Learning French in Geneva

I've been here a year and my ability to speak French has only recently begun to move forwards. I have had hardly any lessons in the language in my life.  Like many Anglophone I gave up learning French when I was only 13. My class had two teachers, one who was utterly useless and the other who assumed the other was doing her job and so credited the class with more understanding than I had, I was completely lost and lost interest. However, I studied German all through school and at university, so when we arrived in Geneva my I thought somehow my experience of learning a foreign language would help me to pick up French.

Picking Up The language
My knowledge of French is so patchy that I can't easily parrot simple phrases like, "I went on my holiday to...", "I have two sisters, their names are..." "How do I get to the ...?" These phrases were completely beyond me when I arrived in Geneva. I wasn't even in the position of having forgotten them, I'd never known them.
Over the past year I have learnt bits and pieces of French. Here and there I've picked up some words, here and there the small bits of French I knew have come back to me. I can remember only a couple of weeks after we arrived in the city an old lady in the supermarket was chatting away to the big one, and she was being very shy. I replied elle est Anglais, elle habite dans Geneve seule deux semaine. Why I remembered how to decline the verb "to live" I don't know: where I'd picked up the words for only and week, I'm not sure either. But the point is, somewhere these new words had seeped into my mind, and it's this that I think defines learning a foreign language in situ.

French Lessons In Geneva
I haven't had lessons, which isn't a boast. My accent is terrible, as is my syntax. However, I do get the meaning across, eventually. I described it to a friend of mine as similar to taking swimming lessons.  You can probably swim fine, do laps in a pool, stay afloat in the sea.  But if you had lessons from an instructor you would suddenly find that in their eyes you can hardly swim at all.  For me I expect having having French classes would be a similar experience. There are myriad organisations out there offering tuition. In my experience of learning a language you will pay more for more one on one time.


Migros Ecole Club offers courses for various abilities, with prices ranging from about CHF500 and CHF1000, depending on how many sessions you do.  Class sizes are fairly large, expect up to around 20 people.

Berlitz is a big multinational, which offers classes, Bell is another.  Berlitz quote more than CHF2000 for a beginner course. Much pricier than the Migros equivalent, but Berlitz classes are only for 4-6 people. So, whilst it appears more expensive, you are paying for the tutor to spend more time with you one on one.

Lastly there are a number of private French tutors in the area that offer one on one tuition, obviously with these types price is negotiable, a good place to find them is on glocals.com, where people post their language services in the classifieds section. Whether these are Anglophones or Francophones, I would recommend learning from someone who speaks French as a mother tongue.

Just Use It!
My top tip for learning French in Geneva is to get out there and use it. The more times you order coffee or croissants, book a table, listen to the questions of the person at the checkout and try to understand them, the better you will get.  If you have kids you'll probably end up in the doctor's surgery at some point, so speak to the receptionist in French.  When you learn a new word try to find another instance of it as soon as possible, my favourite example of this is when the trams bleat out "next stop...".  "Next" in this phrase is the same word used in the phrase "next week", when I discovered this it was like light bulbs were being turned on in a part of my brain that had "Reserved for learning French" written across it.  Whilst I am certain that a classroom is a good place to learn French, and I'm sure when I get my act together and sign up to classes it will improve, learning it in the class room is only going to help you get so far if you don't get out and use it. So do so, the Genevoise will be pleasantly patient whilst you hack up the language and wave your arms about in your attempts to be understood.