My takeaway is that French is just too hard!

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Back to the point.

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I signed up for the French exam this time because, when I reviewed what I had accomplished over the past year at the end of last year, I realized that I hadn’t achieved anything at all. So I wanted to push myself. After taking just one look at the format of the DALF C1 exam, I impulsively signed up. I consider myself a risk-taker, but this time I still took too big a leap and was a little too hard on myself. After all, I only started learning French from scratch three years ago.

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These three months have given me a deeper understanding of the language and the culture it carries. Compared with the simplicity and directness of English, French is more complex and more subtle; it is even more hierarchical.

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Hierarchy

I had already experienced hiérarchie in the workplace, and it is also everywhere in French. You shouldn’t use tutoyer casually. Before doing so, both parties usually have to agree—you say, “Can we tutoyer each other?”—and only then can you use it freely. Likewise, slang should not appear in formal settings.

Complexity

Oui, mais…

There is no such thing as black and white. Whenever you present a viewpoint, you have to discuss its positive side and then its negative side. This is called nuancer, an important concept that every French learner must master.

Subtlety

There is no need to say much: the speaker seems to know what they want to say, yet also seems not to know; the listener seems to understand, yet also seems not to. A thousand words ultimately come down to a single voilà, bon, or bah…

In short, it was only after learning French that I came to appreciate the simplicity of English. As a tool for communication, English is indeed highly efficient. But French also has its own distinctive beauty of imagery (has everyone noticed? I’ve already started unconsciously nuancer-ing my own viewpoint):

For example, an “immigrant country” is called a pays d’accueil (“the country that welcomes you”) in French; and a “partner” is called la femme de ma vie (“the woman in my life”).