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How To Study For French
How To Learn French Efficiently – 12 Top Tips
Learning French, like any other new language, implies a lot of memorization, and often, as adults, our memory is not what it used to be. So what is the best way to learn French? These 12 tips will help you memorize new information longer, and learn French more efficiently.
Table of Contents
12. Always Study French with Audio
11. Be in Touch with your Own Learning Style
10. Self Studying is NOT for Everybody
9. Beware of Free French learning tools
8. Translate French Into English as Little as Possible
7. Link French to Images and Visual Situations, not English words
6. Be Careful With French Cognates
5. Avoid Writing in Your Head
4. Learn French in Sentences
3. Prioritize
2. Study French Regularly, for a Short Time, not all in one Sitting
1. Review – Repetition is the Key!
12. Always Study French With Audio
Let’s start with one truth that many French students don’t realise but which is key if you want to do more than just read novels or French magazines…
Written French and spoken French are almost 2 different languages.
There are many silent letters, glidings, liaisons, etc… and they are everywhere, including in French verb conjugations and grammar.
Many students are still learning French mostly with written material, or traditional methods that over enunciate every single word.
Formal school curriculum usually focus on grammar and verb conjugations – the teachers don’t have a choice: they have to cover the imposed curriculum, and that leaves little time for anything else! “The spoken French taught in American classrooms is a fiction, based on ideas about how people should speak, not on how they do speak” – Waught & Fonseca-Greber University of Arizona
Yet, if you want to learn French to communicate in French, not just to pass exams, you need to train to understand modern spoken French. I wrote a whole article about modern spoken French with many examples, so I invite you to read it should you like to know more.
For example, the modern spoken pronunciation of “être” various conjugations is quite different than what you may have studied… Especially in the negative, when you apply all the glidings with the subject pronouns and the ne…. Check out my free audio guide about the French verb être conjugations and pronunciation.
Now let’s talk about your own study style.
11. Be In Touch With Your Own Learning Style
Do you need to write? Or do you need to listen? Or do you need to read to learn things by heart?
Whatever the method you are using to learn French, make sure you adapt it to YOUR learning style.
This being said, studying French with audio is a must if you want to learn French to communicate: understand modern spoken French and speak French yourself.
Unique Audio-Based
Modern French Level Test
20 Questions to REALLY test your modern French comprehension. All audio-based with full explanations. Completely free, no signup required
10. Self Studying Is NOT For Everybody
When it comes to learning languages, not everybody is the same. I’ve taught hundreds of students, and I can tell you from experience that some people have an easier time with languages than others. It’s not fair, and it’s not popular to say it… but it’s true.
It doesn’t mean that someone less gifted cannot learn French, but it means that self-studying is not for everybody.
Some students need the expertise of a teacher to guide them through their studies, motivate them and find creative ways to explain the same point until it is understood. Skype and/or phone French lessons can be a good solution.
9. Beware Of Free French Learning Tools
Nowadays every French teaching website is offering something free. Free French lessons. Free tips. Free videos…
OK. I get it. Free is lovely.
However if the material is not good, then ‘free’ can be a total waste of your time. And your time is valuable.
Be particularly careful about social networks. It’s easy to get lost in there, and jump from one funny video to another but at the end, actually learn very little – or not what you should be learning!
However, if you are serious about learning French, you need to follow a structured path which gently leads you through the different French learning stages. At one point I suggest you invest into a reliable French learning method.
The method you choose has to come with solid grammatical explanations – very few people can master French without first understanding French grammar – and audio recordings featuring both traditional and modern French.
8. Translate French Into English As Little As Possible
When you are a total beginner, some translation is going to occur. As you advance in your French studies, try as much as possible to avoid translating.
Translating adds a huge step in the process of speaking:
Idea –> English –> French
versus just
idea –>French
It makes your brain waste 30% more time and energy and will fool you into making a mistake when the literal translation doesn’t work – which is unfortunately often the case in French!
So if you don’t translate, what should you do?
7. Link French To Images And Visual Situations, Not English Words
Try as much as possible to link the new French vocabulary to images, situations, feelings and NOT to English words. When you learn the French expression “j’ai froid”, picture being cold, bring up the feeling, and link the French words to this sensation, not to the English translation.
By linking the image/ sensation to the French words, you will avoid mistakes since in this particular case for example, we don’t use “I am’ in French, but ‘I have’: “j’ai froid”…
Whatever you do, don’t adapt the English sentence to adapt it to the French – “ah, Ok, the French say “I HAVE cold”… I’ll remember that!”
Let’s see what this does for your brain:
- “Brrrr”
I am cold
so….je…
then être in je form…. je suis
how do you say cold again? Oh yes froid
je suis froid
– oh but wait a minute! The French don’t use “I am” for that one… they say I “have” cold
so have is avoir…
so the je form is…. j’ai
so… j’ai froid…. or is it j’ai froide?
Maybe this sounds familiar?
It is MUCH simpler and faster to link the feeling of cold or “brrrr” to “j’ai froid”.
“Brrrr” = “j’ai froid”.
If you are doing flashcards to study French – which I strongly encourage you do – draw the word/situation whenever possible instead of writing English. Even if you are not a good artist, you’ll (hopefully?) remember what your drawing meant, and it’s much more efficient to learn French this way.
This is a very important point so I’ll take another example.
When learning French numbers, many students “build” them. They do maths. When they want to say ‘ninety-nine’ in French they think about what they’ve learned and remember this fun (or crazy?) logic ‘four-twenty-ten-nine’ and finally come up with “quatre-vingt-dix-neuf’.
Do you realise the time wasted?
Most French kids know how to count to 99 by age 6.
Nobody ever told them about the ‘four-twenty-ten-nine’ nonsense! The only think they know is that 99 sounds like [katrevindizneuf].
They don’t know how to spell it – and they don’t care!
Well, that’s how you need to learn French. Not like a kid – adults don’t learn like children. But by linking the French sounds to the notions, the images, the ideas. Not to the English words. Not to the logic. Not even to the grammar.
6. Be Careful With French Cognates
This is exactly why you should be particularly careful with cognates – words that are the same between the two languages.
Many students approach them thinking “ah, that’s easy, I know that one”. But then when they need to use that word, they don’t remember it’s the same word in French as in English…
Furthermore, cognates always have a different pronunciation, and your English brain is going to fight saying that word the French way.
I hear many students having a hard time with the word “chocolat”. In French, the ch is soft, as in “shave”, and the final t is silent. [Shocola]. Most French students wrongfully pronounce it [tshocolat].
Finally, there are many false cognates: words that exist in both languages but don’t have exactly the same meanings (like entrée in US English (= main course) and entrée in French (= appetizers, first (light) course).
So, cognates need more of your attention, not less!
5. Avoid Writing In Your Head
Many students “write” French in their head before they speak.
However in French, may letters are silent, like the “ent” of the “ils” form, or the é sound at the end of a verb: parler, parlez, parlé, parlée, parlés, parlées.
Writing in your head a huge waste of time and may lead to being scared to speak French.
4. Learn French In Sentences
When you learn French “in context”, you’ll remember the situation and words longer, and you’ll already have a series of words that go well together handy for your next French conversation!
To learn French in context, I highly recommend you check out my unique downloadable French audiobooks, a unique French learning method illustrated by a realistic bilingual novel recorded at different levels of enunciation, featuring both traditional and modern spoken French pronunciation.
À Moi Paris Audiobook Method
When you make up your French sentences, find examples that make sense to you, that are close to your own life.
For example, let’s say you want to learn ‘red’ in French. Instead of writing down a dull sentence like ‘the apple is red’, look for something red that personally means something to you, and write about it: ‘my dog likes to play with his red ball’.
Your brain will remember a sentence describing a truth or a memory much longer than it will remember a sentence of made-up facts.
3. Prioritize
Often, to make learning more fun, many teachers try to present a text, a story. At least I do, as much as possible.
If your memory is great, go ahead and memorize everything!
But if it’s not the case, PRIORITIZE: what words in this story are YOU likely to use? Focus on learning these first, then revisit the story once you’ve mastered your first list.
The same logic applies to tenses: in conversation, most of the time we use the present indicative. So focus on the present when studying your French verb conjugations, and then move on to adjectives, essential vocabulary, asking questions, pronouns… things that will make an immediate difference in your ability to converse in French.
The French subjunctive can wait!
2. Study French Regularly, For A Short Time, Not All In One Sitting
If you study French all afternoon, chances are that you’ll exhaust yourself, and are much more likely to get frustrated, lose your motivation or attention.
Spending 15-30 minutes a day learning French – not multitasking but with 100% of your attention – will get you better results than two hours during the weekend with the kids playing in the background.
1. Review – Repetition Is The Key!
This is probably the number one mistake students make.
They concentrate on learning new material, and forget to review the older one. Rule of thumb: for each hour spending learning new French vocabulary or conjugation, you need to spend minimum one hour reviewing older French material. Repetition is the key!
learning french for beginners
How To Learn French For French Beginner Level (A1 & A2)
Table of Contents
Start Learning French With Confidence
① How to Learn French as a Beginner (A1 A2 Levels)
② What is a Beginner Student?
③ True French Beginner – French Level A1
④ False French Beginner – French Level A2
⑤ Speaking/Understanding Challenged Beginner & Intermediate
Start Learning French With Confidence
As a French beginner, your goals should be:
- to be confident enough so that you are not afraid to exchange a few words with a French person,
- get a grip of French pronunciation so you can understand the French when they speak to you, and be understood by them,
- handle basic conversations in specific situations,
- Notice quick results and feel good about yourself.
My first tip is to always keep in mind these goals.
You cannot be fluent in French right away. You’ll have to be patient, and work your way step by step to reach fluency.
Right now, every interaction you have in French is a success!
① How To Learn French As A Beginner (A1 A2 Levels)
I will start with the most important French learning tip I can give:
If you only want to read French/ pass exams, books are OK.
If you want to learn French to speak/understand spoken French, learn French with audio.
Modern spoken French and traditional written French are VERY different: if you only learn French from a written source, it’s unlikely you will understand the French when they speak to you, and it’s unlikely they’ll understand you!
Now, let’s see how someone who is just starting to learn French should proceed.
② What Is A Beginner Student?
“French Beginner”: this simple expression is used to describe people with different needs.
So… what kind of beginner French student are you? The following paragraphs will give precise tips for different kind of French beginners. However, you may want to read them all since they will all help you to learn French efficiently.
③ True French Beginner – French Level A1
You are a blank canvas. And that’s great! At least, you don’t have any bad habits and you cannot wait to start learning French!
You need help on every possible front: French pronunciation and vocabulary, but also very accessible explanations to clarify the differences between the French and English languages.
A lot of schools follow the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR): it is an international standard for describing language ability. It’s commonly used to describe learners’ language skills, and the program you need to cover to pass exams. You will find more about it on Wikipedia.
French Today’s approach is unique. The À Moi Paris method progresses differently than the traditional methods, in particular in regard to tenses and moods. So this is not a perfect match with the CEFR. Read my article to see which French Today’s audiobook level approximately corresponds to which CEFR level.
Here are my tips to best learn French as a self-learning beginner student of French, learning French for his/her own benefit, not just to pass written tests.
A) Start With French Politeness
Even for the most basic interactions in French, you will need to master the precise vocabulary and modern pronunciation of French politeness expressions.
The French are known to be sticklers on etiquette and you do not want to start off on the wrong foot.
Of course, you need audio to learn how to pronounce the French politeness expressions correctly.
French politeness is a great way to start learning French pronunciation, and when explained properly, should also cover fundamental French grammar such as “tu” versus “vous, some verb conjugations and introduce the notion of adjective agreement.
B) To Prepare For A Trip To France, Learn Sentences In Context
If you are just learning French to prepare for a trip to France, you may not need to get involved in deep French studying.
On top of politeness, learn useful sentences and their correct pronunciation, focus on the “je” form of the verb and asking information questions:
- Ça coûte combien ? How much is-it?
- Je voudrais un café américain s’il vous plaît – I’d like an [American-style] long coffee.
- Je suis désolé, je ne parle pas très bien français – I’m sorry, I don’t speak French much.
- Je comprends un peu si on parle lentement – I understand a bit when people speak slowly.
A French list of sentences will give you the pleasure of saying a couple of things in French and will show the French people your good will.
However, don’t expect to be able to handle a real conversation without a minimum of sentence structure. It may be possible in other languages, but not French.
So, take it for what it is: a fun challenge, a positive attitude, and a way to communicate the bare essentials should no one speak English at all.
C) Learn Vocabulary You Are Likely To Use
One of the first sentences I learned in English class was “the cat climbed onto the roof”. Try placing that in an English conversation…
So, to improve your French as a beginner, you should focus on learning things you would actually use.
The French method you use should understand that need and use re-usable examples to illustrate the points of grammar… Nothing too fancy, nor poem quotes, but daily things, truly useful examples you could actually re-use in a French interaction.
So say you have a dog: it’s likely you’ll talk about him… Pets are a common conversation topic. Say your dog has a beloved red ball. Then you may be interested in saying “my dog likes to play with his red ball”: “mon chien aime jouer avec sa balle rouge”… Try making up simple sentences you could actually use in real life.
D) Organizing Your French Studies
One of the challenges a beginner student will face is prioritizing.
What should you study after you studied politeness? Adjectives? Pronouns? Verb conjugations? More French vocabulary?
In order to remember things, the way you organize your newly acquired French data is as important as the data itself.
My 23+ French teaching experience shows that to learn French efficiently, students need to learn with a structured audio method which addresses four needs:
- introduce truly useful vocabulary such as greetings and politeness, asking questions, ordering food, talking about yourself, your family, your hobbies…
- implement both traditional and modern French pronunciations,
- set the foundations of French grammar in a clear and logical, step-by-step way: like building blocks,
- give you plenty of examples so you can also learn French in context.
To study French the right way from the very start, I suggest you check-out my French downloadable audiobook À Moi Paris Method – Beginner. It’s written with the true French beginner in mind.
À Moi Paris Audiobook Method
④ False French Beginner – French Level A2
You’ve studied French before (maybe in school), but you forgot most of it.
Maybe you remember the logic of beginner’s French grammar but you need to refresh it all, set fast reflexes when speaking and gain confidence to use your French in conversations.
A) Focus On The Present Tense
The Present Indicative tense is the tense you’ll use in most of your French interactions. So, studying the present tense is what will give you the best return for the time you invest.
The tenses of the past are a real mess in French. It’s like opening a Russian doll: there are so many layers of things to understand and memorize before you can truly use them.
Of course, learning the French tenses of the past is important, and they would be part of an A2 level exam. However, if you are not learning French to pass exams, communicating simple orders, being polite, talking about yourself, your family, your hobbies – and doing it with a decent accent – should be more important than spending hours drilling over your French verb tenses…
Which bring me to my next point.
B) Beware Of The Intellectual In You
Lots of students actually enjoy the learning challenge. I’ve seen many people spend hours on drilling French verb tenses they didn’t even understand! Or take real pleasure at doing “find and replace the direct object” kind of exercises.
However, as a beginner, you need to stay focused on your priorities. Don’t get lost in the intellectual challenge. Drill on the present tense only, drill on “être” and “avoir”, adjective agreement, questions, pronunciation…
It may not be extremely intellectually stimulating, but it’s what you need to master at this stage of your French studies.
C) Simplify Your Sentences
Yes, it will be nice to be able to say one day in a restaurant: “I would be delighted if you could kindly seat us by the window, so we may enjoy the spectacular view”.
However, as a beginner, you should be happy if you could say: “une table à côté de la fenêtre. C’est possible ? C’est très beau là !” (A table by the window. Is it possible? It’s very pretty there!) smile and point to the view…
The method you use should reflect this. Along with teaching your French, it should teach you how to simplify your sentence, and use “simple” French.
My downloadable audiobook À Moi Paris Method – Beginner features a fun French story written with the beginner French student in mind. You’ll enjoy learning French in the context and then test yourself with the Q&A section.
D) Watch out for the free resources
There is a lot of free resources out there: they are fun, but a huge part of a successful learning process is time management. Setting up a structured approach, which clearly takes you from point A to point B is essential if you want to build up a solid foundation.
Are you really learning French when you are jumping from one YouTube video to the next? Or are you just having fun?
Don’t get me wrong. Fun is good. And you may even learn a thing or two. But it’s also very easy to lost track of your goal and end up losing your time.
Now, let’s address a particular but common French problem for the beginner – or even intermediate (hopefully not advanced) students: the French accent and understanding of Spoken French.
⑤ Speaking/Understanding Challenged Beginner & Intermediate
You really understand basic French grammar, know your verb conjugations etc… You even ace your French A1 and A2 written exams!
However you can’t understand the French when they speak, and they can’t understand you. How come?
“The spoken French taught in American classrooms is a fiction, based on ideas about how people should speak, not on how they do speak”
Waugh & Fonseca-Greber – University of Arizona
That’s why.
You need to learn the “real” modern spoken French language: not slang, not “hood” French, but the way everybody speaks in a relaxed, casual environment.
I call this “street or modern French”: French like you’ll hear it used daily in the streets of France. And it’s quite different from the enunciated traditional French pronunciation (like a TV news host would use) – and it’s also likely to be different from what you have learned in school.
A) Learn The Rules Of French Pronunciation
I am shocked to see the number of students who never learned the rules of French pronunciation.
Why do you pronounce the verb in “ils écoutent” as zécoot” (with a strong liaison in Z)
but the verb of “les enfants écoutent” as “écoot” (no liaison)?
It’s because there is a strong liaison after the subject pronouns “on, nous, vous, ils, elles” but usually no liaison after a noun (such as “les enfants”.
If you don’t know that, you can’t invent it.
Secrets of French Pronunciation
B) Drill On The Most Difficult French Sounds
It takes practice to master the French R. Or the difference between “u” and “ou”, “é” and “è”. The French learning method you use should explain how to form these sounds: how to place your mouth, your tongue, your lips…
French pronunciation will become much clearer when it’s explained to you the right way. Of course, more than ever, audio is a must!
C) Learn Both Traditional And Modern Spoken French
Now, there are the rules, and then there is the reality.
On top of all the French liaisons, elisions etc which obey the pronunciation rules, the French also apply lots of “glidings” when they speak.
For example, the “ne” part of the negation is often silent.
Or “il y a” is pronounced “ya”.
If you want the French to understand you when you speak, you don’t necessarily need to apply these glidings. Actually, I would not encourage you to speak this way as a beginner. The French would kind of expect you to speak French the “traditional” way: a lot of glidings may sound a bit weird in the mouth of a beginner. Imagine your reaction if a beginner said: “I gonna” in English. Even if used in the right context, it may surprise you.
However, if a foreigner wanted to understand English people when they speak, s/he would need to understand “I gonna” since it’s used frequently.
There are even more “street” glidings in French than there is in English. We do them without thinking about it, no matter our age, or our level of education: it’s very natural to apply some glidings when you speak French casually nowadays.
Each chapter of the story of my beginner level French audiobooks are recorded in 3 different ways:
- A slow version: very enunciated French which you can easily repeat to help you conquer traditional French pronunciation
- A normal version with French glidings and elisions (you’ll learn about these in the method)
- A modern street version as natives would actually speak so that you are ready to understand them
Voilà. Apply all these tips and you’ll be on your way to becoming a French intermediate speaker in no time. If you fee you are already a solid A2 French level, then you may want to look at my advise for intermediate speakers of French.
Remember, as a French beginner, you should:
- set realistic goals for yourself,
- find a structured audio method which doesn’t assume you are a grammar genius and explains everything clearly,
- get plenty of audio practice: repeat, repeat, repeat,
- and keep your priorities straight.
Good luck with your French studies!