8 Summary of Week 2

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 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .