Bringing an infectious laugh to Lingua Franca since early 2021, Rikki is a dedicated étudiante* with some interesting ties to France. It was a pleasure to have her join us on our trip to Morocco, where she and another cat-loving chouchou*, Lisa, took to feeding the local chats*. (And quite possibly whisked a few home.)
Read on to hear about Rikki’s fun taunting a French colleague from afar and her tried-and-tested tips for mastering la langue*.
WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO STUDY FRENCH?
I have wanted to learn French for as long as I can remember. I always did well at language classes in school and, as a Canadian-Australian, I’ve always felt a bit of a connection to the language.
My grandfather learned French to a level of fluency at school (his year 12 assignment was translating The 3 Musketeers from French to English), and my mom self-proclaims that she can read the back of a cereal box in French!
One day I decided to sign up for a one-week intensive “absolute beginner” group class, and here I am years later, taking the Wednesday night Club de Culture class with a great group of people!
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN STUDYING FRENCH?
Almost 10 years.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT IT?
I like learning about the culture through the language. France has such a rich and dynamic culture and it’s really fascinating to learn how this has shaped the language.
ANY HARD BITS?
I’ve been learning for almost 10 years and still frequently mess up basic things like the gender of nouns.
WHAT’S THE FRENCH CONNECTION WITH YOUR WORK?
I work for an Australian company which has a partnership with a French multi-national, so I work with a lot of French people. In fact, my first teacher at Lingua Franca was the husband of one of my French co-workers.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE FRENCH WORD?
I recently learned the word “époustouflant” (breathtaking) and thought it sounded amazing (and very French)!
TELL US ABOUT YOUR PENCHANT FOR A CERTAIN FROMAGE*…
I’m a little bit partial to La Vache Qui Rit*, the little triangles of French cream cheese, much to the disgust of one of my French colleagues. He insists that La Vache Qui Rit is not real cheese, let alone real French cheese.
When I travelled to Morocco on one of the Lingua Franca voyages, I realised that La Vache Qui Rit has a cult-like following in Morocco. It was everywhere! Of course, I started sending my colleague a daily photo of a triangle of La Vache cheese in an exotic location.
Then when we arrived in Essaouira, we found all sorts of merchandise available for purchase with the La Vache logo on it – Berber jackets, t-shirts, and even shopping bags! I asked my co-worker if he would like me to bring back some merchandise from his favourite French cheese brand, which he politely declined.
(I did a quick Google search on my return to Australia and realised that La Vache makes up 30% of the cheese consumed by Moroccans and consistently receives product awards in Morocco.)
FINALEMENT*, WHAT ARE YOUR TOP TIPS FOR LEARNING FRENCH?
My biggest tip is to just keep going! Sometimes it feels like you’re not improving, but if you compare your French to a year ago, I can guarantee you have improved more than you think!
For a more practical tip, if you like watching French TV shows and movies, try switching the subtitles to French on Netflix (or your other streaming service) – sometimes it helps to be able to see the words as you hear them.
*student | *teacher’s pet | *cats | *the language | *cheese | *The Laughing Cow | *Finally
