Parlez-Vous Lingo?

I read with interest your stories on learning foreign languages (“Off to Learn the Lingo,” Jan. 11). My experience has been that a minimum of five weeks of intensive study is necessary to produce the best results.

To save a lot of money, I recommend you look north to Quebec, Canada, because of the nearby location, the favorable exchange rate and wonderful, friendly people. Either McGill University in Montreal or Laval University in Quebec City has excellent French programs.

Laval has you sign an oath upon admittance that while taking the intensive training you will not speak English. That means not in class, not with your American friends, not in your apartment, etc. By the completion of the course, you will even be dreaming in French.

BRUCE BRODERICK

Los Angeles

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Gregory Curtis’ account of studying French recalled my attempt, no triumph, long ago when I was preparing for my first trip abroad. The trip was to include six whole days in Paris. I wanted to know a bit of the language, so I put in several evenings studying with a fluent friend.

I learned a few sentences. My best one was: “The boy found the book on the table.” But the subject of a lost book never came up in Paris. Thus, my traveling companion and I boarded the Queen Mary in Cherbourg (it was that long ago) without my ever having dazzled Paris with my sentence.

On our last evening aboard, as we sipped a farewell drink with Jean, a young Frenchman who had charmed us both on our voyage, my friend turned to me and said, “Mickey, this is your last chance. Say your sentence for Jean.”

I swallowed hard and articulated in my best French: “The boy found the book on the table.”

No applause. A pause, and then Jean said, “Say it in French first.”

MICKEY MILLER REGAL

Palm Springs