Pratiquer

Pratiquer (Fr.)/ Practice (Eng.) verb: to do or preform something repeatedly in order to acquire or polish a skill. Repetition or exercise of an activity in order to achieve mastery or fluency.

Last night I met a very cool woman who was here in Paris for Fashion Week. She is a Parisienne, although she lives in Madrid for her work as the Studio Coordinator for Loewe (pronounced Low-ev-ay). She is fluent in French, Spanish and English (without any trace of an accent).

She joined our table as she was the friend of a friend. And during introductions, she asked if I spoke French.

"Non, Je ne parle pas très bien le français." I said, with my head hung in shame.

"How long have you lived in Paris?" she asked.

"One year" I whispered.

Embarrassed by my answer, I explained that I didn't speak it very well because I spend all day working in English. And when I do go out, I always end up speaking English everywhere I go, because I am too tired to bumble around like a cow, and just want to be able to communicate effectively.

"Zat eez bullshit!" She barked. "You MUST practice! Over and over and over. Or you will never get any better."

This was the same advice given to me by my taxi driver last weekend. He tried to soften it by encouraging me that my accent, or lack thereof, and my errors are charming. "Talk to yourself and repeat everything you hear on the radio. I learned how to speak English from Larry King" he told me. "I would watch CNN and repeat everything that Larry said. It taught me pronunciation, phrases and sometimes I learned something more than just English" he said.

I really need to get over my fear of looking like a fool. I really really really want to speak better French.

Thanks to this little guy for some inspiring words of wisdom: