Language Class?

Complete waste of time for the trip, although all knowledge is great. I'm fluent, but was all over the place with a friend a couple of months ago (way beyond the normal tourist areas and towns). He spoke no French. I made him handle all the grocery stores, gas stations, hotels, restaurants, directions to obscure sights, etc. We got along just fine, and most of the places the folks we were dealing with spoke no English. You're going to be in the tourist areas and won't even begin to have a problem.

If everyone could learn a language in only 14 hours of class, there would be a lot more multilingual people in the world. A 14 hr class isn't going to teach you much more than "some basic phrases". At least with the class you will learn pronunciation.

I would skip the class - play hookey, and spend my time on something else....You will survive just fine with no class...English is spoken, either verbally or in sign language. I spent a week in France, driving, and spoke no French...survived just fine. :-) :-)

If someone is paying, I'm always happy to attend a class. Add some self study and you will vastly increase the enjoyment of the trip. Some of the things you get in class, aside from some language, include an introduction to the culture and history of the place you're studying. What do people like/dislike? Why do they see the world the way they see it? What is proper etiquette for dining, for using the bathroom, for tipping? As with any class, the more you put into it, the more you will get out of it. I've taught college economics and there are always a number of students there just to check the box. No matter how much I try, they aren't going to take much from the class.

Thanks for the feedback. While I won't share them with my husband (lol), Brad makes some good points that I hadn't considered when hubby first proposed the idea. I might have to reconsider giving up a couple of hours on my precious Saturdays. Thanks again.

It's always worthwhile to develop your language skills. That said, you would do just fine without this class. Hubby specifically is telling you that you need to take this class? Hmm. Is he going to be taking the Italian or Spanish class while you're learning French? Or just laying around the house watching football? Maybe you should suggest that you take the class together so you can practice with each other and reinforce your skills? Good luck.

Gail
While I'm all for learning something new; I fully agree with the previous comments, just get an inexpensive French Phrase booklet (RS or others), learn a few phrases about wine, food and toilet locations and spend the next 13 hours and 45 minutes reading about the areas you will visit. My wife and I were "first timers" in Paris a few years ago; we were on our own, and we had no problem with language. However, we were fluent in about 3 or 4 phrases (as noted) along with making clumsy attempts at other greetings and phrases; the Parisians were very patient with us. We studied le metro map quite a bit before our visit, and had a working familiarity with how to get around the city underground and where we could change lines--it helped a lot--as the employees at le metro ticket boots were the only Parisians who didn't have much patience with us

You'll be fine in Paris with a few basics that you can get from any phrase book, but your experience of France will be enhanced with more knowledge of the language. My experience with beginning language classes is that things move along slowly as they are geared to middle-of-the-pack learners and are often slowed further from that by people who have trouble getting it. The quality of the instructors can vary widely as well.
My advice is to spend those hours with a good program of instruction like Pimsleur which you might find at your local library. It's on cd's so you can use it in the car, while walking, etc. There are other programs which people like and you can find with research on this forum and others.

Is your husband already fluent in French? If not he should definitely be taking the class. I think taking it together is a good idea. Before my wife went to Germany with me the first time, we signed up for a 10 week beginners' course together (even though I was more-or-less fluent).

No, my husband is not fluent in French ( or any other language) but he is a soccer, lacrosse, ref and Saturdays are always busy in the Spring so taking a class together is not possible. I did take an Italian class a few years ago through a local college and felt it was a waste of time because the instructor was so awful. I reminded my husband of this but since this class was being offered through Emory Univeristy ( where he works) he felt like the classes would be of a much higher quality. Instead, I have found a fellow teacher at my school who speaks French and has offered to help with pronunciation of basic phrases and some cultural aspects ( she lived there for 10 years). This plan seems to "satisfy" my husband ( he really just wants me to get the most out of our trip) and he has already planned to listen to a French cd on his hour long commute since I suggested he might want to enhance his trip too. Merci beaucoup!