French native from Bretagne helps you speak "comme un vrai français" and become bilingual!

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• 1) Do you speak this language fluently because of your origins or because a teacher inspired you to learn?

  I took the easy route: I’m French! I was born in Reims and raised in Brittany so French is my native language. Teaching it, though, has made me understand my own language in a completely new way — especially all the rules native speakers somehow know without knowing why.

• 2) Can you name a living, historical or fictional character that you think is the emblematic representative of the language's culture?

  I’d choose Bourvil. To me, he feels a little like every French grandpa rolled into one — warm, funny, slightly mischievous and always ready with a story or a song. His songs remind me of evenings with my grandparents, playing old French music and realizing I knew all those silly little songs by heart. There’s something very comforting and nostalgic about him and I think he represents a side of French culture that I really love: simple, funny, warm and meant to be shared.

• 3) Is there a typical word, phrase, tradition or behaviour in the language that you particularly like?

  “Bah,” of course. Bah oui, bah non, bah alors… Add the right facial expression, tone and a little shrug and you’re already halfway to sounding French.
  
  But I also love all the tiny sounds we make without even realizing it while going about our day: tic, tac, toc, hop ! Somehow, every French person instinctively knows when to use them. Putting something down? Hop ! Finishing a little task? Tac ! Moving on to the next thing? Et hop ! It’s such a small and funny part of the language, but once you notice it, you hear it everywhere.
  
  Those little words and sounds are some of my favorite things to teach because they’re almost impossible to learn from a textbook, yet they’re part of what makes French actually sound French.

• 4) Why does speaking this language matter to you?

  French is part of who I am, but teaching it has made me appreciate it differently.
  
  We often underestimate just how deeply a language is connected to its culture. Speaking French every day with my students has kept me connected to mine in a way I really cherish. It feels a little like sharing a piece of bread over lunch ; something simple and familiar but it makes both people happy.
  
  I especially love that moment when a student stops translating everything in their head and just… talks. Even imperfectly! To me, that’s what language is ultimately about: connecting with people, not producing flawless conjugation tables.

• 5) What is the main difficulty in learning this language and what can help the process of learning?

  Probably the difference between written and spoken French.
  
  You learn “Je ne sais pas” (juh nuh seh pah) then arrive in France and hear “sheh pah”! You learn all the letters in a word, and then discover that we have collectively decided not to pronounce half of them.
  
  The best solution is exposure: grammar for the foundations, but lots of listening, conversation and real-life French too.

• 6) Provide a valuable anecdote related to your language learning or your days at school.

  Growing up in the French school system meant plenty of dictations, conjugation tables, and teachers who could seemingly detect a missing accent from three kilometers away. As a little girl and a bit of a perfectionist, I actually loved tracing my letters perfectly and writing stories with perfect grammar but even I remember how tedious learning endless conjugation tables could be!
  
  I wish I’d had teachers who gave us funny little stories or silly images to remember all those rules. In a way, I think I’ve been trying to become that teacher for my own students — the one who gives you a ridiculous image to remember a word, and somehow, years later, it’s still stuck in your head.
  
  I still remember one of my classmates struggling with writing capital letters in cursive and being made to rewrite them a hundred times during recess! A slightly extreme example, maybe, but it says a lot about how seriously we take our language in France — every accent, letter, and tiny detail matters.
  
  Ironically, teaching French has probably taught me more about French grammar than simply being French ever did. Knowing instinctively that something is right and being able to explain why are two very different skills!

• 7) How has travel or a specific trip helped you to increase your skill and knowledge of the language?

  Living and traveling abroad has put me on the other side of language learning. It’s honestly fascinating to see how many people love French and French culture — especially here in the United States! Moving so far away from France has actually made me appreciate my own culture even more.
  
  Every trip also reminds me how satisfying it is when you suddenly understand a conversation, successfully order something, or, even better, make someone laugh in another language. Those little moments are the best, and they’re a big reason why I focus on teaching French that my students can actually use in real life.

• 8) What makes you a Superprof in language?

  I’m a native speaker but I’m also a language learner myself so I understand both sides.
  
  My lessons are structured but relaxed, and I adapt them to the person in front of me. I want to make you feel comfortable asking questions, forgetting things, making the same mistake ten times — because we’ll fix together eleven times. :)
  
  My goal is to get you confident and comfortable actually speaking French. You might even get one of my cats walking in the camera to support you (or try and steal my coffee).
  
  And eventually, you can reach true fluency : complaining will be your second language !