It's only one year of your life. Bon ben voila quoi.
One year for going from zero to francophone on one page - in three parts because when learning french it’s best to know from the beginning that there are many ways to create an exception. Part II.
This is how you continue
6 MONTHS
A2 - b1
At this stage you’ve got a lot of basics down. Not at all mastered but you can read young toddler books in your head. You know what the passé composé looks like. You now need to start putting things into practice and exposing yourself to bucketloads of the language. Be kind to yourself. Much, much, much kinder.
Your brain needs to be picking up rhythms, intonation, and speech patterns. French people speak fast but they also have a lot of liaisons which is why for the majority of the year it’s exceptionally difficult to grasp where a word starts or ends. This is completely normal. Learning a language is really hard as an adult and you’re doing amazing by being at this stage. Stick to the practice and it will come to you. Even if you don’t believe me. Even if you’re not a genius.
It’s also really important for the rest of your journey that you have fun. You’re going to have low days and frustrating days and days you want to give up but the rest of the time you need to do things that you enjoy as much as possible. If you absolutely detest reading in your fluent language/s and have tried in french and despise it just as much, stop and find people to text with instead. Everything still feels like hard work and you’re using your brain for the simplest of things in this phase, but amuse yourself as much as you can.
Continue to keep yourself accountable during this stage. Use the Notion template or the PDF for as long as you need to help yourself be consistent with your learning each day. Feel free to use the simplified versions if you're just holding yourself to time.
Online activities & apps
There are a number of apps and activities that are going to help you through this phase and for the coming years. Reverso and Word Reference are brilliant for popping in a word or phrase and getting a contextual translation; these are used by a lot of teachers too. Personally, I prefer Reverso.
Immediately step away from the Google Translate and switch to DeepL. It is infinitely better. This doesn’t mean it is always accurate but it will bring you much closer a lot of the time and really help you out.
Monde5 (a French television broadcaster) provides free learning clips which are excellent and comprehensive for something gratuit. Glossika is a great activity you can do during this stage to improve your hearing and comprehension but it is overpriced for what it is. If you find you need more activities, trial it.
And finally, remember to add a french language keyboard on your phone to make life easier when you're typing messages and comments!
Add to your Insta game
These are going to take you to the next level and keep delivery hits of learning. But in addition to this, don’t just follow learning accounts; follow normal french accounts. Try to spend 10 minutes per day reading these and if you’re feeling brave; leave a comment (it’s writing practice). I recommend these to pick up how french is spoken and informal language both in the carousels and reels, and in the comment section.
Bonus
Read adult books
If you’re using Storyplayr, increase the age of the books you’re reading and keep going. The books with longer paragraphs - you’ll learn a lot of words, embed them, hear the pronunciation and start to get a feel of stories.
Outside of that, pick up some simpler adult books you might enjoy. Many books in french are written with the passé simple - it’s not difficult other than learning the exceptions but you’ll rarely ever hear this tense in real life. So stay away from these books for now and pick ones suited to your level. You’ll read achingly slowly. Maybe it takes you three months to finish a book - that’s fine. Make it a goal! I highlight words I don't know on my Kindle and then add them to my Reword app when I've finished the book.
Listening tricks
Je sais pas sounds like shay-pas. Quelque chose sounds like kek-chose. Je suis sounds like shwee. Ce que sounds like sk. The french tend to use a glottal d and t which means ça te dit doesn’t sound like it has a te in the middle but rather that the ça ends on a quick t sound; ça(t) dit. Ça me dit sounds closer to çaam dit. Lots of e letters are skipped in words so you don’t hear boulangerie you’ll hear boulang-rie. Tu as and tu es are often contracted to t’as and t’es. Il is dropped a lot so for il y a you’ll often hear (and see in casual writing) y a and il faut que will be faut que. There are lots of liaisons everywhere because french is all about reducing pauses; these actually come to you naturally after a while once you know them and your brain won’t have a problem in distinguishing words the majority of the time after one year of comprehensible input. Give it time.
Hatch an escape plan
I found some days and weeks particularly draining. I felt like I would never understand anything. Sometimes I wanted to scream at my brain - why are you not understanding this? Why do I have to stumble on every word? Books were the thing I tried to turn to instead. Reading was still hard but I could do it very slowly. I didn’t have to speak and stammer. I didn’t have to try and form sentences or answer questions. I could read simple or harder things as I chose. It was what I would escape into when everything felt too difficult. And that’s the trick.
Don’t give up; turn to something you can still find joy in. Maybe it’s a french video game or a Youtuber. Perhaps you enjoy sipping tea at a cafe listening to french folk chat around you. Maybe it’s an Insta account that makes you smile. It could be volunteering with the french elderly who are patient and kind. Perhaps it’s a series (Masterchef is on youtube for the chefs and my peché mignon is Supernanny). Find the little thing that feels easiest for you, slows you down and connects with you in a way that doesn’t make you want to throw your laptop out the window.
Watch youtube
You’re going to switch to adult programs that francophones watch. They’ll get harder in the next stage but they’re going to feel super fucking painful right now. So slow down the speed, watch with french subtitles (not the automated ones - they’re horrible). Subtitles are like training wheels for your french; when the speech and the words line up focus intently on connecting the word with the sound. When there aren’t any good ones, switch them off and only watch the video.
Start these series
These are getting far more complicated. Some people recommend intense watching where you watch with French subtitles, then watch it without, then watch it again and stop at each phrase and word you don’t know and look it up. I recommend one hour of this per week. It’s exceptionally useful but it’s truly taxing and utterly unsustainable. The Chrome extension is incredible for this so spend 60 - 120 minutes per week on watching an episode using this extension.
The rest of the time watch as much as you can including while you’re cooking, on the treadmill or whilst you work. Pick up words, small expressions or phrases each episode that you don’t know, pause, add them to your Reword app or write the phrase down to revise. You’ll end up watching some series multiple times which will really improve you.
Straight into your ear
You’re at a point where you can start with the Inner French podcast. It’s a normal podcast talking about an interesting, relevant topic each week in clear and slow French. It’s specifically made for this intermediate level and it is perfect. There are accurate transcripts available on the site. Commence at the first episode and work your way through. You’ll learn new expressions, sentence structures and the ability to comprehend while listening to interesting conversations. Meanwhile keep playing music in the background whenever you're doing any brain work or exercise!
Time to talk
The first many sessions of this are likely to suck for you. I wanted the world to swallow me whole. I booked my first iTalki well before I felt ready (Month 3) and I was horribly anxious and constantly sad I couldn't articulate what I wanted to say. But you’re going to meet some amazingly kind, gentle people who will talk very slowly at very basic and adjust their approach for your level. This is highly uncomfortable so be proud of each word you utter or understand. You need to do this and get through this period in order to progress to fluency. Find one or two people in your budget and get started.
Make sentences make sense
Although you’ll understand a lot of the basics now, making sentences - even simple ones - will feel really difficult. I found it useful to create a big list of the common connector words I use. Revise these aloud each week to start to form sentences and develop natural fluidity. Remember the three differences between your because words (when something is due to something, thanks to something or simply parce que something - get into the habit of separating them). And get yourself used to the use of ni (neither) when you're making a sentence with a group of words (neither this neither that nor that). There are no perfect sentences and there are many ways to say something. As you’re learning, try always looking for a different way to say something if you’re struggling. Simplify everything.
Connecting words
il y a (there is / are)
d’ailleurs (anyway, besides)
cependant (however)
dès que (as soon as)
d’après (according to)
autrement dit (in other words)
mais (but)
souvent (often)
ça veut dire (it / that means)
ensuite (then / after)
se diriger vers (head toward)
de toute façon (anyway)
quelque part (somewhere)
désormais (from now on)
au cas où (in case)
environ (thereabouts / approx)
c’est-à-dire (in other words)
en plus (also)
plutôt (rather)
sinon (otherwise)
néanmoins (nevertheless)
assez (enough, quite)
également (also / equally)
plein de (full of)
même si (even if)
d’abord (firstly)
quant à (as to)
lorsque / quand (when)
en revanche (on the other hand)
à partir de (from / as of)
lors (at the time of)
par rapport (compared / relative)
tout à fait (completely)
pourtant (yet, nonetheless)
de plus (in addition)
viens de (just + verb)
à la place de (instead of)
tout à coup (suddenly)
par la suite (thereafter)
à peine (barely / hardly)
bref (in short)
en gros (roughly speaking)
donc (so, therefore)
ni…ni (neither… nor…)
grâce à (thanks to - pos)
du coup (consequently)
soit…soit (either… or…)
à cause de (due to - neg)
How to speed up
Being in a french speaking country definitely helps. If that’s you, you’re already speeding up if you’re not only speaking with people in your own language/s. Make sure you go to shops and markets and try to speak. Try out new phrases and new words. Memorize them before you go out and after a few more months start to trust yourself to make things up and respond to the situation.
Often your mind will go blank or you’ll have no idea what they said and that’s totally normally. As you get closer to one year you’ll feel a little more secure. Do not feel bad, not understanding is normal.
That said, there are opportunities to speed up more. If you’ve got the means and time for anything between 1 - 5 days per week you can apply to work at a cafe, bar, bakery, campground, swim teacher or lifeguide, a bookstore or become an au-pair, nanny or babysitter.
With a largely french customer base you’re going to rapidly improve your listening and speaking within just a few months. You’ll need to practice in decent basic french for the interview (ensure your teacher or a native speaking friend prepares you) and then you will improve very quickly over the course of a few months.
If you don’t need l’argent you can volunteer with the elderly, people experiencing homelessness or a local gardening club (for example). And if you’re rich (on time and most likely with some money), head to an immersion school; you’re guaranteed to be suffering and speaking.
Find a frenchie
Of course possibly the best way is to date a French speaker who doesn’t speak one of your fluent languages. You will have to communicate in French pretty quickly. Might be one way to make online dating more fun!
Open your mouth
I know I’m being annoying but most of us resist talking. Don’t. Make a list of the ways common sentences begin to get you started and review common short phrases. Use informal (tu) if you’re mostly watching series and talking with friends and use formal (vous) if you largely need French professionally. Translate it into the negation and then use this to get comfortable. I’ve excluded the (ne) in the examples below as most conversational French drops this but do as you wish.
They speak back
Helpful phrases
Desolé(e), je parle pas anglais
Est-ce qu’on peut parler en français svp ?
J’apprends la langue donc est-ce qu’il est possible de parler en français svp ?
Si vous parlez doucement je comprends bien mieux merci
Je m'excuse d'avance. Je vais essayer de parler en français. Ça m’aide dans mon apprentissage. Merci!
Although most in France don’t speak much english, young people in bigger towns increasingly do, especially in the service industry or international businesses. It’s becoming much less frequent but sometimes they will reply in english. The assumption that someone must speak english aggrieves me endlessly because it’s not my first language, plays into the belief some english people have that everything should be offered to them in their language, and always makes me think of people on my travels who don’t speak a word of it and how frustrating it must be for them. I always thought it would be fairer and more useful to society (science, communication, friendships, jobs, preserving cultures) to have an agreed international language that everyone had to learn.
Sometimes their reply stems from politeness to make life easier for you. Sometimes it’s the only useful english they know. Sometimes it’s because they want to practice. In Paris it’s probably from huffy annoyance. In any case it sucks and tears can spring into my eyes with a complex well of emotions, societal anger and sheer frustration that would take novels to explore.
I converse in increasingly complex stories in a small town (bonjour upcoming gynecologist appointment!). Generally people will be kind if you’re learning. French speaking folks know the language is not easy but may need a gentle nudge to articulate clearly for you (countries outside of France are generally more practiced at different languages and accents).
If you’re getting spoken back to in english, this is not your fault. You’re putting in huge effort. Take control of your learning and state that you do not speak english (even if you do), or that you’re learning french so would prefer they spoke in french and ask them to speak slowly. In the first ten months this was horrible because I also couldn’t understand them much of the time. But it's easier in the shops. There's context and formality. Speaking and listening is necessary to improving. Consistently replying back in french tends to make people get the hint and switch back too. Please do not be discouraged. Have your existential crises but keep going.
Dubbing
I come from a country that doesn’t dub so dubbing feels weird to me. But then my boyfriend turned to me upon hearing me watch yet another episode of Friends and said, you know in France we loved that series too? It’s common in France and there’s an incredible industry for it. There is of course some horrible dubbing (do not watch these!) but a lot of popular series and films are done very well with actors. Schitt’s Creek, Harry Potter, the Simpsons. Just maybe don’t watch ones with characters you’re bien attached to.
Translating
You’re going to be translating in your head. A lot of the time this is necessary; it’s how you start to understand people when they speak slowly because you have time to translate. It’s normal. But be conscious when you’re doing it and discourage your brain. Instead, try very hard to form a picture in your mind of the word or try to follow a story by creating a visual timeline in your head. The translations will simply stop because it’s no longer quicker for your brain to do so but it really helps your timeline to ease off them earlier.
How's it feeling now?
I had a lot of ups and downs through this phase. They call it the intermediary plateau and you can find that in most things in life and sport. Find all the good bits you can and if you need to cry sometimes too; that’s totally ok. You might find yourself desperately googling at night to fix your problems and work out why you're not understanding french. That's what this guide is hoping to eliminate. Calme-toi if you’re not speaking fluently after only nine months - it means you're astonishingly normal. Trust your brain; if you're doing most of these things, sooner than you believe everything will be comprehensible rather than a big jumble.
What really helps now is having a small community. That could be joining a group course that has a community component to it, or it could be finding a few people also learning French in your town (expat meetups, night classes or summer schools are great for this). You can also find fellows in the comment sections of your favorite social networks on related videos. Build your community (it opens life doors far beyond french) and be so much kinder to yourself.
Appreciate your deep listening skills during this stage and how you pay attention to people. It's something we lose a lot when fluent in a language and it's remarkable to grasp again. Go forth.
Remember!
French is spoken in many, many countries of the world. Most of my resources concentrate on France because I decided to settle in France but you should tailor your learning to your target french. If that’s Québecois, find more Canadian resources. If you’re chatting with all your Tunisian friends, ask them for the local goods. If you’re living in the Carribean find those. If you’re going to be working in West Africa, ask fellow colleagues and new team members what will help the most and have them to encourage your local slang and expressions. Once you’re comfortably speaking french, mix them all up for comprehension practice. Great for learning accents and discovering so many new people and cultures. Instagram reels really help with this too so explore accounts broadly once you find a few you like.