Here is a powerful exercise for easy French conversation

HERE IS A POWERFUL EXERCISE FOR EASY FRENCH CONVERSATION

So, do you ever feel that you’re making the same errors over and over again, in French?

It’s a frustrating endeavor, especially when you don’t know how to break the cycle.

It feels like, even if you know the words and how to put them together, during your home practice, once you are in the hot seat of real life conversation, they fly out of your head. Like bats from a cave! : )

OK, jokes aside, this is no fun, and I’m sure you’ve been wondering if there’s a solution for you.

Read the article to discover an unexpected exercise for easy French conversation, and watch the video that’ll help you to always be prepared.

(This week, verb ÊTRE – to be)

Last Sunday I started a 40-day intensive yoga program.

I was already practicing every day, yet this is my second round.

I was asking myself why did I feel compelled to sign up again?

The first two ideas shared in this course were to “seek the truth” and to be “willing to come apart”. This alone was controversial enough to capture my interest. Everyone’s interest. Especially the “coming apart” idea. When someone suggested that we should challenge our identity, my ears were wide open.

Asked to set an intention for the next 40 days of the program, I set myself to let go of old patterns. That means to stay on the lookout and notice when an old pattern kicks in, and interrupt it. It sounds more philosophical than it is, but it’s such a subtle thing to do, it took me a long time to just become aware of what I was doing.

The old patterns are part of our identity. It’s a “brain surgery” moment. Let’s see… When two neurons wire together, they fire together. The more they do so, they create a long term connection, much like a long term relationship. So, when the proper trigger kicks in, the neurons fire together, reinforcing that trigger and that response, until it becomes subconscious. Automatic. Starts to run us.

While some such responses are desirable, many are good for a while but they are no longer useful.

Which is something hard to identify, once they become mechanical.

Why am I making a brain dissertation here? Because this very mechanism is what happens when you can’t find your words, or you mispronounce or if you panic when faced with making conversation with a local.

The habits that you created by learning on your own, or even in a class, are the old patterns that you have to break. If you are not fluent yet, then not being able to identify those patterns is what holds you in the same place.

The solution is to notice the patterns in your French learning and conversation – on your own or with the help of a coach, interrupt them and give yourself the choice of either continuing to do what you were doing (if it works) or change your approach (if you want different results).

The trick is to catch your mechanical behavior every time.

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN!
Write in the comments below, what are your techniques to catch yourself when the old habits visit you uninvited?

Let me guess.

Do you constantly have the feeling that you can’t hear what the French say and you don’t know how to read all the French words because they are written so much differently than they sound?

Learn 3 secrets that will help you be self sufficient in the way you pronounce French words – even if you don’t know what they mean – so that you can read that sophisticated menu in your favorite French restaurant.