When William Alexander decides to re-commit himself to becoming fluent in French in his 50s, he doesn’t take the decision lightly. Somewhat concerned about what he’s heard on how difficult it can be to acquire new languages beyond our teenage years, he attends a Second Language Research Forum, mixing with some of the leading experts on the topic. What he discovers is not always encouraging, but decidedly inconsistent, and he holds on to the words of those who offer a more hopeful outlook. He also convinces colleagues that his project would make an interesting area of research, and so undertakes an fMRI scan so that he can see if his brain actually changes over the course of a year of intensive study. The results are fascinating.
His endeavours are not all so deeply scientific however, he uses all the resources available to him from a Rosetta Stone course, watching French TV, making French penpals, and labelling every item in his kitchen with their French name. Many who read this will undoubtedly also be grappling with the language, and there’s much to be gained from making good use of the resources he mentions. We also learn much about the history of the language and how it is controlled to this day. He meets other learners of all stages and ambitions, and ponders what inspires people to keep chipping away at learning late in life. It’s a nice realisation that it is perfectly acceptable to pursue an interest simply for the joy of it, you do not have to master everything you do, but the striving can enrich your life.
Unfortunately, alongside his attempts at language acquisition follow a series of serious health issues. He does wonder whether the stress of attempting to learn French is causing his heart to fail, and whether if he only has a short time to live he really wants to spend it grappling with conjugating verbs. These passages add an air of seriousness amid an otherwise very light and comedic read. He is self deprecating, and has unfortunate flashbacks to his strict high school French teacher when engaging a new online tutor. He also acknowledges the difficult etiquette issues of writing regularly to a young woman in France. Should he address her as tu or vous, and when they meet is it appropriate to kiss her cheek? He uses these dilemmas as a jumping off point for a deeper discussion of the rules around such encounters and how you work out what is the correct course of action, complete with a handy flow chart.
This is an enjoyable, informative read. Alexander takes us along with him on an unsuccessful cycling holiday with his wife, a tortuous but useful couple of weeks at an intensive school, and opens up about his technique of pretending to be French in order to help with his learning, creating a French alter ego, Guy. He discusses the challenges not just for humans of learning a new language, but also for computers, explaining the quirks and context you need to understand to be able to translate a language (and makes the excellent point that in being fluent you would no longer be translating the language into your native tongue, but merely understanding it as is, a real challenge without full immersion for several years). Some of his realisations of how difficult it is to go from classroom French to real conversation with native speakers may feel disheartening, but this is perhaps a shining example not of how practice makes perfect, but progress, and the value of pursuing learning.
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