Everyone agrees that one of the keys to living successfully in a foreign country, by which I mean integrating, not existing in an ex-pat bubble, is being able to speak the language.  It’s so obvious that it goes without saying, really.  However, it is much easier to cite that truism than it is to actually do it.  Especially when you’re only a part-time resident.

Last year I was so good.  Disciplined.  I got up at 5:30 every morning and did an hour on the Rosetta Stone before getting on with the daily routine.  I kept this going up to the trip that I made to close on the house in February.  And I’ve done nothing since.  Quite simply, life has got in the way of all of my best intentions.  I have found a way to do something …….. while indulging in a rare web surfing session I stumbled across a blog written by an American living in southern France.  One of the features of the blog is a “word-a-day”, to which you can subscribe.  As the blog’s name implies, it brings you a regular snippet of French.  The beauty of it is that it comes to you in your email.  You don’t have to go and get it.

Finding Kristen’s blog has allowed me to mitigate my feelings of guilt at my lack of self-discipline (which, on reflection, may not be such a good thing).  I manage to get about 90% of the language right, but reading is a world away from being adept at speaking or understanding the spoken word.  However, it’s a start.

Hopefully our spending the next couple of months in Sainte-Foy will go some way towards improving my French (with a lot of work on my part and the patience of our neighbours).  Here’s the link to Kristen’s blog.  I hope that you find her writing as enjoyable as I do and the regular injection of vocabulary useful.  http://french-word-a-day.typepad.com/