Language Schools Paris and suburbs

Looking for language schools in Paris?

So you want to learn French in Paris – what a great idea!

“Language schools Paris style? Who needs them?” or so I thought.

When I first followed my heart and moved to Paris, all I could remember from my schoolgirl French [at age 13] was:

“Bonjour, je m’appelle Teena!” (“Hello, my name is Teena!”) and

“Le ciel est blue!” (“The sky is blue!”)

Oh sure, that SOUNDS great, but there are only so many situations where I can introduce myself and then provide the only other sentence I know – “The sky is blue!”.

Suffice to say that I realised quick-smart that I had to learn some French or never leave the apartment.

As I’m a friendly outgoing type, I knew what I must do. I asked my new English-speaking acquaintances and enrolled at a French school which provided classes every morning 5 days a week for four weeks.

On my first day at school I soon realised that speaking English wasn’t an option – yikes! – there was only one other English-speaker, Italian Simona, and we were not allowed to speak in any language other than French whilst at school. [PS – although this was many years ago, Simona and I are still friends!]

Let me tell you – this was a HUGE incentive to learn as quickly as possible, because my classmates from all over the world seemed so interesting!

So – did I learn? YES, I did – I learnt enough in four weeks to be able to order coffee in a café without fear, to buy groceries, and to participate in conversations. All of this led me to learn French in Paris every day.

Am I a fluent French-speaker? If I lived full-time in France or in a French-speaking location, I’m sure I would be. My level of comprehension is pretty good, but if there are topics I’ve never had to read about or learn the French words, then I struggle with those. I do love to learn, though, so I’m willing to learn new words and phrases all the time.

The key is to ignore the fear of sounding silly or using the wrong word or phrase — jump in, speak up, laugh if you make a mistake, and keep learning!

Prefer to learn French at home?

There are a couple of programs which I’ve tried and can recommend – each link will open in a new window so this one will remain open for you to come back to.

I absolutely love the DUOLINGO APP on my iPhone and Macbook – I use it for 5 minutes every morning and it’s amazing how much I’m remembering! It’s much better than waiting until I arrive in Paris with rusty French :-)