Need to improve my French - quickly!

[WartOrNot]

Eek! Work have just told me they need me to go to France as part of a group delegation this summer, because I speak French and the other colleagues chosen for this trip don't. But my French is really, I mean really, rusty. I was once fluent, but have barely used it in decades.

My understanding is good enough that I can read a newspaper.

What's the best way to quickly improve my speaking? Quickly and discreetly!

Come clean and tell your work that your French is rusty and ask them to fund a short intensive course. If not, see if you can find an online tutor to practice speaking with.
I lost my spoken French during Covid time as I used to speak it every day. I can still read and understand people speaking, just replying is hard. I try to do a little practice everyday with colleagues.

Do you need to speak (fluently) and present or mostly listen?

If you had fluent French it will come back fairly quickly. If you can to done kind of immersion it will help.

Italki is quite good,

https://www.italki.com/en?utmsource=googleeads&utmmedium=search&utmmcampaign=searchbranddenitalkiiESWAU&utmmcontent=brand&gadsource=1&gbraid=0AAAAADuA8crR8Y6GxEINU6GN2lxJoQ4q9&gclid=Cj0KCQiAqL28BhCrARIsACYJvkcKeiwOlgwP86Bj967mu03hUXwSNO2FYP9YpIl1RPeFMh30bzVzSgoaArF6EALwwwcB

Agree with asking work to fund a course.
I would also:

• Listen to French podcasts/radio everyday
• Watch French films/series on TV (lots of good ones on Netflix)
• Read French newspapers online
• Do Duolingo every day
• Look into one of those language conversation apps where you practise language skills online with a native speaker

I agree with all of this. Immerse yourself as much as you can and it will come back to you.

On holidays in France I've felt very uncertain conversing at the start, but confident by the time we come home. The vocab's all in there, I just need reminders on the rules and quirks.

Chat GPT would be good for this. Use a prompt like:

Act as a native French speaker. I used to be fluent in French but haven't practised for years, so I'm really rusty. I need to brush up on my conversational skills for <what you need it for> so can we talk about <xyz> in French?

Personally I would read GPTs messages out loud to practice both your reading comprehension (which is already pretty good from what you've said) but also your verbal comprehension (it'll engage your listening skills even reading out loud and get you in the groove), then formulate a response verbally, before then writing back. This should get all four skills engaged at the same time.

I've done this for Spanish and it works really well.

Another vote for italki.
You need to get talking and it will come flooding back.

I've never heard of italki. Thanks, I will look into it.

ChatGPT sounds a clever idea. Another one to look into.

As for work funding a course - nope, not going to happen.

Can you find an online tutor? I have one for French and it’s inexpensive.

I would love to help you, may I send you a direct message?