Bucket List #6:Earn an A1 level in French!

     Hi guys and dolls! I hope you've all been doing super great! It has been a terribly long time since I posted a bucket list article, feel free to check out my previous posts Bucket List #1, Bucket List #2, Bucket List #3, Bucket List #4, Bucket List #5. So, without further ado, here goes!

     Since I came back to Venezuela from the United States, I've wanted to learn another language. Having learnt English at a very young age, I've always felt that I never got the complete learning-a-new-language experience because I actually can't remember the struggle. Don't get me wrong, I'm incredibly thankful that I got to learn English so quickly, but I guess that now I want to work hard for it and see my effort pay off.

     My favored languages have always been French and German, especially because these are two languages that I consider “Similar” to Spanish and English. Last year, around November, just when I was wrapping up one of my postgraduate courses I decided that since I had a free slot on my agenda (This is a rare phenomenon) and I had a car (Yaaaassss), I could push myself a little further and spread myself a little thinner (I don’t know why I do these things, I can’t have free time!). 


     So I slept on the possibility of studying French or German, thought about it real hard and made my decision. I called up the French Alliance here in Caracas, and set myself up for the most awesome learning experience I’ve had (For now). There were a ton of things that worried me. I have always been very confident Language-wise, but I must admit I was afraid I wouldn't be able to learn as fast as I expected, that I wasn't  going to be able to understand the pronounciation or that I wasn't gonna like the language as much as I thought. 

     On January 2017, I started my first French lessons ever (Yay!). Here are my first impressions:

·        The teacher was the most French looking person I’d seen in my life (Dressed in black, white and a red and white striped handkerchief tied around her neck.)

·        Listening to the language straight from someone’s mouth was 10000000000% more beautiful than I’d expected.

·        The amount of bilingual people learning French is higher than I thought (So I guess I’m not that special haha)

·        The whole French Alliance campus is definitely like a little piece of France in Caracas. I’ve never been to France (Yet!) but the atmosphere is definitely different, and very very pleasant.

     Since I absolutely enjoy studying and I adore the language, I have been doing admittedly well. I gave myself two years to get an A1 level. My goal was to get an A2 level in a year, but I have so many things on my plate right now that I’ve decided to set a reasonable goal or myself that will keep me motivated and won’t make me feel bad if I don’t reach it (As opposed to saying I want to earn a C2 level in a year. I feel I could, but my schedule won’t allow it in this precise moment).

     Given that my schedule is ridiculously complicated, I like to listen to a lot of TED Talks in French, French music and French TV shows via youtube. Also, I like to practice simple things like greetings on my InstaStories (because why not?). These things keep me thinking about French 24/7 and I find that it makes it easier for me to understand the pronunciation of certain words.

       I guess one of the things I'd like to do the most right now is practice French in France, and to really experience what it is like to speak to native-French speakers, just like I've had the pleasure of speaking to native-English speakers. 

I hope I can give you guys an update when I get my A1 level certificate!