I have been studying French for most of the COVID pandemic and the first two years of my retirement. This may seem odd to some people. Sometimes it even seems strange to me. So, I am going to try to investigate why I have undertaken this challenge at this point in my life.
The first time I remember being interested in foreign languages was in 2nd grade when I lived in Ewa Beach, Hawaii on the island of Oahu. My father was a navy pilot at Barbers Point Air Station. We lived in navy housing very close to the beach, which was a wonderful experience for all of us.
I went to the base elementary school. My teachers were of Japanese ancestry. Perhaps it was this first encounter of a different race and culture that sparked my interest, but I suddenly decided I would learn French and began to look through a basic French lesson book in the school library. I don’t recall why it was French and not Japanese. But in any event the thought of being able to comprehend or even speak another language was very exciting to me. Not surprisingly, the fascination went dormant after a few weeks of minimal progress.
In fourth grade, now living in Alexandria, Virginia, our class had French lessons delivered by TV a few hours a week and we put on a French version of Little Red Riding Hood. I was the wolf. I imagine I gained minimal competency during this episode, but I did get good practice forming French sounds and acquiring an accent that was not too American.
Another break, and then I had some form of French class with a language lab from 7th to 9th grade, in Palos Verdes, California. Alas, other passions such as sports and girls, had become dominant for me and I put very little effort into my language studies during this period. I abandoned French after 9th grade, having completed the minimum foreign language study required for college applications. My capabilities after these 3 years were still very primitive.
The great re-awakening of my foreign language interest occurred in my freshman year of college when I fell in love with a German girl, Elke Meier. Visiting her and hearing her family speak in German was an epiphany for me. Suddenly I was determined to master German and do a junior year abroad. The visit had demonstrated for me the link between language and culture, and I desperately wanted to drink it all in.
This time the motivation endured. I began taking German classes in the winter and even took a summer course in the evening after work at American University. I signed up for a new Stanford program at the Universitaet Bonn and spent seven months in Germany my junior year.
Upon returning, I attempted to learn Russian, but catching up in electrical engineering, playing varsity soccer and pursuing a German studies degree on top of that were already overwhelming me, so I had to quit. But the fascination for languages never really left me.
I kept up my German and had the opportunity to work both with and for German companies, ending my career with a ten-year stint as the president of a U.S. subsidiary of a German high tech company. My daughters both attended Atlanta International School and went through the German track, eventually completing bi-lingual IB diplomas in German. My love of languages eventually infected them and they both did second majors in Spanish. Rebecca spent all of her junior year in Madrid and Buenos Aires, and Caroline half the year in Santiago, Chile.
I retired at the end of 2019. In the summer of 2020, after several months of the COVID pandemic, my daughters gave me a subscription to Rosetta Stone, knowing my interest in languages. I began the French course in early July and completed it in mid-November. I then found podcasts and youtube videos that accelerated my oral comprehension and began private remote lessons on italki with a very nice French woman in Blois, France.
I am happy to say that I can now understand clearly spoken French (at a moderate, not breakneck speed!) on most topics. I can have a fairly detailed conversation with someone if they are patient and willing to accept some errors and some pauses.
But the real question is why am I doing this? Will I ever really spend much time in French-speaking countries? Probably not. Will I have extensive opportunities to use my French here in Atlanta? Probably not. But it still gives me great pleasure to listen to French and be able to understand it, and to be able to express myself with increasing fluency.
Learning a language is a very measurable challenge and the progress is very noticeable. The podcasts I listen to address all sorts of interesting topics in French history, politics and culture, which tie in nicely with other interests of mine. French is also a very beautiful language in my estimation. And at some point it would be nice to be able to read a well-known French novel (other than Le Petit Prince!), though that is not a primary goal.
The connection between language and thought are profound. There is something magical about hearing an entirely new set of words of phrases and having them evoke thoughts and images in my mind. It is like entering a new world and traversing entirely new territory.
I confess that for whatever reason (perhaps guilt or vanity or ennui?) I find it necessary and indeed much more fulfilling to take on challenges of this sort then to indulge the various pleasurable pastimes that are the typical fare of retirement. I am somewhat restless, and this pastime focuses my energy and provides very nice positive feedback. But of course I also take advantage of many simple pleasures in my daily routine.
I am not particularly gifted in languages, but I have enough of a facility to enjoy the process and benefit from my efforts. I believe the project of learning a new language and culture makes me a better world citizen and provides a measure of enlightenment that might otherwise be elusive. And in the end, it is a lot of fun, as many things that are hard work turn out to be.
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