Emily in France 🇫🇷 Fluency and Knowing Paris

A secret garden in Montmartre

One of the questions I get asked most frequently by visitors to Paris is how long it took me to speak French fluently. After sixteen years here, my answer never changes – and I don't think it ever will:

“I’m still working on it.”

By many metrics, I am fluent. I defended my Master’s thesis in French. I laugh at French jokes and stand-up. I am frequently a bad translator, which is indicative of the relative paucity of French vocabulary as compared to English and of the fact that I build sentences totally differently in my head than when I’m speaking English. In the same vein, I have a slightly different personality and a totally different vocal timbre in French.

By other metrics, however, I’m anything but fluent. I’m always flummoxed when people ask if I dream in French: Since dream logic is weird at best and positively surreal at worst (or better, depending on your feelings about both logic and surrealism), I once woke up convinced I’d been dreaming in German, which is a language I categorically do not speak.

But in truth, there are many jokes that go over my head in French, particularly when they hinge on jeux de mots. I can converse in social situations in French, but I get tired way faster. And when it comes to listening to rap in French, I often catch barely half of what is said.

Fluency is a journey of constant evolution… much like knowing a city is.

I’ve been living in Paris for sixteen years, and seeing as I walk as my primary mode of locomotion, I know the city fairly well. But on occasion, I’ll be in a neighborhood I’ve visited a thousand times and stumble, all at once, on a street – or even a whole museum – I never knew was there.

This Sunday, I decided to take myself on a walk up to Montmartre, to enjoy the autumn sunshine and possibly do some early leaf-peeping. While the colors had yet to change (though I have high hopes for the Fête des Vendanges in a few short weeks!), I did end up turning down one of many narrow cobbled streets and finding myself face-to-face with the quiet Musée de Montmartre. I knew nothing about it, but seeing as my tour guide’s license grants me free access to almost all of Paris’ museums, I wasted no time in slipping in.

The museum is located in the 17th-century Maison du Bel Air, the former workshop of such masters as Suzanne Valadon, Maurice Utrillo, and Auguste Renoir. It boasts a lovely collection of paintings of the area before, during, and after its urban renovation, but given the sunshine, it was the gardens that were the biggest draw for me. The museum counts three distinct outdoor spaces: a café, back garden overlooking the vineyard, and front garden complete with flowers and fruit trees. It was here that I took a seat in the sunshine, soaking up the space where The Swing still swings.

Late September is one of my favorite times of year, when the air is just growing crisp but the sun still shines brightly. I soaked up the view of black-eyed Susans beaming in an autumnal flash of gold, of a quince tree sagging under the weight of its still-green fruit. Would anyone reap this seasonal bounty, I wondered, or was it for the enjoyment of eyes only?

I love knowing Paris well… and I love, just as much, the fact that there is still so much of it for me to come to know.

Cheese of the Week

Another frequent question I face is whether cheese shops in Paris sell any foreign cheeses. The answer is that they do, though the selection is often understandably minimal. Most good French cheese shops will have a few Italian choices – usually parmesan and gorgonzola – as well as British stilton and cheddar and pressed Alpine Swiss cheeses like appenzeller. For more off-the-beaten track specialties like San Simon da Costa from Spain, you’ll need to seek out a specialist.

This Spanish cheese from Galicia has a unique teardrop shape and a rich flavor thanks to the fact that it's smoked over birchwood. I never liked smoked cheese when I was growing up, but now I love it, especially in autumn, when it makes me think of cozy woodfires in the cooling countryside. Semi-soft and creamy, this cheese is just as lovely on its own as added to baked recipes (like my famous cheese-scrap-mac-and-cheese.)

To discover more of my favorite cheeses, be sure to follow me on Instagram @emily_in_france, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and tune into the Terroir Podcast, where Caroline Conner and I delve into France's cheese, wine, and more one region at a time.

What I'm Eating

The 8th is not usually my favorite neighborhood in Paris in which to eat, but the fine dining chops of Chef Thomas Danigo, whose Galanga is located within the luxe boutique hotel Monsieur Georges, has me changing my tune. More on the blog.

Discover more of my foodie finds via Instagram @emily_in_france and on the blog.

Where I’m Going

1. To Café de Flore, for a writing date with a friend who has made herself part of the woodwork at this storied café, some of whose practiced permanence I hope will soon rub off on me. (And also to the nearby Galerie Roger-Viollet to check out a photo exhibit all about the Seine and its banks.)

2. To Café les Deux Gares, whose modern bistro menu I’ve heard excellent things about.

3. To Dirty Lemon for a book club discussion of the phenomenal Yellowface. (And potentially to see the first issue of Version Originale in the flesh!)

(And where I’m not going: The Louvre, where Liberty Leading the People has been taken down to be restored.)

What I'm Writing

1. When you think about Wales, what comes to mind? Fields of sheep? Unwieldy, unpronounceable town names? Mines? Dragons? Ryan Reynolds? Here’s why I think your first instinct should be… cheese. For InsideHook.

2. These brie and black angus burgers are easy to make and exceptionally decadent. For InsideHook.

3. From the archives: Cellars chipped out of volcanic ash are the best place to age the Auvergne’s Saint-Nectaire cheese. For Atlas Obscura.

What I’m Doing

There’s still time to snag a spot at the next TERRE/MER weekend retreat! From October 5 to October 8, join us in seaside haven la Ciotat for a weekend of ceramics, cooking, wanders through the beautiful calanques, cheese, wine, and community. We can't wait to welcome you!

(Newsletter subscribers can quote the code EMILYINFRANCE to get 10% off!)

What I'm Reading

1. I didn't quite realize, when I picked Vile Bodies up at the library, that I'd already seen a film adaptation of it years ago. If I recall correctly, Bright Young Things managed to communicate much of the confusion woven into Evelyn Waugh's pages, but reading it – particularly this annotated version from Penguin – revealed that while not wholly a roman à clef, this book does have quite a few hidden tidbits that those interested in Waugh the person in addition to Waugh the writer will find particularly fun to discover. Even without this knowledge, however, this romp through London in the years leading up to the War showcases a feckless generation in all its glory. Just barely hemmed in by the loosest of plots, what keeps this book going is is motley crew of characters and their welcome lack of either morality or follow-through. Their insouciance is wonderfully wrought by Waugh, and it's a testament to his talent that he can make the reader care about people who seem to care about nothing at all but the next dose of fun.

2. I enjoyed this story on the history of the American diner and its place in the American imaginary even more seeing as I just finished writing a similar (upcoming) story about the role of Paris’ café. The middle-classification of diners leading to their downfall is specifically one of those things that seems super obvious once you think about it, and its ramifications are exquisitely explored in this story. In Eater.

3. This heartfelt, heart-wrenching story of mourning, loss, and language in Off Assignment.

A bientôt !