I’m a lover of games and I am not alone… ask a French person if they fancy a game of cards and they will be there like a shot! You won’t believe how you can test your knowledge and your French, surprise yourself and have a go! The only difference is the language on the board or card! It’s not as difficult as you might think…

Monopoly

What greater way to learn a few basic phrases like «Allez en prison» and  «Départ». If you can afford it you could take yourself shopping on «Rue de la Paix» via the «Avenue des Champs Elysées» whilst trying, in vain, to avoid paying «Taxe de Luxe». Of course, alternatively, you could just purchase the the odd «gare» or «compagnie» and wait for the «loyer» to roll in whilst whizzing around comfortably with your sports «voiture» hoping that you can soon afford a nice «hôtel» or two…

Scrabble

Now here is a great way to push the limits on vocabulary although you may well need the dictionary just in case ! Give the tiles a good shuffle and discover words you never even knew. Does it sound French, does it look French ? The dictionary will have the answers for you. Look it up and see what you can find. And Always remember that it you have a cheeky streak you can always challenge someone to a French/English game and use up all those high scoring tiles that come with the French scrabble board on the English words before they notice for a guaranteed win… Don’t forget, K, W, X, Y and Z = 10 unlike on the English game where you get a mere 2 for a Y and a mediocre 5 for the K!

Dr Marboul

Well, didn’t we all have a game of Operation as a child, certainly most of us would have played it at some point in our lives. Those electric tweezers that were required to extract various body parts from the patient without setting off his red buzzer! Dig around with a steady hand for the «Pomme d’Adam» and if you’re still hungry get down into the pit of his tummy for the «tranche de brioche»!! And if you find yourself with water on the knee or «eau dans le genou» you can always just laugh it off by having a go at the « os rigolo » AKA funny bone!

So as you can see, it’s not so difficult, it’s not so different, we all have played these games, we already know the English… get to grips with the very basics and see where it takes you! Learning French is as easy as Monopoly or Dr Marboul and it’s for everyone.

Why learn French? So that you can play scrabble in two languages, of course! Learn it here!