According to Duolingo, I have been practicing French for 264 days now. I previously completed a minor in French during my undergrad and attended immersion programs multiple times, but since I haven’t used the language for many years now, much of my knowledge has been lost. So, after using Duolingo to learn some basics for Japan, I decided to invest time into relearning French.
I’ve been maintaining my Duolingo daily, although admittedly some of those days were incredibly brief to keep my streak, added a few other learning tools at times and have tried to practice somewhat consistently with my bilingual best friend. I’ve felt pretty good about my progress so far, given this is all being mixed in amongst the many other responsibilities of life.
When we booked a trip to Paris, I knew this would be the real test. I recognized that I was not yet fluent enough to maintain significant conversations with French speaking people but I wanted to be able to navigate the basics while there. The biggest challenge was being responded to in English as soon as I opened with French. But I chose to persist, continuing in French for as long as I could. After a couple of days, I even started letting people know that I only spoke a little French but I was learning and wanted to practice. And on my fifth day, nobody spoke English to me! This felt like such a huge accomplishment. I credit a lot of this to my growing confidence through those days of continued persistence and exposure.
Returning to learning French had been on my mind for quite some time, and discovering Duolingo, combined with my upcoming trip to Paris, finally gave me the motivation to make it happen. Duolingo offered an accessible and encouraging way to learn, while the trip provided a concrete deadline and a sense of urgency to get started.
What this experience has taught me is that the pursuit of a goal is not always linear or what we expect it to be. Flexibility and kindness toward ourselves are important, both for achieving our goals and for finding enjoyment and satisfaction along the way. At the same time, I recognize the importance of the persistence I demonstrated while in Paris. I easily could have taken the path of least resistance and slipped back into English but I knew that the challenge mattered to me and that continuing in French, even when it felt uncomfortable was an opportunity to grow.
For me, this was a good reminder that there's room for both kindness toward ourselves and a willingness to push ourselves when it matters.