Help with speaking and understanding french !?
by admin on Saturday, June 5th, 2010 | 3 Comments
My moms good friends nephew has came down from montreal for 2 weeks. He can speak no word of english, only simple things like, hello and yes/no. Him and I are going to a camp together for awhile.
Is there any quick way i can learn to speak or understand what he is saying to me? I got a 97% in grade 9 french, but I still can barely hear him…
help 
See if you can convey to him to speak slowly and simply – like he was talking to a three year old. That should bring it down to a level that one year of French in high school can compare to.
If it is really bad, use the Internet on your phone to use a translation website.
Asking him to speak slowly is the right idea – in school, all we hear is “teacher French,” which is probably 50% slower than native conversational French.
If it’s still very difficult to understand him, focus on nouns. English and French have a lot of similar nouns, which can be easier to understand than the (also large amount of) similar verbs and adjectives.
Maybe he talks too fast, tell him to slow it down and be clear.