You are reading a single comment by @ReekBlefs and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
-
Appreciate this, and @d0cA, @bq, @atz. My family have lived in London for the last 300 years - no-one in my family speaks a second language and we're all very British but I'm not sure how much longer I can stay here and I want to live somewhere people are kind to each other - the language barrier is the thing I've been most nervous about. Lots to think about but less scary, seemingly, than I was worried about.
ReekBlefs
edscoble
Well, how are you generally with languages? As you're a musician, your musical ear should help you in being able to pick up spoken everyday French, including a good accent, pretty quickly. Spoken French is fairly different from what you may have learned in school (although it varies considerably between the Paris banlieue and la France profonde), but the basics are pretty simple, and France has the not inconsiderable advantage that they don't speak English there as well as they do in Germany (although that's obviously also changed a lot with the Internet), so people might be more willing to help you improve than elsewhere where they'd rather practise their English. I wouldn't worry too much about it unless you needed French for your job; that would obviously require much greater proficiency.