On Learning French as a Foreign Language

History of France Although the history of human habitation in France goes back to the Palaeolithic period, the traditional date for the founding of the first city in France is 600 BCE. The Ionian Greeks from Phocaea founded the colony of Massilia (Marseille) on the Mediterranean coast, thus making it the oldest city in France.1 The concept of Gaul emerged about two hundred years later and the borders of present-day France are similar to those of Gallic France. The Gauls were then a powerful people and around 390 BCE defeated the Romans and besieged Rome itself. In time, however, Gaul was occupied by Rome and became a Roman province. In 52 BCE, Julius Caesar defeated the Gallic chieftain Vercingetorix and completed the Roman conquest of Gaul. The name of France is derived from the Latin Francia which means country of the Franks. The West Germanic tribe, the Franks entered France around the 5th century during the Vlkerwanderung of the Germanic tribes which took place in Europe from c. 400 to 800 CE.2 The Frankish empire reached its greatest extent by the early 9th century.3 Throughout the

Middle Ages France remained more a collection of small kingdoms and duchies. The concept of a nation emerged around the 15th century and under Louis XIII the centralisation of power began and the French dominance in Europe.4 Over the last 500 years, France has been a major political and cultural power and has exercised its influence in Europe and in the world.

History of French French is a Romance language and like the other Romance languages, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, has descended primarily from Vulgar Latin. It was also influenced by Gaulish especially in its phonological development.5 Dante, in his De Vulgari Eloquentia, classified the Romance languages into three groups, viz., ol languages (northern France), oc languages (southern France) and si languages (Italy and Iberia).6 The Middle French period, from the middle of the 14th to the early 17th century, saw the French language become the official language of France replacing Latin.7 In 1634, the Acadmie Franaise was founded by Cardinal Richelieu with the object of preserving and purifying the French language. From the 17th to the 19th century, France was the leading power of Europe and French was the lingua franca of educated Europe.

In the 20th century, French continues to be an important and popular language. Distribution of the French language French is spoken in many parts of the world as either first or second language. It is spoken as first language in France, French-speaking Switzerland, parts of Belgium and in certain regions of Canada. The largest numbers of second-language speakers of French reside in Francophone Africa. French is the second-most studied language in the world, after English.8 The French are very proud of their language and if one communicates with them in their language, they appreciate it and often become life-long friends.

French in India French influence in India began with the establishment of some French colonies in parts of India, including Pondicherry, Karikal, and Mahe in the south and Chandannagar in Bengal.9 To-day French has de-jure official status in Pondicherry and is a very popular language amongst students in the rest of India.10 The importance of French is growing in more and more areas, especially in scientific, literary fields, and in the hotel and tourism industries. This development is clearly visible not only

at institutional levels (School, College, and University) but also at non-institutional levels. There are 15 Alliance Franaise in different cities of India governed by the French Government where the French language is taught to students. French language teaching started in India more than a century ago but only in schools for the British. For Indians, the teaching of the language first started in Tamil-Nadu in 1926 and gradually spread to many parts of the country. To-day French is taught in more than 60 universities and in the case of some states, in schools and colleges as well. A dozen universities offer M.A., PhD in French. In North-East India, French teaching started in 1971 with the post-graduate certificate course in Gauhati University. Nowadays many universities of this region have introduced the teaching of this sweet language.

Reasons for learning French Reasons for learning a foreign language vary from person to person. French is one of the more popular foreign languages in India to-day, and people may learn it in order to obtain a job or simply for pleasure. Most of the people in India are multilingual and are usually able to speak and understand at least two or three different languages. Recent scientific research has even shown that there are cognitive advantages to multilingualism and people proficient in two or more languages

have a different organisation in the cortical areas of their brains. Scientific research has proven that multilingual people have higher brainpower, better and more advanced reading skills, gives a greater grasp of ones native language11 and of course, provides more career opportunities in fields such as: 1. Educational institutes 2. Hotels and tourism 3. Diplomatic relations 4. Trade and commerce 5. Broadcasting 6. Journalism 7. Literature (interpretation and translation) 8. Dubbing & sub-titling of films and documentaries etc.

Problems in learning French The biggest problem one faces while learning a foreign language like French, is that of pronunciation. French pronunciation follows strict rules based on spelling. Grammatical rules can, with a little on the part of the student, be learnt and memorised enabling one to read and write in French. Spoken French, however, requires a lot more effort to master, as one has to overcome the influence of ones mother tongue and ones accent as well as the peculiarities of the

French language. The phenomenon of liaison and that of elision often provide two major stumbling blocks for new students. Dialects and accents The various dialects of French spoken around the world all differ in various ways, from each other in pronunciation, which can sometimes be a hindrance for new students. In Europe, outside France, there is Belgian French and Swiss French. In Africa, we have African French; in Canada, again one can find different dialects. Even in India, there is an Indian French dialect, usually found in southern India, where it has been influenced by the Dravidian languages and the mother tongues of the speakers. One of the most interesting things about spoken language is the accent. An accent is determined by several different factors e.g., environmental, geographical, hereditary etc. French itself has several different accents and dialects even within France. There is, however, as in most other languages, a standard French accent that is taught to foreign students learning the language. This variety of French may be called Parisian French.

Influence of the mother tongue

In India, as in every country, the mother tongue of the students influences their French accents. In eastern India, one may take the example of students having Assamese or Bengali as their mother tongue. Students having Assamese as their mother tongue often find it difficult to pronounce certain sounds in the French language e.g., the voiced post-alveolar fricative j [] often comes out as z [z], a voiced alveolar fricative; the voiceless post-alveolar fricative ch [] comes out as s [s] a voiceless alveolar fricative. The voiceless dental plosive t [ ] becomes a voiceless alveolar plosive t [t], and similarly the voiced dental plosive d [ ], comes out like voiced alveolar plosive d [d]. On the other hand, students who have Bengali as their mother tongue have problems with some of the French vowel sounds and tend to produce the sound of rounded vowels. For example, the open-mid front rounded sound [] comes out as either the open-mid back rounded vowel [] or the close-mid back rounded vowel [o]. The mid-central vowel sound [] also causes problems and often becomes either the close-mid front unrounded vowel [e] or the open-mid back rounded vowel []. The consonant that poses the biggest problem, and not just to students in India, is the French r, which is a voiced uvular fricative [], at least in the standard French accent. This sound tends to become, for many Indian students, the alveolar approximant [].

As a result of these differences, the students end up speaking French in different accents in spite of learning the same language and following the same rules of pronunciation. Practising French A proper pronunciation can only be achieved with a lot of practice. Students will have to listen to native French speakers and then try to replicate the sounds of the language themselves. Interaction with a native speaker is a great help but if it is not possible then one will have to make the necessary effort by oneself. Students will have to listen to sound files, which can be found on the Internet. After listening to the words several times, the students must then try to pronounce the words for themselves. To learn a language, it is very important to listen as much as possible to native speakers using tapes, videos or films. It may be said that the aim of the student is to be able to watch and understand the plot of a French film without the help of sub-titles. The ear must become familiar with the sounds of French to enable one to achieve this objective and this can only happen with repeated practice.

Practising French in class

When in class, it can be a good idea for the students to speak amongst themselves in French to be able to rid themselves of the initial inhibitions about speaking a foreign language. By degrees, the students will be able to feel at ease when communicating in French and be able to increase their vocabulary at the same time. It is the teachers task to ensure that the pronunciation of the students approaches the standard French pronunciation as far as possible. In order to be able to communicate in a foreign language, like French, it is necessary to increase ones vocabulary. This, however, can be a rather dull task for students. This can be made more interesting by playing word-games in class amongst the students. The teacher can decide the type of game and the rules of the game. There are various types of word-games and they are often an entertaining way to improve ones vocabulary. Another interesting and entertaining means to improve pronunciation and vocabulary is role-play. Students can play out short pieces of dialogues taken from various sources. If the dialogues are from French novels or plays, it might even help the students in the appreciation of French literature. Delivering short speeches or reciting poems in French can also help in improving pronunciation. Games using idioms, homonyms, synonyms, antonyms, rhyming words etc., can also

help in improving the vocabulary. French audio and video clips can also be used to attune the ears of the students to the sounds of the language when spoken by native speakers. In fact watching French films can actually be a very entertaining way of learning the language. Students can also try to speak in French for a day, talking about everyday things in French. This can help increase the vocabulary. There are many beautiful songs in French and music can thus be a great help in learning. A good song stays in the mind by virtue of its music and its tune and if one listens often it will become possible to decipher the words of the song. Reading newspapers and magazines published in France can assist the student in learning how the language is used in everyday life.

Will and desire The important thing to remember while learning a language is that one must want to learn it and enjoy the journey, rather like children when they first learn a language, and never feel it to be a chore. It needs to be practised regularly, reading and listening and a teacher cannot help in this. An hour of listening and reading can be more effective than many hours of class time. But the student will have to spend enough time with the language enjoy the time spent.

None of these means, however, will suffice if there is no effort on the part of the student. Without a sufficient amount of practice, it will be not be possible for a student to acquire a good knowledge of the language. In the final analysis, it is only the individual effort of a student, which enables him/her to gain knowledge. Classes can never be enough without the desire, the will and the exertion on the part of the student. A teacher can never make a student fluent in a language; the student will have to become fluent by him/her-self.

References
1. ''The Cambridge ancient history'' p.754. Books.google.com. 2000. ISBN 9780521086912. 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%B6lkerwanderung 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francia 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France#cite_note-27 5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_french 6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_french 7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_French 8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language 9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_India 10.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language 11.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multilingualism