On September 4, 2013 I received the following e-mail from a client in Toronto, Canada, who had just finished a spoken French test over the telephone:
Went really well!! At the end she said she thought my French was great, and that she would be recommending me. She also suggested I keep practicing to prepare for the next interview, and gave me some suggestions. So, thanks for your help! It definitely helped to have learned those ‘markers of fluency’ and generally more idiomatic French.
Doesn’t that make you feel good? There was a lot riding on this test. This was a first step in the application process for a job with a major international organization based in Europe. No pass, no job.
This English-speaking client had come to me after reading my blog and asked for help in preparing for the interview. In fact, there were to be two 10-minute interviews, one in Spanish and one in French. Although he already had a regular tutor, he felt it could be useful to try somebody with a different accent and a different perspective.
The client purchased an Essential French calendar and a total of three hours of coaching over Skype for both languages. The level of Spanish was quite good because this client had spent three months working in Latin America. Just a few little things to clean up. We decided therefore to concentrate on French,
The first thing I tell my students is that examiners of spoken language skills usually have a good idea of the level of ability within the first 30 seconds. So, it is essential to make a good first impression.
The very first words that come out of your mouth when you pick up the telephone are very important. Are these words what the examiner would likely hear from a native speaker or are they some weird-sounding translation from your native language that will immediately indispose the examiner?
What was the oral French problem?
The French was problematic because this client had never really lived or worked in a French-speaking environment and had been studying on his own with a tutor. Good pronunciation. Good knowledge of grammar, good vocabulary. Quite a few small but annoying mistakes.
The main problem was speaking. Instead of being fluent and idiomatic, speaking was somewhat disjointed with a lot of stumbling and searching for words. The speaker would often get stuck and mutter “mm..mm..mm,” Not good.
What did we do in 2.5 hours over three sessions?
One of the first things we did was correct the language of correspondence with the examiner. We certainly didn’t want to indispose this person with any major writing mistakes. A word to the wise: always have somebody check those important e-mails.
Using the telephone conversation as a framework, here is what we did:
1. Cleaning up
As we went along, I corrected any mistakes of pronunciation and grammar. Interestingly, there was some interference from Spanish. Most of the grammar mistakes were little things like prepositions and verb tenses.
2. Understanding the oral French questions
We worked on how to answer questions formulated in various ways. I would deliberately interrupt answers and ask questions in two or three different ways.
3. Adding fluency and conversation markers
In my guide to using the real-life examples in this blog, I have emphasized the importance of studying and using these little words and phrases that serve basically to help the conversation flow. Expressions like: bien sûr, eh bien, c’est-à-dire, bon, bon bien, c’est exact, c’est ça, très bien, vous savez, tout à fait, etc. help the speaker sustain the conversation and avoid that embarrassing and annoying hemming and hawing while searching for the right words.
4. Learning idiomatic vocabulary
This is my forte. My question is always: How would a native speaker say this? There is rarely only one correct way to say something but for sure there are word combinations that a native speaker would never use. This is where a tutor or a coach is invaluable. That sentence may be perfectly grammatical but not what a French-speaker would say. With the right vocabulary and maybe some idiomatic expressions, here is a better way of saying the same thing.
5. Using some high proficiency oral French markers
Examiners are always impressed by the ability to properly use grammatical features that are the sign of good command of the language. If you can use these things correctly, then everything else must be good. Or at least that is the thinking. Here two examples:
…dont j’ai entendu parler “which I heard about”
…la catastrophe à laquelle vous faites référence “…the catastrophe that you are referring to”
The relative pronouns dont and laquelle are things that even many native speakers of French have difficulties with. Anybody who can use them properly goes to the head of the class.
6. Mastering telephone protocol
It sounds simple until you have to do it. How do you answer the phone in French? How do you identify yourself, make some chit-chat and then get down to business? At the end of the test, the examiner will probably say something like this:
– Eh bien, voilà, je crois que c’est tout. Avez-vous des questions? “I think this is it. Do you have any questions?”
Maybe you want to know when you will get the results. Here is something you could say:
– Effectivement, j’aimerais savoir quand est-ce que j’aurai les résultats de cet examen.
Finally, the conversation comes to a close and you must say thank you and good-bye. With the right formulas this can be done elegantly instead of the usual stuttering and mumbling.
Conclusion: always practice with a coach or tutor before a test
I know that people don’t like to spend money and this may sound self-serving, but I am astounded that anyone would go for a language test or an interview of major professional implications without at least a session with a good language coach.
We’re not talking about dozens of hours of expensive tutoring. It could be just a couple of hours with someone who will tell you how you are doing, what is wrong and how to correct it.
The point is that you cannot correct yourself. People tend to overestimate their level of ability and think that “getting by” is good enough. And then they get a rude awakening when they fail the exam. Do yourself a favour. If the stakes are high, hire a good language coach and avoid disappointment.
Related Posts
1. How to use the real-life examples.
Stanley Aléong is a polyglot, author, musician and language coach in French, English and Spanish. He likes to share his passion for languages and believes that anybody can learn to speak a foreign language well with the right methods and tools. He has also invented a cool visual learning tool called the Essential French Wall Chart Calendar. Reach him at info@langcal.com.