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Find out more about Matthieu

• Do you speak this language fluently because of your origins or because a teacher inspired you to learn?

  I've been very fortunate to be born and raised in Paris to a French father and therefore, could not escape the language!
  I "bathed" in the language thanks to school, the city and everything that's associated with Parisians.

• Can you name a living, historical or fictional character that you think is the emblematic representative of the language's culture?

  Too many to list! But nothing beats the thinkers of the "enlightenment" era. The names Voltaire, Montesquieu and Diderot for example resound throughout history for their work and are emblematic of French Culture and our language.

• Is there a typical word, phrase, tradition or behavior in the language that you particularly like?

  French is best defined by the sound "euuhhh" and the tone you use it with. It sounds ridiculous but as soon as you notice it, you will only hear it. On top of that, there is something so special about how French people take a very pragmatic approach to speaking French. For example: we make contractions wherever possible, we tend to not pronounce some letters to speak faster and many more such as not using "est-ce que..." to ask a question but rather rely on the tone you are using to make others understand you are asking a question (confusing, yes I know).

• Why does speaking this language matter to you?

  I love speaking French for a couple reasons, firstly, it is an integral part of who I am! Being French, it is basically my duty to speak my language to people whether they asked for me to do so or not. I do most of my thinking in French to balance out the pragmatic side of English. Secondly, it also influences the way I speak English. I tend to make my sentences longer and more complex without noticing which I find useful as it adds a bit of depth to my English. Surprisingly it does take over my brain a lot more than I think, at this point my mom's favorite saying might as well be "that's very franglais"

• What is the main difficulty in learning this language and what can help the process of learning?

  Oh my... French is loaded with small traps for you to fall in. The best examples I can give you are letters at the end of the words that we don't pronounce and the liaisons. Best way to help the process of learning is to actually make the mistakes and get corrected. You must think of yourself as a toddler learning to speak. You will make mistakes but you should not care about them at all. Ask yourself this: did you care about the mistakes you made when learning how to speak any language growing up? Mostly likely not and that's the attitude you need. You crawl, then you walk and then you run.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your language learning or your days at school.

  Interestingly, I always took a very pragmatic approach regarding French, which according to my theory, English being my other native language is the sole culprit for this. The straight to the point aspect of the English language has most definitely influenced my French. As a result in school, whenever I had to analyze the meaning of a poem or short text, I would blank and be unable to find one of the "thirty" different underlying meanings.

• How has travel or a specific trip helped you to increase your skill and knowledge of the language?

  Surprisingly, traveling in South America and learning Spanish and Portuguese has given me a new outlook on French. I have most definitely reconnected with my mother tongue. I have a deeper understanding of the language and can "feel" the Latin root that unites our languages. On top of that, learning Spanish made me understand how formal or informal you can make French.

• What makes you a Superprof in language?

  I think how relaxed and stress-free I am allows people to learn comfortably and are not afraid to make mistakes. I never felt comfortable in school to make mistakes in class and therefore, I make sure students feel at ease with me.