Feature

Learning French in Alliance Francaise

Marzia Rahman

Sometimes in our monotonous life we come across someone or something, which brings fresh breeze into our life. This is exactly what happened with me when I met Roksana, a French teacher in an English medium school. She introduced me to a new world. This is the world of 'French language' a language of love, culture and literature.

French is one of the major languages used for communication across the globe. It is the second most commonly taught second language in the world (after English) and the official language in 41 countries.

My quest and thirst for this language led me to 'Alliance Francaise'. This institution started it's journey in 1959 in Dhaka in the same place and building, where it still continues to teach and promote French language and culture. There are 3 learning courses in a year: Extensive Course, Intensive Course and Super Intensive Course. Each course lasts for three months and at the end of the course an exam (oral + written) is held.

I enrolled myself in the extensive course. In French language, I found the most striking thing is their gender domination. In this language everything, known to us, is divided between masculine or famine. For example, stylo (pen) is regarded as masculine and banque (bank) is considered as feminine. Then there are grammars for every action. In every language there are grammars but in French it seems never-ending.

In spite of all these difficulties and vastness, I found it very interesting. In the current world of globalization, one should learn more than one language. The French President once said 'Nothing would be worse for humanity than to move toward a situation where we speak only one language'.

My journey has only started and I know ''There are miles to go before I sleep/there are miles to go before I sleep.'' But I am ready to make this wonderful and exciting journey because it is worth taking.