Each year, thousands of men from all over the world join the French Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère). Most come for adventure. Some for a better life. Many to earn a French passport.

But no matter their reason for enroling, ALL candidates must accomplish one key thing by the end of basic training if they want to receive any of the Légionnaire perks: learning enough French to function as a soldier!

It turns out that most of these men arrive at the recruitment center in France unable to speak a lick of French, and yet manage to get fluent enough in mere months to understand orders, describe the workings of their HK416F service rifle, and have conversations with fellow Légionnaires.

So how do they learn so fast? And what can we nonLégionnaires learn from their method? These are precisely the questions I answer in this video.

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CORRECTIONS:

The troops are speaking Portuguese, not French, at 1:16.

The image at 3:30 is from a Commemoration of the Battle of Camarón by the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment at the Roman Theatre of Orange.

A final "r" is missing from the end of « l'extérieur » at 13:10.

Luciano says « boule de feu » ("ball of fire"), not "bowl of fire" at 19:49.

⏱ TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Intro
00:59 What is the French Foreign Legion?
01:57 Enrolment
02:22 The Test
03:15 The School
04:41 The Classroom
07:02 The Instructor
08:28 The Method
13:00 The Francophone
13:33 Punishment
16:57 Dialects
18:20 Homework
20:54 Competence in French
23:05 The Schedule
24:33 Immersion
26:06 In the Field
26:41 Bastille Day
27:09 Advice from a Légionnaire

SOURCES & ATTRIBUTIONS:

Wikipedia contributors. "French Foreign Legion." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 1 Dec. 2021. Web.

Official French Foreign Legion account on Instagram (@legionetrangereofficiel)
  / legionetrangereofficiel  

Unofficial French Foreign Legion account on Instagram (@frenchforeignlegion)
  / frenchforeignlegion  

“HK416.jpg” by Dybdal is licensed under CC BYSA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

“ORANGE Camerone2010.jpg” by Jeanlouiszimmermann is licensed under CC BYSA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

“Democratic Republic of the Congo (orthographic projection).svg” by Connormah is licensed under CC BYSA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

“EUBelgium.svg” by NuclearVacuum is licensed under CC BYSA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons