French Friday (39) - Guest Post by Kelly

Hello everyone!

This week I am thrilled to welcome Kelly from Kelly's [Former] France Blog, who will talk about her relationship with the French Language! 

Thank you so much for participating Kelly. :)

My relationship with the French language

Bonjour tout le monde! Today I am very excited to talk a bit about my relationship with the French language. Thank you Charlotte for giving me this opportunity to talk about the language I love so much!

As readers of my blog may know, I am a French Language and Literature major in my final year of college. I love French. I speak and read French constantly. I would be unhappy without French in my life!

But my relationship with French was not always so great. When I decided in 6th grade (at the age of 11) to study French, it was solely because I despised Spanish. Over the next 6 years, French and I struggled continuously to keep our relationship afloat. It was frustrating when I didn't understand grammar or couldn't memorize vocabulary words quick enough. Looking back, I think the only thing that kept me in my French classes through my teens were the awesome teachers I had. They were funny and so passionate about the language that it (sort of) gave me hope for my own language skills.

Then in high school came the unit that almost ruined my relationship with French forever: the subjunctive. If you've ever studied French, you know what I'm talking about. I toiled with le subjonctif endlessly, yet I still could never grasp its rules. For a long time I hated French all because of the subjunctive, and almost didn't take Advanced French my senior year of high school.

So why, then, did I continue my French studies?? As my 2nd last year of high school was drawing to a close, I started thinking, like most kids my age, what the future would hold. What would I study in college and where would I go? As I pondered possible courses of study, it suddenly hit me that if I didn't continue my French studies, I'd most likely never study the language again, and a life without French seemed, well, bleak, boring, and very sad.

I'm happy to report that French and I slowly became reacquainted. Sure, it took a lot of studying, and most of all time and practice, to finally get over all the grammar hurdles. But now here I am, loving my French classes, dreaming of when I can get back to the country I grew to love so much, and worrying about what's to come when I graduate in May. As long as it involves French, I'll be happy!