1 – French Interview of Bradley Cooper
Bradley Cooper was interviewed by French TV show “Le Quotidien” and spoke French during the interview. Here is a short clip of it.
2 – Bradley Cooper’s Outlook on the French Language
Bradley Cooper studied for 6 months in Aix-en-Provence, in France, he has a great French accent, converses with fluency yet makes a lot of mistakes… And doesn’t care.
He admits his French grammar is “débile”(‘stupid’), but manages to communicate fine, and that’s what’s important for him.
In the video, he jokes in French and seems really at ease: you can see that Bradley Cooper understands French fluently and Yan Barthes, the host, is truly impressed with his French.
If you’re familiar with my French learning method, you know I completely agree with him. I have seen so many students freeze when they speak French because they are too ashamed at the very idea of making a mistake. Or bend over backward to memorize the French subjunctive conjugations when their time should have been better spent memorizing vocabulary or training on asking/answering questions quickly.
In-depth audiobook covering the foundations as well as the difficulties of today’s French pronunciation
3 – Bradley Cooper “I want to Communicate” in French
When you learn French, you should first ask yourself an essential question: why are you learning French? If it’s to pass written exams, then yes, you do need to learn French the traditional way.
However, a lot of self-learning students want to learn French to communicate in French. If it’s your case, follow the Bradley Cooper way:
- learn a lot of everyday French vocabulary + vocabulary that is useful to you (to talk about your work, your hobbies etc…)
- work on your traditional and modern French pronunciation
- work on your French understanding (with audio – not just written!!)
- do a lot of repetitions
- accept that it’s OK to make mistakes and don’t let it stop you
This being said, I also believe the grammatical structure is essential to get the French language. So, I’m not saying skip grammar and verb conjugation altogether. I’m just saying pick your priorities.
When grammar is well explained, it makes sense and will really help you understand French better. Then, with repetition, it will sink in. And if you make mistakes here and there, who cares?
I think Bradley Cooper is a great advocate and example of a foreigner speaking French. I hope he’ll inspire you to just go ahead and speak, go with the flow, even if your French is not perfect.
If someone knows him or his agent, let me know – I’d love to send him my audiobooks, I’m sure he’ll find it refreshing to see a French method which shares his priorities! ;-)
Comments