I Am Proud Of My Friend

I met Stéphane a couple of years ago via a language exchange website.  He was trying to improve his English and I was trying to improve my French, and we began weekly conversations via Skype.

Stéphane lives near St-Rémy so we were able to meet up during our trip here last spring.  Up to that point we had only seen each other’s disembodied heads on the computer screen.  It was kind of funny for each of us to see that the other actually had a body with arms and legs and all.

We got together several times and a warm friendship developed.  After Val and I returned to the US, Stéphane and I continued our Skype calls.  Then on this trip, we’ve seen him and his family several times, including a day of hiking together.

I’m really impressed with Stéphane.  He’s trying to improve his job prospects and learning English can help.  But it isn’t easy to learn a new language as an adult.  And he doesn’t have the advantage that I have, being immersed in it for several months a year.

So what he has done is connected with English-speakers around the world – England, Ireland, Wales, the US – and he talks to us by Skype.  He does it several times a week while holding down a full-time job.  It’s really something to see his motivation and the hard work he puts in. 

And what progress he has made!  He is far from fluent but he can now comfortably carry on a conversation.  And this has opened up new job opportunities.

A few weeks ago he started interviewing with the French subsidiary of a large German company.  While most of the work is in French, communications with headquarters must be in English.  His big test was last week when he had his final interview, this one with the French branch manager.

The guy was aggressive, trying to see how Stéphane would react to stress, and kept pounding away with one hard question after another.  Then at one point he decided to throw a curve ball and switched to English.   

But Stéphane, who speaks English regularly, didn’t miss a beat.  He replied right away, and they continued in English until Stéphane used a word the branch manager didn’t know.  That forced the guy to ask for an explanation, which must have been embarrassing because he switched back to French.

The punch line:  Stéphane got the job!  He starts in a few weeks and couldn’t be happier.  I’m really proud of him.

But he’d better be ready – the first week of training is all in English.

KVS