When I started learning French at l’Alliance Française Paris in 1979, I had no idea how backwards my language skills were. Literally. At 21 years of age, I had arrived in Paris with scant knowledge of the language. Most days I would sit in Luxembourg Gardens with other foreign students, and we would fumble through the language together. After a few months, we were able to communicate in French. But when having conversations with native French students in the cafés, it still seemed impossible to ...