I’m not sure where this myth of the rude Parisian comes from. To me they were polite, gracious and helpful. Or perhaps it was because I tried to communicate with them in their language. (Imagine if a French visitor to your American hometown insisted on talking to you only in French, not English. How would you feel?) And rather than being rude about my imperfect speaking attempts, the French treated me with gratitude, respect and amusement.

For my money, the best language-learning tool is Pimsleur Audio. (I’ve used it to learn Japanese, Italian and Spanish as well.) It’s pricey but effective. You can try the video above for Lesson 1, but put it at 480p for better sound. You listen to each lesson in half-hour chunks while you’re commuting, so don’t have to set up a special time for your lesson. This makes it more likely that you’ll finish the course. You may learn only a few words each time, but each effort builds on the previous one, so you slowly develop fluency. You won’t be quoting Moliere, but you’ll know enough to make reservations, shop, order in restaurants and generally get by in French.