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French in New Orleans, Louisiana

If you’re considering taking French lessons while living in New Orleans, then you are in for a fun time! New Orleans was actually founded in 1718 by French colonists and was once the territorial capital of French Louisiana. This is why Louisiana Creole is a French-based creole language that is spoken by fewer than 10,000 people most of which are in Louisiana. So as you begin to study the French language, you’ll also come to learn a lot of New Orleans history and how the language has changed over time. For example, France gave up control of Louisiana to Spain from 1763 until 1803 to pay a war debt. It’s events like those that explain the ups and down in the language within the area and also why the architecture in the French Quarter is actually Spanish. You’ll even be surprised to learn why Louisiana stopped speaking French in the first place! So if you’re also a history buff, you’ll definitely come to learn a lot more than just the French language. But trust us when we say that you won’t regret studying French in New Orleans, as you’ll come to appreciate the language and culture to a whole new level.

Most Effective Way To Learn French

The best way to learn a new language such as French is Total Immersion. Meaning that you as a student are placed in an environment where you spend time with native speakers. So this can be done by studying abroad and literally living in a city where you have no choice but to practice your French. A great way to do this is by living as an Au Pair with a French family for a year, so you’ll be integrated as a temporary family member and help with childcare. However, not everyone can afford to travel to France for a year, so there are other ways to try Total Immersion. One of them is by fully immersing yourself in French through books, movies, or listening to audiobooks, podcasts, and music. There are also tons of French video games you can try out as France is the world’s second-largest video game producer right after the United States. You can get them through sites such as Amazon and Steam, and most games have French language settings as well. BuzzFeed even has a French site, which is also a fun way to surf the web and study the language.

The Real Challenge When Learning French

Although French is a fairly easy language to learn, the hardest part is hands down the pronunciation. It tends to be difficult for English speakers at first because it includes a lot of sounds that one isn’t used to making. The words are not as distinct as those in English, so it’s always great to take your time listening to French people talk. This is also the reason why we constantly suggest listening to French podcasts or watching French movies. If you constantly expose yourself to the language you’ll become more familiar with the vocabulary and the pronunciation. The French also use more nasal vowels, where the air is also released through the nasal passage. You can always look up videos on YouTube where they compare the two. This way you can better understand the differences between the two and how to properly breathe or speak when pronouncing French words. 

The French Don’t Pronounce The Last Letter

The thing with the French language is that a lot of it is silent because most words tend to have silent letters at the end. Although they were once pronounced in Old French, today the language has evolved and certain pronunciation was abandoned. In fact, something similar happened with the English language as well. The silent “e” at the end of words used to actually be pronounced and now they aren’t so all languages are constantly evolving. So in French, the basic rule is that the final consonant is not pronounced, but there are many exceptions. You’ll learn all about the exceptions during your one-on-one lessons with your tutor, so don’t stress out about having to know all this before your first class. It’s all part of the process, and before you know it you’ll be a pro!