| Posted by Bel | The time is 11.14am here in Wellington NZ |

Remember how, like, a fortnight ago I wrote this rant (and tips) about learning French and then that other blog about how going to France was, like, my greatest passion in life?

Yeah, well. WHATEVS.

Or 'hein...bof', as the French would say, whilst waving their gauloise nonchalantly.

This term was the start of Intermediate 2. Before we started, I caught up with a friend who is a native French speaker so I would be up to scratch. I nervously revised with her the points that I had stumbled over the months before, wanting to make sure I had a clear understanding of what we'd been taught.

She was somewhat bemused. "Oh most French people don't know half this stuff properly," she said, in that naturally condescending way that the French have down pat, "I would never use any of these complex grammatical terms in conversation. All this is very structured. You just wouldn't need it day to day. I'm sure someone would be impressed if you spoke this formally, but... you know... [hein... bof]".

As you know, I have no immediate plans or funds to go travelling. I was struck by a sudden terrifying thought. I was going to spend another term, year, years, studying here in this small town, on this small island, on the edge of this big ocean, becoming the world's most grammatically perfect and learned student of the French language, and one day in the far distant future, finally make it to the fantastical land of France, only to open my mouth and sound like an utter twat.

Okay. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad.

But my French is pretty good now, after two years, which means that the classes are actually getting kinda hard. I'm really enjoying it, but it was actually quite a bit of work to get real value from it, and not having an immediate goal of a holiday or something meant that it was hard to stay motivated. (Not to mention the cost of nearly $300 per term. Sacre bleu!!)

I'm sure that it will be more rewarding once I am in a more focussed position and will pick it up again then. In the meantime, I am stepping up my visits to locally French-run bakeries and viewings of subtitled hottie-starring films, as this now counts as the extent of my cultural immersion and thus très importante.

Here's something to inspire us all: