Does the idea of learning French make you shiver? You are not alone! In today’s edition, we ask readers to give us their very best tips on learning French!
Whether you have improved your French with audio CDs, a tutor, or by participating in an intensive program–we would love to benefit from your experience. Thank you for using the comments box to share helpful ideas for language learning.
To improve your French did you use flash cards? Do you watch French films? Do you carry around a pocket-size French-English dictionary? Subscribe to the French version of Reader’s Digest? Do you attend a local French meet-up? Welcome exchange students to your home? Do you fall asleep to French music in hopes your subconscious will record it all by memory? Do you secretly follow Francophones at the mall, like I used to do?
Click here to read or to submit a BEST TIP FOR LEARNING FRENCH!
Thanks for forwarding this post to a language-learner who might be inspired by the many excellent ideas submitted by readers.
Thanks for keeping my book, Words in a French Life, in mind as a language tool. Here’s a review:
With its innovative and entertaining way of teaching the finer points of French, Espinasse’s memoir will be popular with travelers and expats alike. –Publishers Weekly
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This is slightly unorthodox but I found one of the best ways to gain a level of comfort in speaking was to debate with native speakers. When involved in a passionate debate I didn’t think about speaking perfectly, I just jumped in spontaneously to voice my opinions.
No matter what errors I might have made, I always felt a great fluency in the moment. Generally my friends corrected me if I made an egregious mistake but didn’t interrupt the flow of conversation.
It really helped me get over that dreaded self-consciousness and translated to greater confidence in general conversation.
Would love to know about various immersion programs in France, and in various locations.
That seems like the route for me!
thanks for ALL THE GOOD TIPS.
Learn French with a song a day. Teacher sends students a line by line copy of lyrics in French and an English translation underneath each line. Students watch and hear music-videos, and are instructed to lip-synch or sing along, thereby copying the rythems, timbres. intonations,of the native speakers. They are also responsible for looking up words in each song in an online dictionary. I like the Oxford Univesity Press, availanle in several languages. Start with > introducing the È and the dipthong OI. Follow with > introducing the (nomal) e as sung and pronouced, and as spoken. Follow with > and > adding the nasal OIN and ON and so on. Ten minutes a day.ebery day< to brush your mind with spoken French. Now go find up whats up with Kristin, Jean-Marc, Braise & co. Drink a glass of red Wine. and dream of retiring to St. Cecile-les Vignes.!
The songs did not post. In my example first songs were “Äprès Moi”,Ëartha Kitt; Äuprès de ma blonde”, nursery rhyme; “Lui et Toi”,Alizée; and “Ët Moi Dans Don Coin”, Charles Aznavour.
Sent by request to an email.
I subscribe to the tv channel TV 5 Monde, USA and keep it on as much as possible, in particular the news programs and of course the subtitled cinema is always fun. But what really helps are the game shows which feature word play and the children’s cartoons for their more simplistic and humorous approach.
These are wonderful suggestions!
I also downloaded an app for my iPhone, a dictionary “Accio French English Dictionary” that was very handy during my last trip. I’d read the French in a museum, etc. and easily look up words I didn’t know.
If anyone has found an app for verb tenses, I’d be interested. So far I haven’t seen one that looks easy to use.
I am attending weekly French conversation classes with a group of 6-8. It’s very helpful as well as enjoyable. I also found the Michel Thomas tapes extremely good, especially for understanding – and learning to use – correct grammar. I have also recently downloaded the Larousse dictionary on to my Ipad and found that the ease of access made it much more likely that I look up words when i’m reading in French.
I was raised by bilingual parents who were very proud of their knowledge of both English and French. Our first language was French but we learned English once we were in school and old enough to mix with the Anglophones on our streets. (I was raised in Western Canada where English is the language for everything.)I was the only one of us five girls who married a man from Montreal who had a beautiful french name but could not speak the language. After 37 years of married life I was tongue-tied when I had to speak to unilingual Francophones until I remembered “La Bonne Chanson” which is a collection of french folksongs in which there is a lot of repetition. Most are very lively and require a lot of mouthing to get the proper pronunciation…. I found the exercice excellent and my accent has returned to an acceptable level. If there is a French Book store or music store in your area check it out. I find that the mouthing of the french words is the greatest drawback to feeling comfortable in speaking out…..Open your jawbones and let your tongue sing….
VOCABULARY. The spaced repetition system is the way to learn vocabulary. The principle is that you can memorize a word (or a fact or a date), but if you don’t revisit it regularly, you won’t retain it. Spaced repetition started out as a paper-based flash card system, but now there are various computer programs. The one I use is Mnemosyne, a free download from http://www.mnemosyne-proj.org/, where you can also read about memory research and the efficacy of spaced repetition. You enter the vocabulary (if you have lists in Excel or Word, you can import them). The system shows you the English, you say the word in the target language, and then check to see if you were right. Depending on how quickly you were able to respond, you assign the word a value: 0=you didn’t know it at all, through recognizing it but not able to come up with it, to knowing it but with a struggle, to 5= got it and will likely now retain it. Those values (which change as you become more familiar with the word) tell the system how often to repeat the particular word in your sessions.
The key is to use the computerized flash cards EVERY day. Ten minutes a day every day is better than an hour once a week.
If you have kids who need to learn dates, world capitals, U.S. presidents, monarchs of England, or other fact-based things, Mnemosyne would be great for them too.
Just discovered your blog and it’s super! This comment arrives a bit late but mieux tard que jamais.
When I first arrived in France I was plunged in the deep end and not allowed to speak English. Best way even if frustrating. My best way forward was to just blurt out words (I know this sounds silly) without thinking of the grammar and of mistakes. Be prepared to make tons of mistakes and sound silly since it’s the way you learn fast!
20 yrs later, I still make mistakes and my kids now correct me. I love trying out things that work in English and literally translate them into French. Sometimes it works and it’s great. Other times it just makes people realise you have a British sense of humour 😉
For me learing french would be amazing. I speak very little French, but the little i do know I know from worksheets with the english, french and pron.
I love this resource: http://www.learner.org/resources/series83.html
You can watch these short videos online for free.
I really like the podcast Coffee Break French. There are other podcasts and resources on iTunesU. You can also watch Disney shows in French (Je crois que c’est disney.fr). I also have sticky notes around with the words for the objects in French (la balai, la douche, le lit, etc.). I’m trying to read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in French (although I’m not always sure what it says) and keep a little notebook of some new words/phrases from various places. About.com has a mot du jour as well as other lessons. I also like to talk to my pets in French….they don’t seem to mind if I say the wrong thing or have a heavy accent 🙂
It doesn’t hurt that I have a great French teacher too 🙂 J’adore le français!
You can also set your Facebook to french.
This has been the most useful site, thank you so much. I enjoy the french word a day, and I’ve taken up some of the very useful suggestions about improving my French. french.yabla.com and Busuu.com have been the most useful to me so far, and I’ve just started trying out coffeebreakfrench.com, which I think would be the most useful if you were a complete beginner, and especially if you were more interested in getting by in spoken french for a holiday. I’ve had to skip quite far forward to find a point where I’m progressing my knowledge rather than covering ground I already know, the podcasts are quite similar in style – with a scottish accent – to Michel Thomas. You can try out all these sites for free, the only one so far that I’ve subscribed to is Yabla. I like the videos, and hope they will “tune” my french ear.
I learned french is highschool, and I am currently realizing how useful it is for other languages,particularly now that I am learning spanish, but I know it is also relatively similar to Italian, that is the next one on my list. I mean, I know they are not the same, but they are definitely more similar than english.
great site, I will share it with my oomates on facebook, merci!!
I’m another chronic student of French–and adore our French Word-a-Day communiques. Can anyone suggest best ways to learn French while in Paris or elsewhere in France? (An apartment swap may let me temporarily live there.) Milles mercis! Peg
When I studied Spanish in high school we chose two Spanish songs on record (dates me) We were to listen to the songs several times and write down what we believed we heard. We then compared the lyrics to the English translations until we were confident we understood what was being said. Then we were to go back and listen to songs without the aid of the translations. It was a great tool for me. I see no reason why it would not work for French as well. (My French teachers didn’t use the technique.)
I decided to learn French to speak to the family or my step daughter. I had studied French 30 years ago or so in High School and college. In those days you had to pass a foreign language. I was never fluent or even close. I knew that a class would not do it. Going to France was not an option. So I decided to create my own immersion. One of my goals was to not spend a lot of money. “Je n’aime pas dépenser beaucoup d’argent” was one of the phrases from the Penton CD’s.
Ma France from the BBC.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/mafrance/
A series of short videos with subtitles in French and English which can be turned of and on. Filmed in and around Lyon.
Penton International, “Learn French in Your Car” A set of 9 CD’s. I have listened to them hundreds of time over the last 3 years. Trying for immersion. This has helped with pronunciation. Chien is truly different from chaîne. En sounds the same as an, etc. And oh those r’s. The e in venir.
cont. I seem to have a lot to say
I did livemocha for awhile that was ok, but slow going.
Mixxer
http://www.language-exchanges.org/
I found two friends with whom I speak by Skype once a week. One in France and one in Guyane. France is 6 hours ahead by the way. I got the time backward for our first meeting. I returned for a play at midnight and logged in to check my email in case there were any changes. Dominique was online. She had got up at 6 in the morning. I told my wife I can’t come to bed now I need to talk to a woman in France. I have not yet heard the end of that yet. Patricia is only two hours ahead making weekday conversations possible
Have a coworker from Senegal. As many have said always be on the look out for french being spoken.
Acoustic on tv5.org. This is an unplugged like show of francophone musicians. There are always short interviews.
http://www.rfi.fr journal en français facile. It still does not sound that facile to me.
I second http://www.meetup.com. Our group is a great aid.
“L’actu en Patates” Someone said that understanding humor is the most difficult part of learning a another language. I found this bande dessiné in which all the characters are potatoes. It takes as its subject French politics and cultural life. There are commentaries by readers.
http://vidberg.blog.lemonde.fr/
A second for French in Action
read Le Monde or other online newspapers
Google translate – almost always wrong but often helpful
Use a french online dictionary http://www.le-dictionnaire.com
French/English http://www.wordreference.com
Apple iPod cast DailyFrenchPod, I have subscribed for the free feed. I have not paid for the additional services, sorry Louis. A variety of different lessons. Louis explains things very clearly after saying them at a normal pace.
cont. and even more!
We did go to Lyon. No one asked me to stop speaking French, so I count it as a success. Someone from my meetup.com group told me the most useful think that I used on my trip. Always greet the people in stores when you enter. “Bonjour”. When asking for help start with “Bonjour, s’il vous plait.” End by saying “Bonne journée”. Kind of like what your mother told you, “Use the magic words.” When we were leaving France we were at CDG. I was buying water a the snack bar in the airport. There was a long line that never seemed to get smaller. I reached the woman at the counter, said “Bonjour”, paid for my water. She said “Bon voyage.” to me, to each customer in fact. So I said “bonne journée”. She stopped. She seemed a little startled. Then an a great smiled came over here face and she said, “Également à vous.”
Mistakes are your friends. You only make them if you are trying.
Someday I will recount being the interpreter in the bra store, avec ou sans fil.
Courage à tous.
Papaguitar
Wow, so many comments! My favorite way to learn is to listen to music – especially anything by Aldebert! His “Enfantillages” CD is “for kids” but not really. Great songs. All of his lyrics are fantastic, interesting – and good vocabulary. I leave a dictionary on my car seat so I can look up words every time I’m stopped at a traffic light. And singing along helps too – imitating the accent. I also love the “Petit Nicolas” books – fun and funny and quite easy vocabulary. Of course, the best way would be to move to France for six months and have to speak it every day!
Love your blog! I hear the best way to learn French is to find a french man… That option is out for me though so next option is friends who dont speak english. We’ll see how far I get!
I have found 2 ways to learn French: Michel Thomas — beginning French via Amazon. I love him, and I can now put together some sentences.
I took 101 & 102 French at the Alliance Francais in Portland, OR. I learned a lot, and it is a great organization.
And I think the most important way is to start speaking. So instead of a French friend, my cat is now bilingual.
I plan to go to the Alliance Francais in Paris — I want to attend their immersion class. I’m going for my birthday in March, 2012!
Hi Guys, I am going to take a chance and “reverse” the request here – Could someone give me advice on the easiest way to learn the “irregular” verbs or the ways that you found successful ?
Many thanks. John
I use just about every tool I can, which includes parallel text books, strictly French books (with a French/English dictionary), Google Translate, watching at least one French movie a week, listening to French music A LOT, reading lemonde.fr and other French news sites, listening to French radio online, getting emails from sites like this and about.com’s French Language subscription service, etc. BUT, about the best tool I’ve found so far and it’s not expensive, is Yabla.com. This is the next best thing to immersion (which I would do if I could afford it). They have a trial on their site so you can try it out before subscribing. I use it every day and really am improving dramatically.
Tchao!
Oh! By the way, I learned about this site by using Yabla, since one of the videos mentioned it.
What varied and wonderful ideas for ways to learn French. I’m curious: has anyone had experience with the magazine Bien-Dire? It contains written and audio information about current events, culture, etc. It is advertised in FRANCE magazine, for $150 for 6 issues. Not inexpensive, but if it’s worth it for improving both written and listening understanding, then perhaps it’s priced appropriately.
There is another great source of videos free on a web site called French in Action. There are 52 30 minute videos. The course was published from Yale 30 years ago but it is very interesting and progresses from beginner. The text books and worknbooks are also available
Hugh MacKay
Don’t forget Téléfrancais on You Tube! I bought Fluenz French 1-5 but French 1 & 2 are narrated by a non-native speaker. I just bought Jean de Florette & Manon des Sources on 1 dvd from Amazon for $11 (great movies in French). Skype with French people for language exchange. I bought the entire collection of Sex in the City and watch it in French every night before I go to bed. I have read, and plan to re-read, a book I loved in Jr. High called Flowers in the Attic (Fleurs Captives). I also try to read Steven King books in French and bought most of the Nancy Drew books on Amazon (from France or Belgium). French in Action is excellent and all episodes on dvd can be bought on eBay for $60. I also bought Speedlingua for pronunciation ($100 for one year). You can try Tell Me More French online for one week free of charge (unlimited usage and access to all levels) on their website but I only tried it twice. There are also subliminal French dvds but I’ve never tried them. Just thought I’d throw some new ideas out there.
We will be in Paris in Sept. We have been several times and hope to continue our journies there for longer periods of time. We will have an apartment in Sept. and I’m planning to attend a French language school. I am looking at Accord. Can anyone give me some insight into this school?
Madrigal’s Magic Key to French is a book that is out of print and is selling for $100-$200 on Amazon and eBay. The Spanish book is still in print and there are over 120 (5-star) positive reviews on Amazon. I found a PDF FREE version of the entire French book online at this site (you do NOT need to pay for an upgrade to download this, it is FREE):
filefactory.com/file/cd4aacf/n/MadrigalFrench.pdf
It was written by a woman who owned and operated a language school and is reportedly what inspired Michel Thomas’ teaching methods.
I’ve just started the book but so far have found it to be the most helpful one I’ve ever read. It starts off at the absolute beginning but I believe it is for students of all levels. Might be worth a look.
Pimsleur Conversational French, checked out from the library, is amazing!!
Hi all!
Although this post is quite old, I’d like to give a tip for those there are already in intermediate/advanced level.
http://www.canalplus.fr is a website with all tv emissions (i’m not sure from which French TV channel, but I don’t think it really matters).
There’s so much content, you could spend months watching everything there and they’re updated daily, which means u can watch sth that went on air today in France.
There’s a little bit of everything movies, series, documentaries
There are no subtitles available, so I think for begginners, it could be a little bit frustrating, but maybe could be good to practice listening concerning accents, pronounciation and sounds.
Also, it helps a lot cause we know French material isn’t something you find all the time on TV (appart from TV5).
I’m not sure it’s available in all countries (I’m quite sure last year I tried to watch sth there and I couldnt cause my IP wasnt ‘french’.)
Hope someone reads this and enjoys this website as much as I do.
Mariana.
For learning vocabulary David J. James’s Gold List Method is amazing:
http://huliganov.tv/goldlist-eu/
I also recommend the bimonthly “Bien-Dire” audio magazine:
http://www.editions-entrefilet.fr/Bien-dire/
and Yabla for shortish video clips which you can use in many different ways:
http://french.yabla.com/
Still think Pimsleaur is the best! Cheaper then a college course and it is always there. Just wish it had more then 3 levels. But when I go to France I can speak about almost anything and the best is they know I am now French but because of how Pimsleaur teacheds they really are not sure of where I am from. It help a great deal with your pronaciation.
I make a list of all the phrases that I use on a daily basis, for example: asking the cat if he would like something to eat; or “I wonder if the mailman has come yet”; or “Oh no, it’s raining again”; and, “now where did I leave it, don’t tell me that I have lost it again!”
Having compiled the list I get help translating it, and then start using it everyday instead of the English. Once I have them down pat, I make up another list.
I’m sure that the vet thinks that I am nuts for speaking to the cat in French, but I don’t care. lol
Let’s face it folks and just accept it, we are not talking about learning Spanish or Italian. French is super tough to learn. The only way I learned was by moving to France. I enrolled at Ecole Inflexyon in Lyon France. Only French was allowed to be spoken. I lived in Lyon for 3 months, and my writing and verbal skills really started to come together. I can tell you from personal experience, that just because you are Spanish or Italian, French does not come any easier, as they struggled just as much as the people from USA and Great Britain. To be honest, if you are only taking a few classes in your home town in USA, it may take you years to learn French. But if this is your only way, good luck, and keep studying the grammar over and over.
I work all day restoring our house alone and only speak French while out walking the dog and a few times a month when we are invited to French friends for dinner.
I actually spoke better French five years ago when we were here only for the summers as I studied in Sweden all winter. But living here now full time ? As I say 10 hours a day slinging chaux and such leaves me little time for socializing. House is looking good though.
It is one thing to learn French, and another to learn French culture. One can easily learn the language, though interaction with the French, with their ‘rules’ is another thing.
Most people who learn how to speak a language, do not take the time to learn the subtleties of manners, etiquette, or culture.
One can take the American out of America, but not the American out of the American.
Wow, such good suggestions! But not one has mentioned my method, which is to mentally translate every thought. It has kept me bilingual for many years, after 6 years in Quebec, ending in 1953. That and keeping in touch with inlaws and determination. As my belle mere said, I am tenace.
KRISTIN, you are doing a wonderful job.
I’ve been watching TinTin on youtube. Easy French,clear short sentences.
A great app is Duolingo. Download to iPhone and practice when you have a minute. Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions here. I am inspired
I started learning French at 60 years of age as an anglophone from Canada who could not say one word of French. I am in Paris now for a six weeks and we attend every session of Franglish (wonderful 15 minute sessions of 7 minutes in each language then switch partners. You meet six different people in a natural setting (a bar..no romance. ) Also, find a language partner at http://www.mylanguageexchange.com and buy the Gold membership..about $12/3 months and you will find all the native speakers you can schedule…and make great friends to accompany you along the long journey. Finally exchange hospitality with a French speaking group from France or Canada at http://www.thefriendshipforce.org.
I love the French in Action DVD series (mentioned before). Mirielle is a French college student in Paris who meets Robert, an American student studying in Paris. Much of it takes place in Luxembourg Garden. There are 62 lessons. Almost total immersion. It was made in 1987, but holds up well (I’m 59 yrs old, and feel stuck at that age and era anyway). It has acquired a cult following. I bought it through Ebay, but I guess you can now watch it on the internet. And meet some followers!
French language is romance language. I have taken various courses to learn french. Thanks for sharing this best tips.
French K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple S’il-vous-plait) by Robert Fontaine with RAAM Group in Ottawa, Ontario CANADA. Wonderful program. Too much to mention here.
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I conjugate in the bath – that is, I grab my 550 French Verbs tome and practice while I soak in the tub. Very relaxing. Je préfère a nager dans les mots françaises.
Best tip I’ve had is wherever and whenever the chance arises ‘have a go’
I was also told that in any language there is always more than one way to say the same thing with different words to give the same meaning.
If you’re stuck for the correct word do what I do use un truc/un machin le dispositif they all mean thingamijig!
Trips to France have been so much more enjoyable by being able get what I want in shops a being able to hold basic conversations in tabacs over coffee
Sleep teaching. It helps tremendously ! Tape the lesson you are studying and time the CD player for very early hours. You will assimilate it when your mind is clear. I guarantee that your accent will improve.
I enjoy your website, Kristin , your everyday thoughts are so…natural. Eileen,CA