Introduction

Photo grabbed from: http://blog.lemotpourlafri.me/

French is undoubtedly one of the most difficult languages to learn.  I'm from a country where this language is never really practiced or learned, not even in big universities.  It is something that is totally out of our history and culture.  The only French words or expressions we know are those that are internationally accepted or used like coup d'état (a very famous word in the 80's if you know the Philippine history), déjà vu, bon voyage, bon appetit and the like.  Then again, the majority of us use these words without even knowing that they are of French origin and we most of the time mispronounce them.

Love didn't just help me find the perfect man but it also gave me the wonderful opportunity of being able to learn the most romantic language in the world.  But honestly, you gotta understand the language before you get to appreciate the "romantic" part because when you plainly hear the words without comprehension they just sound like a lot of Zs, a weird nasal R and a heavy accent.  In the beginning of my romantic relationship with my husband I did appreciate it so much whenever he told me je t'aime because I know what it means but I still didn't understand it grammar wise and it didn't feel enough.  It's not like when we say the words I LOVE YOU in which we understand each word of it and their functions.  In some of our trips in the Philippines we met a few French travelers and my husband spoke to some of them.  I remember listening and thinking "how can they call this the most romantic language when it sounds so weird?"  And when my husband watched the French television channel I sometimes made fun of the language by trying to reproduce  (with exaggeration) the sounds that I heard so it'd sound even funnier.  I obviously didn't appreciate the romantic side of it just yet, I never really saw the beauty of the language the way I see it now.

Photo grabbed from: http://www.azurlingua-ecole.com/

In the beginning, I was very discouraged because when my husband started to teach me the basics of the French grammar (and kudos to him for being such a good teacher) I just thought it's impossible especially when I started saying the words because they just wouldn't come out right.  It got me so frustrated but the love I have for my husband motivated me to continue learning little by little.  Though we have agreed that English will be the primary language in our couple I still told myself that I have to exert more effort.  I felt a very deep urge to understand every word that comes out of his mouth because that would help me understand him more.

I have been officially studying French since 2012, I was still in Cebu back then.  I went to study at Alliance Française de Cebu (a very good French language and cultural center).  I had a night job so it was a lot of effort going to school after staying up all night but it did payoff!  I arrived in France with the basic conversational skills in my pocket allowing me to communicate with my husband's family (at a minimal level).

Around 7 months after my arrival in France, I continued my language studies and this time it was obligatory.  I did some four hundred hours of language training and I continued learning with my husband.  I also did some efforts like watching the news in French, watching French movies and listening to French songs even if I didn't understand most of the words.  By doing so, I became familiar with their sounds and how they are used.  I have passed my exams and now in niveau B2 (level B2).  I do personally notice my progress but I am still continuing my learning of course!  I am too far from being really good.  I still find myself looking up for invisible words in the middle of my speech.  I still don't understand a lot of words and expressions.  I still aim for lots of improvements.

I specified my blog title as a perspective of a Filipino/Cebuano because I'll be writing some comparisons and similarities of the Bisaya and the French pronunciations and accents.  If I'd say "Filipino perspective" it'll be too general and we have a lot of different accents in the Philippines.  I couldn't talk about and make comparisons with the accents other than what I know.

In my future posts I'll be sharing with you my various observations of the French language and the tricks and techniques that I have found useful in learning it.  Let's learn together, feel free to join me!  It'll be fun and you're gonna love the French language even more as your understanding of it becomes wider.