A review of my ebook, Conquering Babel

Sometimes you send your book out for review, full of hope and expectation for glowing praise and vastly increased sales.

Almost always you are disappointed.

Not this time.

Up on the Becoming Madame blog is a thorough, thoughtful review of language learning and how my little eBook can fit into the process.

This is my favourite line.

Sprinkled with humor, charm and anecdotal reinforcement, we feel like our big sister is imparting on us some of her seasoned and tested advice.

All the cool kids are doing it...

Brad Pitt, on learning French:

“All our kids are speaking French, so now we have that second language infused into our home. Everyone is learning another language. I’ve got the Rosetta Stone for French sitting right on the table in the bedroom, and it’s going to be loaded into my brain. I know there are certain synapses in my brain that just freeze dead at French, but I have to learn it because our kids are speaking it. Even the twins as babies were saying certain things in French.”

(source: icydk.com)

Readable French books - yes, they really exist.

Are you learning French? Ready for the challenge of reading a whole book?

Stop! Don't pick just any book. You may be feeling it now, but three pages into the latest translated Sophie Kinsella, your dictionary will be soaked with tears of frustration. (You do have a dictionary, don't you?)

And let's take chick lit as an example. It feels easy to read in our language. But it's full of slang, in-fashion vocabulary, and the kind of words you probably aren't learning at your intensive EU course. It's hard. So you will feel stupid, and you feel doubly stupid because you will (wrongly) think that the thing you are finding difficult is in fact really easy.

Here are a few you can start with instead.

I grew up reading Le Petit Nicolas, and he is ace. His adventures in a classic old-fashioned French primary school will raise a smile.

Not only that, but it's written in the passé composé - ie, not in that odd tense we inexplicably call the passé simple, which makes it much easier to understand - and will painlessly reinforce all those past participles your French teacher has been trying to get you to learn.

Also, it's not a novel, but rather a series of stand-alone adventures: much more manageable to tell yourself you will read one story this week than, say, one novel in three months.

Another childhood classic is the adventure of this little boy who finds headlice in his hair, and befriends them. It's short, and funny, and full of word play (nothing too complicated, though), and the illustrations alone make it a worthwhile purchase.

Another oldie but goodie (okay, so I grew up in the 80s, and I'm not going to apologise for that) is Astérix. There is, of course, plenty of word play in this too, which makes it not the easiest of reads - though it also makes it fun once you work out what all the names are supposed to mean. My all-time, hands-down favourite is Astérix chez les Bretons, in which very British expressions are translated verbatim into French - so don't base your colloquial language on it, it's roughly as reliable as Google Translate - but it will make you smile. Plus, you'll discover some things about British history that I'll bet you never knew...

If you're more advanced, you might - might - want to try Bonjour Tristesse, by Francoise Sagan. It is as French as French gets - deeply philosophical musings on the inner life of a French teenager during her stifling hot summer in the South of France. It's also beautifully written and - again - short. Honestly, you cannot underestimate the feeling of achievement that comes with finishing a novel - and those feelings fuel further learning.

Have you discovered any good French reads?


The books mentioned here, and others like them, can be found here if you're in the UK or Belgium, and here if you're in the US.

Language learning in Belgium: where to start

Are you an expat in Belgium? Wondering what your options are for learning French or Dutch?

Wonder no more - my piece in the Bulletin is here.

Conquering Babel: A Practical Guide to Learning a Language

Yes - it's out. It feels good to have my name come up on an Amazon search!

So far, I've sold eight copies - fame and fortune are still a way off, but now that my Authonomy ranking seems to have plateaued, it's fun to watch another little number go up.

My first comment on amazon.co.uk read as follows:

As a French person who had to learn English, I know first hand the challenge of learning another language! I love this book, it is easy to read, full of practical tips, highly motivating and also full of fun comments from the author. Definitely great for any beginners and also people who shy from difficult academic books. There are also a simple glossary that helps to understand grammar and some recommended websites. Get it! It is a bargain!

On amazon.com, it was this:

Ever catch yourself in Ignorant status? Have you ever felt misunderstood or you don't understand? Do you want to raise the chances of avoiding alzheimers? Do you just want to look cool sometimes in front of colleagues and peers or impress that hot date?
If you said yes to any of those question above then you need to LEARN ANOTHER LANGUAGE

SILLY! I recommend this book, its inexpensive, it'll give you good praticals.

11 Ways to Learn a Language

You've told yourself 2011's the year: you will definitely get round to brushing up your French. Or learn Spanish. But you can already see the end of January coming at you and still you haven't done much about it. Truth is, you're not sure where to start. "Learn a language" sounds impressive and virtuous, as a New Year's Resolution ought to. But how do you get there in practice?

1. Set a goal. You've probably heard of SMART goals: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timetabled. How will you know, at the end of the year, if you have "learned Italian"? Difficult to quantify. But how about, this year I will complete all the exercises in "Colloquial Italian", or spend a week in Venice and strike up conversation with five strangers? You will know if you have done those things. You may then find it helpful to break it down into smaller steps.

2. Stay motivated. Yes, right now it's January, and you're feeling enthusiastic, but at some point it may feel harder going. Make a list of five reasons why learning the language you have chosen is a good idea, how it will improve your life. Return to your list when you feeling fed up.

3. Find a tutor. Most of us do not have the discipline to keep up self-study entirely by ourselves, long-term. You don't have to have a lesson every week, if time or funds don't allow it: even knowing that you will have a monthly "check up" and opportunity to ask questions can be enough. A good tutor will be able to advise you on learning materials, too, and activities that suit your learning style. For professionals teachers where you live, check the Language School Teachers website; there are also organizations like Armchair Languages who offer lessons by Skype, with all the added advantages of flexibility that brings.

4. Get a good textbook. Particularly at beginner level, a textbook will be invaluable to you, so that you can lay effective foundations and progress incrementally. For French, you can't do better than the Grammaire Progressive du Francais series, although it's possible you will find it a bit dry without something else to complement it. For a good, well-rounded approach, the Colloquial series is good, and you can buy those in a pack which include CDs, for listening practice.

5. Listen to Podcasts: you are, in all likelihood, busy. You don't have hours and hours to devote to this new endeavour. But you do, probably, sit in traffic or stand, squashed, on public transport for a substantial proportion of your week. Use the time to listen to one of the many podcasts available, like the Coffee Break series.

6. Read Books: At every stage of language learning, there are books that can work for you, help you to see how the grammar works for you. A good language bookshop such as Grant and Cutler will be able to advise you on Easy Readers, which are a series of simplifed, abbreviated novels especially designed for learners at various stages. as you progress, you might want to move on to children or young people's fiction, or to translations of classics that you know well already.

7. Read Magazines. As adults, we filter out enormous quantities of information that is not immediately relevant to us. But if we read something that is related to a topic of interest, we are more likely to remember it. If you are intermediate or above (B2+), browse the press shops next time you are on holiday and consider subscribing to a magazine in a topic that interests you. (Ask your tutor or your language bookshop for advice on specialised language learning magazines if you are a beginner, or lower-intermediate.)

8. Watch DVDs. Films and TV series are a great source of vocabulary and idioms, and subtitles are a fantastic resource. At the beginner stage, try watching in your native language (say, English) and read the subtitles in your target language (say, Spanish). Intermediates can watch in Spanish, with subtitles in English, and then finally subtitles in the Spanish, moving on to no subtitles at all. Choose wisely, though: you probably don't want to start with The Wire or The West Wing. Something visual like Friends can work well for this, especially because the episodes are short and the storylines are not too complex.

9. Speak to people! That is, after all, probably the point, isn't it? If you type in "Russian" and "London" to meetup.com, you will find there are at least seven groups that you can join or visit where you will be able to practise your language skills.

10. Exchange emails. Remember Pen Pals, from the days of snail mail? Mylanguageexchange.com helps you to find people with whom you can exchange email, and practise conversation that way.

11. Little and often is the key. Websites like Transparent.com will email or tweet you a new word or phrase each day in the language of your choice. (For those of us who still like using paper, you can also buy physical calendars.)

Then come back and let us know you get on!

Claire's West Wing article

Implausible as it may sound, I happen to know that someone googled "Claire Handscombe West Wing article" today. Sadly, they would have come up with nothing. Zero. Nada. Zilch.

Well, okay, not quite zilch. We'll call it zilch plus one. They would have come up with my west wing fan fiction, which is how I know they googled it the first place, but that's another story.

But they would not have found my article.

Which is sad. Tragic, almost.

So, dear fans, be disappointed no longer. (Fans of mine, or fans of the West Wing, who knows - or are the two synonymous these days? There go those delusions of grandeur again...)

By way of introduction and a quick plug, this article was written for a fantastic language-learning magazine called the MAG, which is available for advanced students of French, Dutch and English, and which I highly recommend, and not only for the penetrating insights shared by some of the contributors. (Ahem. Those delusions again...) Not even just for my dulcit tones which make an occasional appearance on the accompanying CD.

I wanted to scan in the actual article, but both my computer and my technological powers have failed me, so for now text only will have to do.

So without further ado, here it is - written for an audience who have likely never heard of the amazing viewing experience that is my favo(u)rite TV show... but have hopefully now all been converted!


It’s ten years since the pilot episode of The West Wing was aired, but the TV show still inspires devotion that goes way beyond the norm for a television programme, and arguably with good reason. It informs and educates even the most politically ignorant, but never patronises. But that’s not all it does: it makes you laugh, cry, gasp and occasionally shout and perhaps throw things at your television.

The West Wing gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on in politics, in much the same way as ER does with hospitals, or the Wire with the legal world. As the name suggests, it is set in the West Wing of the White House, under the fictional (left-leaning, Democratic) President Bartlet, and features his family, senior staff, and other political types, such as journalists. Sound boring? Think again.

In the words of the late John Spencer, who played Leo (Chief of Staff and closest advisor to President Bartlet): “The West Wing is about human relationships, the backdrop is politics in the White House. But, basically, it's about ... these people who have worked together and formed complex friendships over the years.”

And these people are not just anybody. They are fantastically written, brilliantly portrayed, and complex. (Kudos to Aaron Sorkin, the creator and original writer, for that and so many things). It has been said that “in fiction, in order to engage our attention and sympathy, the central character must want and want intensely."; politicians at this level are deeply passionate people, and that is perhaps the key. This passion in the characters is intensely captivating – you find yourself rooting for them, crying with them, wanting to hug them. Of course, it does not hurt that several of them are rather attractive.

There are even a few love interests, subtly interwoven into the plot, and often doomed and difficult, most notably the smouldering romance between Josh Lyman and his devoted and highly capable assistant Donna Moss. The chemistry between them manages to gently simmer for seven seasons until... well, you’ll just have to watch it and see.

This show has everything you could possibly want from a television series: drama, humour, suspense, superlative acting from an amazing cast. The writing is fast paced and intelligent, with dozens of fantastic one-liners which fans delight in pulling out of their hats at any opportunity. The filming has also been deservedly praised, and the thoughtfully matched, often haunting music also merits a mention. Critical acclaim has been overwhelming, in the shape of 27 Emmy awards and many more nominations for individual actors, the casting as a whole, and various aspects of the writing, filming and music.

Whether you tune into the West Wing with a good grasp of American politics, or with no clue whatsoever, you will come away having learned something, whether it’s the meaning of an obscure Latin phrase such as “post hoc, ergo propter hoc” , or that there are only three words in the English language that start with “dw”. You will have been “ensorcelled” and “bewitched” by the characters (to quote one of them), the big themes, and the outstanding writing. You may even start planning a trip to America or writing fan fiction.

You risk losing a large chunk of your life to the West Wing if you cave to temptation and buy the boxed set of DVDs (currently priced at just under £50 on Amazon.co.uk, a bargain by any standards) . You may be hooked for life. You may never be the same again.

You have been warned.