Today I had my 3rd ever job interview in French.
To those people who are fluent in French, it’s like, yeah, whatever.
But for me, it’s the achievement of a dream that I never thought would come true.
And to add a delicious layer of icing on top – the interview was held over the phone, on a line that was really bad, and the interviewer had a cold and a cough.
Anyone who is starting to learn a language will understand the torture of trying to understand someone when speaking on the phone. Even if you’re fine talking to people face to face, the telephone really lowers the clarity of the voice (sounds like talking under water) and you lose all facial expressions and body language which give clues to the meaning of the sentence and when its your turn to speak.
Talking to someone on a mobile phone, well, sometimes it’s better to just text.
So for me to have a job interview, in French, on the phone, with someone in Switzerland, with a cold, AND I understood everything they said, and they understood everything I said…..BINGO!
It’s the kind of event that really motivates me to keep going with my French, to keep learning, to keep improving. It makes up for all those times when I think I’ll never get it, when I think I’m going backwards, when I think about giving up.
So, yep, in reality, I’ve got no chance of getting the job. I’ve got the right skills, qualifications, experience: but I dont have the right to work in France (which is sure to put off her client) and the role involves reviewing lots of documents in French and being the key contact with French regulatory bodies. So not only does this require advanced French skills, it also requires knowledge of the legal and financial terminology in French. I’m just no-where near that yet.
But would I have even tried for a job like that 6 months ago? No way.
Today was a long-shot, but so much closer than before.
So I’m going to celebrate the success of my failure!
Hurrah!
(Now, lets hope there’s still a bottle of champagne from our trip to Epernay in the fridge….)