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skinny
My own French is GCSE grade C plus French movies and music. Frankly it wasn’t good enough, and I’m really not good talking to new people, even in English. Round here spoken French is a patois with a strong injection of Occitan. Speaking to a Parisian is so much easier.
But luckily my wife is fluent and did all the talking at first. Plus there are a lot of native English speakers here so I wasn’t isolated. It’s been a year and I can basically read anything in French now, I can mostly follow French TV and films with French subtitles rather than English. I’m getting more confident in spoken French and have had successful conversations with French people. Though I can do a good accent I find it better not to as if I do speak too well the reply is too fast for me to understand!
I have 4 years before I have to be good enough to pass the citizenship exam. I think I’ll make it. I know people who have been here for decades who don’t speak a word. Life is so much shitter for them.