Is it possible to become fluent in French without living in the country?

amjon

Hi,
I did leaving cert French a few years back and have kept it ticking over by spending about a week in France most years since. Recently I was in France on 2 week holiday and was stuck by how much my French improved. On the last night in my youth hostel I had about an hour long consevation (with a a few gaps and pauses) on topics such as the health risks of being overweight to life as a professional rugby player and the French taxation system. I was wondering is there anyway to improve my French to a level that would be regarded as fluent with out actually living in France.

speaktofrank

No, you can't become fluent without having lived here. Sure you might be able to talk about a few subjects but you need to live here to get any real grasp on the language.

LimeFruitGum

Go to French language exchanges in town, subscribe to French podcasts, watch TV5.
I guess it depends on how much time you're willing to invest in it.

My French is pretty decent, considering I've never lived in a Francophone country. I have to write emails in French for work sometimes and there are loads of French people in my office with whom I can practise. So even if you can't move over there, there are still plenty of things you can do to keep it up.

Agus

You can certainly reach a pretty high level.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0811/1224252364462.html?via=mr

work.inprocess

I've spent the past 2 years immersed in it and I'm fluent now - I've spent a total of 11 days in France in my life, and all the time I was there they spoke English to us because they thought we looked American (this was before i could speak French btw)

FruitLover

Depends on your definition of 'fluent'. You could reach a good level with a lot of hard work and immersion, but you can't imagine the thousands of words and phrases you'd never think of learning normally, that you'd hear and pick up due to living and working in the country. Also, you're going to find it hard to learn 'natural' speech (modern slang, etc) without actually being there.

Captain Havoc

Yes it is, I've cousins and friends who speak excellent English without ever living here or in any other English speaking country. You'd want to have some knack for it though.

Bodhisopha

work.inprocess wrote: »

I've spent the past 2 years immersed in it and I'm fluent now - I've spent a total of 11 days in France in my life, and all the time I was there they spoke English to us because they thought we looked American (this was before i could speak French btw)

What do you mean by immersed in it? I always took immersion in the context of learning languages to mean living in a country where it is the native tongue.

later12

Of course you can. Just speak with native French speakers in Ireland. I'm really surprised by comments to the contrary on here. I'm half French and I grew up fluent in Ireland. I now live in France and have never had any trouble with the French I learned in Ireland.

You certainly don't need to live here to become fluent any more than you need to live in ancient Rome to become fluent in Latin.

freyners

you can become dictionary fluent with enough work..but to be truely fluent you need to know the modern slang etc and i believe you can only develop that by living in the country

exaisle

@ freyners +1

Fluency isnt just a matter of vocabulary, it's also a matter of common usage, expressions and nuances and they cannot be picked up unless you're living where the language is spoken.

later12

Do you know how many French people work in Dublin, largely in telemarketing? It isn't that hard to pick up french vocab, slang or whatever else you want from an immigrant from France. Like I said, i did it from my mother and I'm fluent.

Bodhisopha

Slang and certain expressions have more to do with place than the language itself. Would you expect an American to understand all of the slang and certain expressions in Ireland or the UK? Are you taking the piss? Does that mean they're not fluent English speakers? Of course not.

I have met many fluent English speakers abroad that have never been to an English speaking country, so i assume the same can be said for French.

later10

later10 wrote: »

Do you know how many French people work in Dublin, largely in telemarketing? It isn't that hard to pick up french vocab, slang or whatever else you want from an immigrant from France. Like I said, i did it from my mother and I'm fluent.

This.

I did one job through French every day for almost a year, all while living in Dublin and not visiting France once during that time. I've never lived in France for any significant amount of time, but I do have a lot of contact with French people at work and I've spoken French at home with housemates both in Spain and Ireland. There are also conversation groups and things like that. I don't think you need to live in the country at all. I've lived places (such as Korea) and barely picked up any of the language because I wasn't interacting with natives on a daily basis. It's easier than you'd think to learn nothing other than 'please', 'thank you', 'goodbye' etc if you're not talking to the locals much. In contrast, I picked up LOADS of colloquial Spanish by hanging out with Spanish people in Dublin and going to Spanish house parties. Same with Brazilian Portuguese. It has to do with the people you're around, not the country you're in.

frenchy1992

Hey !
I think I'm in a good enough position to answer this ! I am french myself and I have been living in Ireland for the last two years. (I am doing my LC this year)
Before I came here I thought my english was great : I was always and had always been (without being cocky) the best in english at school because I liked it. But when I arrived, I could not understand a word anybody was saying ! It took me a good few months to solve this problem and still, to this day I would not consider myself as fluent.
So if you are not willing to spend some time in the country you can say good luck to fluency ! :rolleyes:

freyners

Bodhisopha wrote: »

Slang and certain expressions have more to do with place than the language itself. Would you expect an American to understand all of the slang and certain expressions in Ireland or the UK? Are you taking the piss? Does that mean they're not fluent English speakers? Of course not.

I have met many fluent English speakers abroad that have never been to an English speaking country, so i assume the same can be said for French.

so you would understand perfectly if an american asked you for bread with jelly on top?

there are alot of differences between american english and the english we use
a good list of them are here

fluency is all about being understood without difficulty and understanding without difficulty, its not just knowing which words to use, the manner of deliverance, the nuances and even facial expressions are all part of it so no, i dont think you can really be fluent until you've spent time in the country of the language you wish to learn then,
i thought i had a excellent level of french until i started working in france last summer, turned out i had (and still have) a looooooong way to go:D

DMG_49

You can become fluent without living it france.....FACT



(But you will have to go to the Dominican republic....lol)

davwain

frenchy1992 wrote: »

Hey !
I think I'm in a good enough position to answer this ! I am french myself and I have been living in Ireland for the last two years. (I am doing my LC this year)
Before I came here I thought my english was great : I was always and had always been (without being cocky) the best in english at school because I liked it. But when I arrived, I could not understand a word anybody was saying ! It took me a good few months to solve this problem and still, to this day I would not consider myself as fluent.
So if you are not willing to spend some time in the country you can say good luck to fluency ! :rolleyes:

It is possible to become good in a language without living in a country that uses the language as one of business. Yet to become fluent, in a language, I admit, is hard, without living in a part of the world that uses the language as one of business (as Russian is in Ukraine) or inter-ethnic communication (as Russian is in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan).

Manach

As above poster said. You can a language up to a certain point that embraces the grammar and vocabulary. As well there are great internet resources that allow you to interact with native speakers. But without some exposure to how French is spoken by a living community then breaking into a measure of fluency would be fairly difficult.