Tonight I went out for fondue with Emilie, Cecile and Yvain to a restaurant in the Jura region where Cecile worked during a summer break from college. The drive took about 45 minutes from Lausanne and the restaurant could have easily passed for a farmhouse. In fact, when we were about to park the car we had to navigate the following local resident.
Once inside it became clear that the night would be more of a French language course than a dinner (for me, that is). It turns out that two of Cecile’s friends and their boyfriends were joining as well, so much of my time would be spent trying my best to follow the conversations and sound somewhat proficient at the language whenever I spoke.
While I feel that my French continues to improve – albeit often at a snail’s pace – the language proves to be its most difficult when I am at a restaurant with a group of native speakers. The combination of background noise and rapid speaking definitely adds to the normal challenge that I face.
If I force myself to devote 100% of my concentration to what is going on, then I can generally keep pace for a while. But if I am distracted for even a second (often when I simply try to eat), then it immediately becomes a game of catch-up that I’m destined to lose.
By the end of the night I was a combination of full (from a massive amount charcuterie and fondue) and exhausted (from the non-stop concentration required to follow the various conversations). But it was definitely a fun evening and Cecile’s friends were very nice.
1 comment:
I've been here ten years and I still have trouble when too many people are speaking at once. It does get easier though, I think the snail's pace you describe is totally normal.
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