FRFB: November 2010

how will i go in France on student exchange?
Ok, so i may be going to France at the end of the year for 3 months on exchange. I will be 16 and i only know basic French. While i'm there i will be going to school also. Do many people in France know any English? and will i be able to pick up French while i'm there? My other option is Sweden, would this be better? thanks. I was thinking maybe Lyon? and also, how long do you think it would take me to pick up french living there?
Other - France - 3 Answers
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1 :
Where abouts are you going? Where i live there are alot of english people, most french seem to have a basic english too so you should be fine. I would go for France!
2 :
If you do not know any Swedish at all, then France is definitely the better option since you already have the basics. Many young Swedes are fluent in English but "everyman" in the street is not, especially in backwaters, and at school the lessons would be conducted in a language that you do not understand at all and that is difficult to pick up. Outside Stockholm, other than country pursuits and picturesque small towns to visit, there is not a great deal to do especially once winter sets in. In France these days, many young people do speak some English as nowadays it is taught in all schools, including primary schools, but quite a few adults are fluent too. It is only the older generations who were not taught it at school who are unable to speak it at all. I have taught students who arrived in France knowing very little French. You would be amazed how quickly they did pick up the language once they were surrounded by it constantly and lived in a totally French context. The family that will receive you will do their best to help you and teach you quite a lot of everyday things, and at school you probably will be attached to a student who is good at English and can help you, unless of course your correspondent is still there with you and only goes to your home at a later date, in which case you will be following her around. You will be bewildered at first, but I can assure you things will fall into place quite speedily and all your school French will come back to mind when you are in a French context. You will rapidly assimilate new expressions because you will hear or see them so often. Make the most of it, and have a wonderful time! It is an unmissable experience. PS. I had only seen your initial question and have now read what you added to it about considering Lyon. You could not make a better choice! Lyon is an absolutely awesome place. It is a beautiful town with a variety of areas, and buildings that range from Roman or medieval, 17th and 18th century houses, to first class modern shopping districts. There are numerous lovely squares with fountains and statuary all over town, and two large tree lined rivers that create a lot of open space and where there is a lot of light. The public buildings are fantastic and numerous and spacious museums contain antique, modern and superb art, also furniture and textiles collections that are world class and very well displayed. The Egyptian section of the biggest museum has a temple which is as impressive as the one at the Met in New York. The main Town Hall in the centre of the city was built in the same style as Versailles, has enormous rooms and is dripping with hundreds of huge crystal chandeliers. It has excellent transport facilities, including a spanking new, clean and light subway, trams, bendy buses, two hillside cable shuttles, and a system of bike lending where you borrow a bike in one place and hand it in another all over the town. Drivers are extremely considerate and, compared to Paris, also very patient. The streets are swept and even washed on a daily basis and the place is immaculate. There are excellent sports facilities and lots of cultural events. Parks and gardens are well tended and a pleasure to sit in. There are magnificent views from the esplanade outside the splendid basilica that overlooks the town and stands at the top of the ridge on the western side. The place is renowned world wide for the excellence of the cuisine and there are hundreds of little restaurants everywhere that serve fresh, tasty and wholesome food. There are whole streets of little boutiques selling fashion of every kind, trendy little dresses, beautifully cut jeans, cute and stylish little tops, prom dresses and even hats to die for. Just one reservation though: prices are as high as in Paris. It is after all the second urban agglomeration in France. On Sundays there are two huge markets on the banks of the rivers (two merge in Lyon). One is an amazingly colourful food and vegetable market where you can buy anything from asparagus and cabbages to fish and flowers, and there are stalls selling delicious local cheeses of all kinds. The other is an art and craft market where various artists expose their works and craftsmen and women sell jewellery, leatherwork, glass, sculpture and artifacts of all kinds. Like in Paris there is a riverbank where booklellers have permanent lockers which they open daily and from where they sell all sorts of secondhand books very cheaply. The whole town is heaving with young people as it has an excellent university. People there are really nice and extremely polite. Even the staff working at the various Mc Donalds is fluent is several languages as it is such a cosmopolitan city. There are many people who do speak English. I have just come back from there and if I had a choice I would pick it as a place to live rather than Paris. Last and not least it is warm, whilst Sweden is cold and often rather cool and wet even in the summer. I was in Stockholm in August one year and it snowed!
3 :
I would definitely chose France, even though you only know basic French, especially if you don't know any Swedish at all. In Lyon, I'm not sure that English is incredibly widely spoken, but you know the basics, and with a dictionary and a little time you should be okay. You should pick up French very quickly while you are there, ESPECIALLY if you are living with a host family, unless you are very bad at foreign languages. I have not been to Sweden. However, my boyfriend is from there and he is back there right now. I'm usually very good at picking up foreign languages, but Swedish is really difficult for English speakers to learn. He is fluent and has taught me some things, but most words are far from English. Pronunciation can be quite strange too. Also, I'm not sure if you mean the end of the calendar year or the end of the school year, but during winter, Sweden is VERY cold and has VERY short daylight hours, so you might want to think about that. You should definitely do this if you can. Any sort of foreign exchange or something similar is a great opportunity to take advantage of. Last summer I went to Spain for 3 1/2 weeks and I lived with a host family. I already knew a lot of Spanish, but being in Spain really improved my accent and such. I loved it so much and when I came home I discovered I really love to learn foreign languages so I started taking French. I traveled to Paris with my family and even after only about 7 months of French class, it was pretty easy to communicate. I think that French is very easy to put to use for some reason. Also, I am about your age. I am 17 now. I left for Spain when I was 15 and celebrated my 16th birthday there. Good luck! Do it!

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