NEOMA Business School

If you don't make the effort to mix with the french, you'll never improve. I found that joining sports teams and taking classes with the french helped me to integrate very well. The fact that my name is difficult for them to pronounce made sure that I was an immediate novelty for them. If you live with french people even in campus accomodation, speak french to them- many will try to speak english to you, but once you keep responding in french, they'll get the message. I made some very good friends that taught me a lot of french, most of which I cannot use in a professional environment however. The thing is, if the french don't want you to understand, you won't. They have a fairly weird form of slang 'verlang' which puts certain syllables behind others and such. Most people will never encounter it. Regardless, know what level you're at before you choose courses. A lot of the time, understanding written french is very important. A good standard across the board is required to really benefit. If you're learning and shy, stay with the foreigners- but you'll regret it.

Even though I was only in France for 3 months, my French has definitely improved, especially comprehension. I would recommend watching French TV and listening to the radio (get a cheap one). When you hear it constantly, you'll learn quickly. Most people in Rouen speak only a few words of English. But even if you could get by with English, try to speak French whenever you can. People are usually pretty patient and understanding with you. My only complaint is that you don't learn French living on campus, and studying the International Track, since everyone speaks English, the students and the teachers.

Courses both in French and English. Those courses were difficult concerning the language that were in French - those courses were meant mainly for the local students. My French language did not improve so much as I had hoped due to the fact that I spent my time mainly with other exchange students amongst which there were always those who wanted to speak in English. This resulted in that the exchange students language was English and not French.

Fortunately, I have had some classes in French and English where I could improve my skills in both languages. The first two or three weeks it was really hard to understand and to communicate with French students but when you have taken part in the Intensive French Seminar you will become more and more familiar with the slang and the specific terms of the language and afterwards you can communicate even easier. And having been in contact with many French students I have used this golden opportunity to speak more and more and to improve my French skills.

I grew up with both languages: german and french. My mothertongue is german but I always lived in France. So speaking already the language gave me the time and the opportunity to spend more time with the other international students rather than to spend a lot of time learning the local language. The consequence was that I was very involved in the social life on campus and that I could concentrate on other interests (traveling, playing music...).

Very difficult at first but learned to cope very well, particularly after the work placement. French slang though is extremely difficult to come to terms with and changes every week nearlys so one needs to meet and speak with the locals in order to stay afloat!