unit9.9.2 Video 2 What did you achieve by studying French?

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Transcript: Video 2 What did you achieve by studying French?

[TEXT ON SCREEN]

What did you achieve by studying French?

AISHA

I would say that I achieved quite a lot of things by studying French. First and foremost, I had severe speaking anxiety prior to studying the language, and I was not comfortable speaking at all. So, not only has it helped me improve my speaking skills in general, it’s also helped me learn to accept the fact that I might not always be perfect at speaking the language, but the most important thing is that I speak it, and that I can do so in public, to a stranger, to whoever it may be. I’ve also achieved the important skill of accepting cultural differences.

HELEN

Studying French has helped me achieve so much. Ultimately, I was able to finish my degree. I’d started and dropped out of doing a French degree more than 30 years ago, and through studying with the Open University I rediscovered my love of the language, and the culture, and the country of France. But aside from that, I also made loads of new friends among my fellow students. I became a buddy to help other language learners. And I’ve gained a valuable skill that helps me talk to my Bed & Breakfast guests.

If you’re unsure whether you should learn French, then obviously I think it’s a great idea, but if you’ve got any interest at all in France, or any other French-speaking country, then your understanding and enjoyment of the country can only be improved by learning the language and the culture.

End transcript: Video 2 What did you achieve by studying French?

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10 This week’s quiz

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

It’s now time to complete the Week 8 badged quiz. It is similar to the previous quizzes but this time, instead of answering 5 questions, there will be 15, covering Weeks 5 to 8.

Remember that the quiz counts towards your badge. If you’re not successful the first time, you can attempt the quiz again in 24 hours.

Week 8 compulsory badge quiz

Open the quiz in a new window or tab, then come back here when you’ve finished.

11 Summary of Week 8

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Congratulations, you’ve successfully completed this course!

Hopefully you’ve found the material interesting and inspiring, whatever your initial motivations for studying it. Maybe you were wondering whether French was a language you’d be interested in learning; we hope that by now, the answer is a resounding ‘yes!’.

If you’d always wanted to learn French but weren’t sure what’d be involved or whether you could manage it; we hope that you’ve realised that there’s something for everybody in learning French, and you can tailor your studies to suit you.

Or if you chose to study this course as preparation for a beginners’ French course you’ve already signed up for; we hope that the content, activities and advice in this free course have helped you to prepare for your studies effectively.

In any case, we wish you every success and enjoyment in your learning journey. Or, to put it in French:

Bonne chance, et bonne continuation!

Next steps?

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Where will your journey of discovery take you next? To build on this course’s learning, here are some of the resources on offer at the Open University:

You might like to study the OU’s introductory French module: L102 Introduction to French studies (beginning in October 2023).
If you’re interested in some shorter flexible study in French (and/or Chinese, Italian, German, Spanish or Welsh!), check out our short courses in the Open Centre for Languages and Cultures. The beginners’ French course on offer is Beginners French 1: eh oui!
Ready to take the next step and undertake more formal study? Take a look at the language degrees on offer, including BA (Hons) Language Studies (Q30), BA (Hons) Business Management and Languages (R55), BA (Hons) Law and Languages (R56).
Study a language alongside other subjects, with our BA (Hons) Open degree (QD).
Study for higher education qualifications like a certificate or diploma (such as a Certificate of Higher Education in Language Studies (T21), or Diploma of Higher Education in Language Studies (W41)).
If you’re already registered to study French at the OU: you’ll find further information and resources on your subject website, which you can access through your StudentHome page.

Tell us what you think

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Now you’ve come to the end of the course, we would appreciate a few minutes of your time to complete this short end-of-course survey (you may have already completed this survey at the end of Week 4). We’d like to find out a bit about your experience of studying the course and what you plan to do next. We will use this information to provide better online experiences for all our learners and to share our findings with others. Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others.

References

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

Week 1

Organisation mondiale de la francophonie (2018) ‘Qui parle francais dans le monde?’ [Online]. Available at http://observatoire.francophonie.org/ qui-parle-francais-dans-le-monde (Accessed: 22 February 2022).

Week 6

auf.org (2019) Présentation de l’édition 2019 de La langue française dans le monde. Available at: https://www.auf.org/nouvelles/actualites/presentation-de-ledition-2019-de-la-langue-francaise-dans-le-monde (Accessed: 7 July 2022).

BBC News (2019) ‘Why the future of French is African’. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-47790128 (Accessed: 7 July 2022).

France24 (2017) ‘Macron qualifie la colonisation de “crime contre l’humanité” et provoque l'ire à droite et au FN’. Available at: https://www.france24.com/fr/20170215-emmanuel-macron-algerie-colonisation-crime-humanite-fn-lr-le-pen (Accessed: 7 July 2022).

Government of Canada (2019) Statistics on official languages in Canada. Available at: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/official-languages-bilingualism/publications/statistics.html (Accessed: 7 July 2022).

Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (2018) La langue française dans le monde 2018. Available at: http://observatoire.francophonie.org/2018/synthese.pdf (Accessed: 7 July 2022).

Week 8

The British Academy (2019a) Languages in the UK. Available at: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/61/Languages-UK-2019-academies-statement.pdf (Accessed: 7 July 2022).

The British Academy (2019b) The cognitive benefits of language learning. Available at: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/286/Cognitive-Benefits-Summary.pdf (Accessed: 7 July 2022).

The British Academy (2020) Towards a national languages strategy. Available at: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/2597/Towards-a-national-languages-strategy-July-2020_R0FHmzB.pdf (Accessed: 7 July 2022).

CBI (2019) Education and learning for the modern world. Available at: https://www.cbi.org.uk/media/3841/12546_tess_2019.pdf (Accessed: 7 July 2022).

The Economist (2014) What is a foreign language worth?. Available at: https://www.economist.com/prospero/2014/03/11/johnson-what-is-a-foreign-language-worth (Accessed: 7 July 2022).

Acknowledgements

The Open University — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:32:00 GMT

This free course was written by Elodie Vialleton, with contributions from Kate Fairbairn.

Week 1

Figure 3: Service d'information du Gouvernement (SIG) gouvernement.fr

Figure 4: Belgium, from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Belgium.svg; Chad, from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Chad.svg; drawn by SKopp; Luxembourg, from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Luxembourg.svg; drawn by SKopp; Senegal, from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Senegal.svg; Original upload by Nightstallion

Figure 5: Serena Williams: Mauricio Paiz / Alamy Live News; Hugh Grant: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo; Jodie Foster: Hoo-Me / SMG; Alamy; Kristin Scott Thomas: Maximilian Bühn; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en; Eddie Izzard: Stills Press / Alamy Stock Photo

Week 3

Figure 5: top left: Maridav; Shutterstock.com; top right: Dyana Wing So on Unsplash; bottom left: Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash; bottom right: Eva Blue on Unsplash

Figure 8: Engin_Akyurt; Pixabay; Open University

Week 5

Images

Figure 2: Valentin B. Kremer / unsplash

Audio

Audio 1: DavidGreck; LaSonotheque.fr /https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en

Week 6

Images

Figure 1: Elodie Vialleton using following from the Noun Project: Eiffel Tower by Cédric Villain, Atomium by Gerald Wildmoser; France map by Adrien Coquet; Flag of Quebec by Loïc Poivet; Mudejar Star by Evan Shuster; Fez hat by Savannah Vize

Activity 1: Eiffel Tower: John Towner on Unsplash; les bouquinistes: Roman Kraft / unsplash; Notre Dame: Marcel Strauß / unsplash; The Louvre: Julian Hochgesang on Unsplash; The Pompidou: Denys Nevozhai on Unsplash; The Arc de Triomphe: Rodrigo Kugnharski on unsplash; The Sacre-Coeur: Francisca Monteiro on Unsplash

Figure 2: Tomas Williams / unsplash

Figure 3: Didier Provost / unsplash

Figure 4: Yao Hu / unsplash

Figure 5: left: Jez Timms / unsplash; right: Siebe Warmoeskerken / unsplash

Figure 6: David Monniaux; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

Figure 7: top left: Anthony Cantin / unsplash; top right: Clémence Bergougnoux / unsplash; bottom left: Weronika / unsplash; bottom right: Nicolas Prieto / unsplash

Figure 8: Jberkel; Based on mapsicon by Régis Freyd ; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

Figure 9: Maeva Blue / unsplash

Figure 10: Haka Tas / unsplash

Figure 12: left: Shawn Dearn / unsplash; right: Rich Martello / unsplash

Figure 13: Jordan Rowland / unsplash

Week 7

Images

Figure 2: nullplus / Getty Images

Figure 3: kupicoo; Getty Images

Figure 4: Zach Vessels / unsplash

Figure 5: falarcompaulo / pixabay

Figure 6: left: Janekvorik; https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bo%C3%AEte_aux_lettres_1990.jpg; right: The Carlisle Kid; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence.

The material acknowledged below is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this free course:

Images

Course image: Nil Castellví / unsplash

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