First Published in Onya Magazine on 2 August 2010 by Justin Watts

This is an article that was published in Onya Magazine, written by Justin Watts. I was taken by this article because it has always been a life long dream of mine to not only learn French, but to also travel to France and learn whilst living there. My attempts at the French language whilst travelling there in 99 were basic to say the least – with my Let’s Go Europetucked under my arm and an electronic language converter, I was savvy enough to not get ripped off whilst converting my dollars to francs, but my pronunciation of certain prolific French landmarks were met with abject horror from a young boy, who whilst not from France, had taken the time to study it – “you just murdered the French language”. I live in hope that one day I will be able to return and speak the language with all the beauty, grace and femininity of Audrey Hepburn (whilst sipping on an Earl Grey from a cafe, people watching and watching the world go past, before spending the afternoon at the Musee d’Orsay to immerse myself in art). 

Preface from the Editor of Onya Magazine – “Justin Watts wanted to learn French. He decided the best way to do so was not to join a language class in Australia, but rather move to France and throw himself into the language, and the culture. This is his (funny, moving, delightful) story.”

Here is an excerpt from his article:

“I wanted to start work as soon as I could upon finishing the course so whenever I wasn’t studying how to use an irregular verb in the past continuous form, I was searching the internet for language schools and sending out my CV. After sending 150 emails without a positive response I decided to expand my field to include Francophone countries in Northern Africa as well as Belgium and Luxembourg. Another 150 emails later and I had two viable offers: Freelance work in Brussels where French, Flemish and English are spoken and the pay is high or Nancy (a Newcastle sized town in North East France) where I’d make about 400 Euros per week, before the inordinate taxing began. If I wanted to make a lot of money in a year I’d be working in a mine in Western Australia, but I wanted to learn French so I pounced on the Nancy offer like a Frenchman on a baguette.”

Click here to read full article in Onya Magazine