I Named My French Coach After Two Women I'll Never Meet. Meet Tiana Picker

I Named My French Coach After Two Women I'll Never Meet. Meet Tiana Picker

Published: December 30, 2025 - 8 min read

A long, long time ago, I wrote about a French lady I found on Instagram, someone who spoke the way I dream of speaking French one day. Her name is Tiana Mayembe.

Recently, I found another lady on Instagram who speaks French just as beautifully and eloquently. Her name is Annabelle Picker.

Both of these women are role models for where I want to reach eventually with speaking French. So I combined their first and last names to create my French Eloquence Coach: Tiana Picker.

By doing this, every time I work with Tiana Picker, I am reminded of the women I am ultimately trying to sound like.

Who Is Tiana Picker?

Tiana is the person who reads your French script and immediately catches every gender agreement slip, every missing accent, and every fixed expression you mangled because you translated directly from English. She spent her existence studying what separates functional French from eloquent French, and she has made it her mission to close that gap for you. Tiana believes that eloquence is not a gift you are born with but a practice you commit to daily. She tracks your recurring errors with the precision of a language scientist and celebrates when patterns finally click. If you have ever wondered why your French sounds correct but not natural, Tiana already knows the answer: you have not yet internalized the rhythm. And she will help you find it.

Letting Tiana Introduce Herself

On par with the recent blog posts where I asked Alex Bennett and Oprah Winfrey to introduce themselves, I asked Tiana Picker to do the same. Here is the prompt I passed to her:

Tiana Picker, if you take a look at the Blog_Draft.txt file, you will see that I am writing a blog post about you. I want you to introduce yourself to my readers. Tell them more about what our workflow looks like. Cover all bases without being overly detailed. For instance, you don't need to specify exact file paths where you store the evaluation files you generate for me, but I do want you to tell them what your role is as my French Eloquence Coach, including what the ultimate goal of me working with you is. Include one to two snippets from the Instagram script you evaluated for me to help them understand the type of weaknesses you will be identifying in my writing. It is important that you be friendly as well, okay? Output your response here in the terminal.

Here is what she said (if the image is hard to read, I copied and pasted the text below it):

Meet Tiana Picker: Prisca's French Eloquence Coach

Bonjour! I am Tiana Picker, Prisca's dedicated French eloquence coach. My name pays homage to two remarkable women who inspire the approach I take: Tiana Mayembe, known for her motivational warmth, and Annabelle Picker, whose Harvard-caliber standards remind us that excellence is achievable through deliberate practice.

What I Do

My role is simple but rigorous: I help Prisca write French scripts for her Instagram, LinkedIn, and portfolio content that are grammatically flawless, naturally eloquent, and confidently assertive. Every script she drafts goes through a two-pass review process. First, I perform a thorough grammar check, catching every verb conjugation slip, gender agreement error, and missing accent. Then, I refine the style, transforming functional French into something genuinely eloquent.

A Glimpse at the Work

When Prisca submits a draft, I often find patterns she is still mastering. For instance, in a recent Instagram script, she wrote:

"J'ai le tendance de faire des excuses pour eviter d'enregistrement de videos"

This sentence contained three errors: "tendance" is feminine (la tendance, not le), "eviter" requires an infinitive after it (eviter d'enregistrer, not d'enregistrement), and the accents were missing throughout. Another common challenge appears with fixed expressions:

"petite a petite"

The correct form is "petit a petit" with the accent on the second "a" and it never changes for gender since it is a fixed expression.

These are not failures but rather natural waypoints on the path to fluency. My job is to catch them, explain why the correction matters, and help Prisca internalize the patterns so deeply that she eventually stops making them.

The Ultimate Goal

Here is the truth I tell Prisca at every session: my goal is to make myself unnecessary. I track her progress meticulously, noting which errors recur and which have disappeared, celebrating when her subjunctive usage becomes instinctive, and pushing her when she plays it safe with vocabulary. The day she writes a script I cannot improve will be a victory for both of us.

Until then, we practice. Because eloquence is not a gift. It is a practice. Let us practice.

The Full Evaluation: First Pass and Second Pass

Now that Tiana has introduced herself, I am going to add something a little extra in this blog post. I will show you exactly what the first pass and second pass documents contain. These are documents that Tiana Picker created when evaluating my most recent French script, which I am yet to record a video for (I plan to get it done today).

First Pass: Grammar Corrections

Original Draft

Alors, J'ai le tendance de faire des excuses pour eviter d'enregistrement de videos de francais. Mais c'est trop important pour moi de parler francais spontainement. Donc c'est important pour moi d'ecrire et de parler des choses, meme des betises choses chaque jour pour m'ameliorer.

Aujourd'hui, je n'ai pas trop a dire mais j'ai vu un post sur Substack qui represent comment je veux vivre a partir de moment que j'arrive a Montreal la prochaine annee. Il a dit beaucoup de choses mais je vais lire le premiere dix choses. Dans un autre video, je vais lire les autres choses petite a petite

Il est ecris en anglais mais je vais le ranconter en francais.

Il dit:

• Quitter le brainrot
• Ne pas suivre des trolls
• Lire des essays
• (Go down rabbit holes)
• (Have a calendar)
• Maintenir un list de que tu veux faire
• Lire des anciennes livres
• Regarder des anciennes (movies)
• Mettre ton portable en ne pas deranger
• marcher avec intentiionalite

Et oui, c'est la premiere dix choses que le post dit. Au revoir!

Grammar Corrections

Error 1: Article Gender - "la tendance"

• Original: "J'ai le tendance"
• Correction: "J'ai la tendance"
• Explanation: "Tendance" is a feminine noun in French. All nouns ending in "-ance" are feminine.
• Memory tip: Words ending in -ance/-ence are feminine (la danse, la science, la tendance).

Error 2: Article vs Infinitive Construction - "eviter d'enregistrement"

• Original: "pour eviter d'enregistrement de videos"
• Correction: "pour eviter d'enregistrer des videos"
• Explanation: After "eviter de," you need an infinitive verb, not a noun. The construction is "eviter de + infinitif."
• Memory tip: "Pour + verbe" and "eviter de + verbe" - both need infinitives, not nouns.

Error 3: Missing Accent - "francais"

• Original: "videos de francais" / "parler francais"
• Correction: "videos de francais" / "parler francais"
• Note: The cedilla on "c" (francais) is essential. Without it, it would be pronounced "fran-kais."
• Memory tip: The cedilla (c) makes "c" soft before a, o, u. Without it, "c" is hard like "k."

Error 4: Spelling - "spontainement"

• Original: "spontainement"
• Correction: "spontanement"
• Explanation: The correct spelling is "spontanement" (from "spontane").
• Memory tip: Base word is "spontane" + "-ment" = "spontanement"

Error 5: Missing Accents Throughout

• Original: "ecrire," "meme," "betises," "ameliorer"
• Correction: "ecrire," "meme," "betises," "ameliorer"
• Explanation: French accents change meaning and pronunciation. They are not optional.
• Memory tip: Practice typing with French keyboard or memorize accent patterns.

Error 6: Word Order - "betises choses"

• Original: "des betises choses"
• Correction: "des choses betes" OR "des betises"
• Explanation: "Betises" is already a noun meaning "silly things/nonsense." You cannot use it as an adjective before "choses." Either say "des betises" alone or "des choses betes" (silly things).
• Memory tip: In French, most adjectives come AFTER the noun (unlike English).

Error 7: Missing Accent - "a dire" / "a Montreal" / "a partir"

• Original: "je n'ai pas trop a dire," "a partir de moment," "a Montreal"
• Correction: "je n'ai pas trop a dire," "a partir du moment," "a Montreal"
• Explanation: "a" (without accent) = "has" (verb avoir). "a" (with accent) = "to/at" (preposition).
• Memory tip: "Il a un chat" (he has) vs "Il va a Paris" (he goes to). The accent distinguishes meaning!

Error 8: Missing Article Contraction - "a partir de moment"

• Original: "a partir de moment que"
• Correction: "a partir du moment ou"
• Explanation: "de + le" contracts to "du." Also, the expression is "a partir du moment ou" (from the moment when), not "de moment que."
• Memory tip: de + le = du (always). The phrase is fixed: "a partir du moment ou..."

Error 9: Wrong Verb/Construction - "Il a dit"

• Original: "Il a dit beaucoup de choses"
• Correction: "Il mentionne beaucoup de choses" OR keep "Il dit" (present tense for describing written content)
• Explanation: When describing what a text says, use present tense: "Le post dit..." not "Il a dit" (which implies a person spoke in the past).
• Memory tip: Written texts "disent" (say) in the present, not "ont dit" (said).

Error 10: Gender Agreement - "le premiere dix choses"

• Original: "le premiere dix choses"
• Correction: "les dix premieres choses"
• Explanation: Multiple errors here: (1) "choses" is plural, so "les" not "le"; (2) "premier/premiere" must agree with the noun - "choses" is feminine plural, so "premieres"; (3) Word order should be "les dix premieres choses."
• Memory tip: Number + adjective order: "les dix premieres" (the first ten). Adjective agrees with noun in gender AND number.

Error 11: Gender of "video"

• Original: "un autre video"
• Correction: "une autre video"
• Explanation: "Video" is feminine in French ("une video").
• Memory tip: This is a common mistake because English has no gender. Memorize: "une video."

Error 12: Expression Error - "petite a petite"

• Original: "petite a petite"
• Correction: "petit a petit"
• Explanation: "Petit a petit" is a fixed expression meaning "little by little." It does not change for gender agreement - it stays masculine.
• Memory tip: Fixed expressions don't change: "petit a petit," "peu a peu" (never "petite a petite").

Error 13: Spelling - "ecris"

• Original: "Il est ecris"
• Correction: "Il est ecrit"
• Explanation: The past participle of "ecrire" is "ecrit" (masculine) or "ecrite" (feminine). "Ecris" is the first person present tense (j'ecris).
• Memory tip: Participe passe: ecrit/ecrite. Present: j'ecris, tu ecris, il ecrit.

Error 14: Spelling - "ranconter"

• Original: "je vais le ranconter"
• Correction: "je vais le raconter"
• Explanation: The verb is "raconter" (to tell/recount), not "ranconter."
• Memory tip: Ra-con-ter (no "n" before "c").

Error 15: Gender Agreement - "un list"

• Original: "un list de que tu veux faire"
• Correction: "une liste de ce que tu veux faire"
• Explanation: (1) "Liste" is feminine: "une liste." (2) "De que" is incorrect - use "de ce que" (of what).
• Memory tip: "Une liste" (feminine). "Ce que" = "what" (in relative clauses).

Error 16: Gender Agreement - "des anciennes livres"

• Original: "des anciennes livres"
• Correction: "de vieux livres" OR "d'anciens livres"
• Explanation: "Livre" is masculine, so "ancien" must be masculine: "d'anciens livres." Note: "vieux" is more natural here (old books). Also, "des" becomes "de" before an adjective: "de vieux livres."
• Memory tip: "Un livre" (masculine). Before adjectives, "des" becomes "de": de beaux livres, de vieux livres, d'anciens livres.

Error 17: Gender Agreement - "des anciennes (movies)"

• Original: "des anciennes (movies)"
• Correction: "de vieux films" OR "des films anciens"
• Explanation: "Film" is masculine. Same rule: "de vieux films" or "d'anciens films."
• Memory tip: "Un film" (masculine). Same pattern as livres.

Error 18: Expression - "en ne pas deranger"

• Original: "Mettre ton portable en ne pas deranger"
• Correction: "Mettre ton portable en mode 'ne pas deranger'" OR "Mettre ton portable sur silencieux"
• Explanation: You need "en mode" (in mode) before the phrase. Or use "sur silencieux" (on silent).
• Memory tip: Device settings use "en mode" + [mode name]: "en mode avion," "en mode silencieux."

Error 19: Spelling - "intentiionalite"

• Original: "intentiionalite"
• Correction: "intentionnalite"
• Explanation: Double "n," single "i," and accent on final "e": intentionnalite.
• Memory tip: Intention + -alite = intentionnalite (double n from "intention").

Error 20: Capitalization - "marcher"

• Original: "marcher avec intentionnalite"
• Correction: "Marcher avec intentionnalite"
• Explanation: This is a list item and should be capitalized for consistency.
• Memory tip: List items typically start with capital letters for parallel structure.

Error 21: Gender Agreement - "la premiere dix choses"

• Original: "c'est la premiere dix choses"
• Correction: "ce sont les dix premieres choses"
• Explanation: (1) Plural subject requires "ce sont," not "c'est." (2) See correction #10 for word order and agreement.
• Memory tip: "C'est" for singular, "ce sont" for plural.

Summary of Error Categories

Total Grammar Errors Identified: 21

Corrected Draft (Grammar Only)

Alors, j'ai la tendance de faire des excuses pour eviter d'enregistrer des videos en francais. Mais c'est trop important pour moi de parler francais spontanement. Donc c'est important pour moi d'ecrire et de parler des choses, meme des betises, chaque jour pour m'ameliorer.

Aujourd'hui, je n'ai pas trop a dire, mais j'ai vu un post sur Substack qui represente comment je veux vivre a partir du moment ou j'arriverai a Montreal l'annee prochaine. Il mentionne beaucoup de choses, mais je vais lire les dix premieres. Dans une autre video, je vais lire les autres petit a petit.

C'est ecrit en anglais, mais je vais le raconter en francais.

Il dit :

• Quitter le brainrot
• Ne pas suivre les trolls
• Lire des essais
• Explorer des sujets en profondeur
• Avoir un calendrier
• Maintenir une liste de ce que tu veux faire
• Lire de vieux livres
• Regarder de vieux films
• Mettre ton portable en mode "ne pas deranger"
• Marcher avec intentionnalite

Et oui, ce sont les dix premieres choses que le post mentionne. Au revoir !

Second Pass: Style Improvements

Enhancement 1: Opening - More Engaging Hook

Original: "Alors, j'ai la tendance de faire des excuses pour eviter d'enregistrer des videos en francais."

Improved: "Alors, je vais etre honnete avec vous : j'ai tendance a trouver des excuses pour eviter d'enregistrer des videos en francais."

Why more eloquent:

• "Je vais etre honnete avec vous" creates immediate intimacy and trust
• Direct address ("avec vous") engages the audience
• "Avoir tendance a" is more natural than "avoir la tendance de"
• Creates vulnerability, which builds connection

Delivery notes: [PAUSE] after "avec vous" - let the honesty land. Speak conversationally, like confiding in a friend.

Enhancement 2: Emphasizing Importance

Original: "Mais c'est trop important pour moi de parler francais spontanement."

Improved: "Mais parler francais spontanement, c'est essentiel pour moi."

Why more eloquent:

• Topic fronting ("parler francais spontanement") emphasizes what matters
• "Essentiel" is stronger and more sophisticated than "trop important"
• More concise and punchy
• Rhythmically satisfying

Delivery notes: [EMPHASIZE] "essentiel" - let the word carry weight. Slight [PAUSE] before "c'est essentiel."

Enhancement 3: Eliminating Repetition

Original: "Donc c'est important pour moi d'ecrire et de parler des choses, meme des betises, chaque jour pour m'ameliorer."

Improved: "Voila pourquoi je m'engage a ecrire et a m'exprimer chaque jour - meme pour dire des betises - afin de progresser."

Why more eloquent:

• "Voila pourquoi" is more elegant than "Donc"
• "Je m'engage" shows commitment and determination (assertive!)
• "M'exprimer" is more sophisticated than "parler des choses"
• Dashes around "meme pour dire des betises" create a parenthetical aside (stylish)
• "Progresser" is more dynamic than "m'ameliorer"

Delivery notes: [BUILDING] energy through the sentence. Smile on "meme pour dire des betises" - it's self-deprecating humor. [EMPHASIZE] "progresser" at the end.

Clean Final Script

Alors, je vais etre honnete avec vous : j'ai tendance a trouver des excuses pour eviter d'enregistrer des videos en francais.

Mais parler francais spontanement, c'est essentiel pour moi.

Voila pourquoi je m'engage a ecrire et a m'exprimer chaque jour - meme pour dire des betises - afin de progresser.

Aujourd'hui, je n'ai pas grand-chose a partager, mais j'ai decouvert un post sur Substack qui incarne parfaitement la vie que je veux mener des mon arrivee a Montreal l'annee prochaine.

Le post enumere de nombreux principes. Aujourd'hui, je vous partage les dix premiers - les autres viendront dans de prochaines videos.

C'est redige en anglais, mais je vais vous le partager en francais.

Il dit :

• Quitter le brainrot
• Ne pas suivre les trolls
• Lire des essais
• Explorer des sujets en profondeur
• Avoir un calendrier
• Tenir une liste de ce que l'on veut accomplir
• Lire de vieux livres
• Regarder de vieux films
• Mettre son telephone en mode silencieux
• Marcher avec intentionnalite

Voila les dix premiers principes. Qu'en pensez-vous ? Dites-moi en commentaires lequel vous parle le plus.

A bientot !

Progress Notes from Tiana

Scores

• Grammar Score: 4/10

  • 21 errors identified (significant for text length)
  • Gender agreement is the biggest challenge
  • Accent usage needs systematic attention
  • Some spelling errors
  • Article contractions need practice

• Style Score: 5/10

  • Good instinct for casual, conversational tone
  • Content idea is engaging (sharing a list, promising more)
  • Vocabulary is basic but functional
  • Structure needs work (repetition, weak transitions)
  • Call to action was minimal

• Overall Score: 4.5/10

  • This is a solid foundation for a first submission
  • The ideas are there; the French needs polishing
  • Shows willingness to be vulnerable (huge strength for content)
  • Room for significant improvement

Key Strengths

1. Authentic voice: Your willingness to admit struggle is compelling
2. Good content instinct: Sharing a Substack list, promising more content - this builds audience
3. Conversational tone: Natural flow, not stilted or overly formal
4. Self-awareness: Acknowledging the need to practice shows growth mindset

Key Areas to Improve

1. Gender agreement: This was the most frequent error category (6 instances). Need systematic practice.
2. Accents: Missing accents were pervasive. Consider using a French keyboard or accent guide.
3. Fixed expressions: "petit a petit," "en mode," "de ce que" - these need memorization.
4. Vocabulary elevation: Moving from basic words to more sophisticated choices.

Tiana's Notes

Prisca,

Bienvenue! This is a strong first submission. Not because the grammar is perfect (it's not), but because you showed up. You wrote. You submitted. That's the hardest part.

What I love:

• Your honesty about avoiding French videos - that vulnerability will connect with your audience
• Your content strategy (sharing lists, promising more) - smart engagement tactics
• Your willingness to "dire des betises" - this is the right mindset for learning

What we'll work on:

• Gender agreement is your biggest grammar challenge. This is extremely common for English speakers. We'll track this pattern.
• Accents matter. They're not decorative. Start building the habit now.
• Vocabulary elevation - you have the ideas, let's find more elegant words.

Remember: every error is a lesson. You made 21 grammar mistakes today. That means you learned 21 rules. By submission 10, we should see recurring errors decrease. By submission 25, grammar should feel more natural.

Your voice is there. Now let's polish it.

A la prochaine!

The Emotional Weight of 21 Errors

It is not exactly easy showing you how much I still struggle with French, as you can see from my first draft. Seeing a total of 21 errors identified, some in areas that I thought I had mastered, is frankly embarrassing.

I even struggled with translating a simple sentence like "Have a calendar." I knew what calendar meant in French. I know that "have" is represented by the verb "Avoir." Yet for some reason, my brain could not put them together to form a simple phrase.

But again, I have not been as consistent with my daily French writing, even on the French Writing Playground. This just means that I have to work harder, read more in French, and really prioritize writing more without any dictionaries or translation tools.

I really appreciated Tiana's encouraging words at the end of pass 2. Sometimes, this French journey feels like one that will never end. And maybe it will not. And that is okay. I just need to keep getting 1% better each day and let compounding do its thing.

I know that if I take the time to learn and study everything Tiana says for the posts I write, I would eventually get to where I want to and become a more natural French speaker. I am also moving to Montreal in a few days, so I plan to push myself there even more by putting myself in situations where I am forced to speak French. It will be scary, but it is necessary.

Why I Practice With Videos

I choose to practice recording videos because, just like I said when I introduced Oprah Winfrey, the goal is to eventually record videos of myself teaching concepts I have learned on LinkedIn and here on my portfolio. Since I still feel uncomfortable speaking in front of the camera and watching myself in a video, I plan to record as many short videos on Instagram just to beat that fear out of myself as fast as possible. I need to have multiple videos on LinkedIn before mid-February, ideally.

AI Agents That Make You Better

Oh well, that is all for this blog post. I hope you are starting to see that these AI agents do not have to replace you but can be tailored to make you better in any area of your life that you are looking to improve on.

If you want to talk more about setting up an agent for any of your personal or professional goals, reach out to me here!

Find Your Own Tutor Who Believes in You

The right tutor makes all the difference. If you are looking for someone who will push you and celebrate your wins, I recommend Preply. Use my referral link to get 70% off your first lesson.

As always, thanks for reading!