Due to France being at a geographical crossroads of Europe, its people are highly diverse. Broadly speaking the Germanic influence is quite evident in the north while in the south there is a distinctly Latin feel. This dual personality is supported by the history of the French language which came down to a choice between adopting the Langue (tongue) d’Oïl (pronounced wee) which was the dialect of northern France and Lange d’oc (short for Occitan) spoken in the south. Oil won over which is why they say Oui (wee) of yes instead of Oc. Clear as mud?

There are a number of areas in France where the locals still speak their original languages or dialects before French. Places like Corsica, Catalonia (Catalan - a form of occitan), Bretagne (Breton, a form of Celtic) and Pays Basque (origins are mysterious) can be like foreign countries within France. There are also a range of different accents that you may or may not register. The Parisian accent is fairly nasal whilst the Provencal accent is quite sing-song with lots of rolling r’s.

A common misconception is that everyone in France has some English - they just choose not to use it. True, English is widely taught in schools, but this is a relatively recent development so many older or less well educated French people have virtually no English at all. Outside of the larger cities and tourist traps few locals have a good command of English. So if you want to immerse yourself in France or just have an easier time of it, some basic French is critical.

Aussies and Kiwis are generally well liked in France so it is a good idea to put that out there early on. Otherwise they will assume you are British or American and therefore not so much of a novelty. Many French can be straight out hostile to English and American visitors for various reasons. Centuries of rivalry between France and England (les Rosbifs) cannot be overlooked and US style globalization and the recent bad blood over Iraq is resented by the French.

If you don’t have the time or inclination to become fully functional in French, then just identify a few key phrases and learn them phonetically like the chorus to a song. Its much easier. French is written very differently to the way it sounds. Try our dodgy translations of key words and phrases.

Learning French

Alliance Francaise is an organization set up by the French government to teach French and promote French culture internationally. There are chapters of Alliance Francaise in all Capital cities of Australia. They offer beginner, intermediate and advanced classes with native French speakers. Courses are reasonably prices and books are included. They often have good resource libraries to make your study more interesting. Alliance Francaise is also a good social outlet as they organize many events and gatherings.

Books and CDs provide all the tools to acquire the basics, although having the tools and using them are often two different things. You will need motivation and discipline to succeed with this approach. Using an MP3 player to listen to the audio resources is a good idea when you are commuting or exercising.

Lingvosoft offers electronic phrasebooks for most languages that can be loaded onto your palm pilot or windows based PDA phone.