Traveling to Paris? A Must Read Before you Go

Feb 19

“Bonjour mes beautés. Today we have the phrase, “Joie de vivre” or the joy of life.” - the opening remark from Carrie Anne James in her French is Beautiful Daily Pronunciation email.

Are you planning a trip to Paris? Do you consider yourself a Francophile? Does your heart fill with energy when you think about les macarons or la Tour Eiffel? Have you always wanted to perfect your pronunciation of your favorite French fashion houses?

If you answered yes to one or all of the above, we have something in common, and I need to share one of my favorite resources to help you prepare for your [next] immersion into Parisian culture, French is Beautiful, by Carrie Anne James.

Prior to my most recent trip to Paris I discovered Carrie Anne James while browsing Instagram in search for French inspiration. I found her Instagram posts to not only be super cute, but her featured beautiful French words or phrases were inspirational, showing that folks like us could learn French more easily. I quickly decided to check out her website: www.frenchisbeautiful.com

Carrie Anne is an American Parisienne, who studied at U.C. Berkeley, among other schools, and possesses a superb grasp of the French language. She is deeply in touch with the parts of French that often cause intimidation and can initially be hard to absorb. As a result, her French lesson magic was born.

After browsing her page, I immediately signed up for her French Is Beautiful Daily Pronunciation email and shortly thereafter, my relationship with French changed for the best. (I studied Spanish for 6 years and had to start training my brain to stop thinking first in Spanish.) Carrie Anne also offers a variety of courses and intensives and is available for private coaching.

There are two killers aspects to Carrie Anne’s approach that differentiate her from other French lessons I’ve found on the market. First, she develops lessons around seasonally relevant phrases or words or themes that are equally beautiful as they are relevant. Second, when she is teaching the pronunciation of the phrases or words it feels like she’s sitting right there with you - giving you time to try the words on your own, pacing perfectly.

In addition, because Carrie Anne has her lessons linked to a Soundcloud account, you’re also able to create your own, download the app on your mobile device, follow her Soundcloud account and listen again and again to review at your own pace. I review each word every day of the week, jotting it down in my Passion Planner (which I will wrote more about later on), and when the weekend rolls around, I go back through the week’s list and practice all the words - re-reading each, pronouncing them repeatedly, and listening carefully in order to develop my ear to better identify the sounds for conversation.

If you are planning to visit the City of Lights for the first time or the fifth time, jump on Carrie Anne’s site and sign up for the French is Beautiful Daily Pronunciation now. It’s not only worth it, as soon as you touch down in Paris, you will immediately feel LA JOIE DE VIVRE.

Gros Bisous,

Taryn ♥︎