How to learn French

Having now spent almost 10 years struggling to master French, I have tried out many different websites, apps, teachers, resources and immersion methods. Needless to say I am still not fluent in French so perhaps none of them are that great but I have at least gained a better idea of how to study a language.

Youtube

Youtube is an obvious source for practising listening comprehension but, when I first started searching, I found it quite hard to find French youtubers that I was interested in. You can't just search "French Youtubers" because it tends to give you channels that teach French which was not what I wanted. Further exploration gave me some names of the biggest French youtubers on the platform but really they weren't what I was looking for either. They tended to speak very fast with lots of use of slang and informal language, especially those doing comedy sketches or collabs with other people. It took me some time, watching a variety of channels, to find some that I really liked and, once I started subscribing to these people, Youtube began recommending similar videos so now it's relatively new and interesting French videos.

Some that I find good for getting started are those that are more targeted to an anglophone or bilingual audience but still entirely in French. For example, innerFrench is a channel run by a French teacher so he speaks in a way that is much easier to understand than authentic French conversation. Another one I really like is Paul Taylor - he is fluent in both French and English and he does stand up comedy and videos in both languages, mostly making fun of the French language. His videos are fairly easy to follow and there are optional subtitles if you need them.

After visiting Quebec last year I became interested in the Quebecois culture and accent and I've really enjoyed watching DENYZEE and Audrey D., both of whom make videos about Quebec. I also enjoy the series by TV5 which is a Canadian French channel promoting cultural diversity and exploring social and linguistic aspects of francophone communities in Canada and worldwide.

Other youtubers I watch just because I like their content, for example Émile Roy, Vive La France! and Pedro Fait Son Show.

Finally,Skam is a TV show that was originally Norwegian but has now been reproduced by more than 7 different countries. Skam France is available in full on Youtube and I would highly recommend it. It is a teen drama, fairly easy to follow and I think there are subtitles if you want them.

Websites

I have used more French learning websites than I can count but a few have struck me as being particularly good.

Firstly, for translation and checking written work, I like PONS (online dictionary), Reverso (translator and spell checker) and LanguageTool (grammar checker). For verb conjugation and grammar explanations, I find Lawless French to be good and it also has some other useful learning tools such as videos and quizzes which I have used in the past.

At the moment I am following a course with Gymglish which has been great so far. It has a mixture of listening comprehension, reading, grammar and culture. It's good because it adapts each lesson to suit your level and it introduces a variety of francophone accents. It is a site that you do normally have to pay for but at the moment I'm using their 1-month-free offer.

There are plenty of other free language learning websites so there's always something new to try.

Apps

Duolingo seems to be the main teacher of many people just starting to learn a language. Personally I've found it good as a beginner but a bit slow as an intermediate. It's great for learning basic vocab and short phrases but personally I no longer use it for French.

Recently my favourite French app has been one called French Grammar Tests which basically has hundreds of quizzes on any area of grammar you want to revise. It's been really helpful when I'm studying for a test and it's an easy way to spend a spare 10 minutes.

Books

Books can be such a struggle to read when you don't fully understand the language so finding the right one is super important. I have definitely started a lot more books in French than I have finished. It's very slow work if you have to look up every few words and it is far too easy to lose track of the story.

I find that the best kind of foreign language literature is either short or familiar. For instance, I really like reading French poetry because you can read just one or two poems at a time and I think they help me to understand the use of language better. I recommend Jaques Prévert and Robert Desnos if you're interested in French poetry.

I also like novels when they aren't too long, especially if they are divided into short chapters. One that I found to be really good for this was Le Coeur à rire et à pleurer by Maryse Condé. With this book about her childhood in Guadaloup, I could read a chapter in about 10 minutes which made reading one or two chapters a day very doable.

I enjoyed Huis Clos by Jean-Paul Sartre which I found easier to understand because it is in the form of a play and somehow the different voices characters made it easier to follow.

I think one of the best way of all of starting to read French literature is to choose a book you've already read in English and find the French translation of it. I've been doing this with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, a book that I know almost word for word, and it's been great! Because I know the story, it doesn't matter if I get a bit lost and when I come across words I don't know I can often guess at their meaning.

Films

I really like watching French films because it requires very little effort and, hopefully, subconsciously my brain is absorbing some French and picking up some new phrases. They are also far less of a commitment than a TV series or a book. French films are freely available on Youtube, library DVDs, Amazon Prime and other streaming platforms.

Some of my favourites:

• Les Choristes - a music teacher starts a choir at a boys boarding school, transforming the life of badly behaved pupils and creating a lasting legacy at the school. A heartwarming story with beautiful choral music.

• Intouchables - one of the best known French films but it's so good that I felt couldn't not mention it. A former criminal of African origins from the Parisien suburbs gets a job working as a carer for one of wealthiest men in the country and they form an unlikely friendship that transforms both of them for the better. Funny, moving and meaningful.

• Le Grand Bain - comedy about a group of middle aged men going through mid-life crises who form the first local synchronised swimming team for men, trained by a struggling former champion. They face ridicule and doubt but together manage to bring meaning back into their lives and achieve more than they ever imagined. I wasn't expecting great things from this film I have to admit but I was pleasantly surprised to find it very entertaining.

• La Famille Bélier - the daughter of a deaf family discovers that she has an incredible talent for singing. This inspiring comedy tells the story of the family's struggles in a very beautiful way. Highly recommend.

• Caché - I have mixed feelings on this film. I find it to be very original in its style of production and I think it addresses a very important aspect of French history. Slightly uncomfortable to watch with some shocking scenes, this psychological thriller directed by Michaele Haneke is one that I am glad to have seen even if I didn't exactly enjoy it. It follows a man who receives video tapes of recorded footage of the outside of his house through the post, grotesque drawings sent to his son at school and anonymous phone calls made to his wife. An interesting exploration of the themes of surveillance, the Algerian war, immigration and memories.

• Ma Nounou est un Millionaire - a very funny rom-com about a wealthy businessman set to take over his father's company. His boss challenges employees to spend 2 weeks working "à la base" to reconnect with the reality of the outside world. He finds work as the cleaner and child minder of three rebellious children who will do whatever they can to get rid of him in an attempt to get their mum to spend more time with them. Determined to exceed the expectations of his colleagues, he has his work cut out for him to win over the family and keep his job.

Immersion

Whilst the above methods are very useful at home for improving language, I cannot rate highly enough the benefits of just throwing yourself into it. The most important thing here is that you make sure it's full immersion, ideally somewhere where nobody else speaks English. I have been in far too many situations where, although I am surrounded by French speakers, we are communicating in English because their English is better than my French so it's easier for everyone and they want to use me as a means to improve their English and I don't manage to speak French because it's hard and it's scary.

I've had two really effective immersion experiences. The first one was through Workaway. I stayed with a family in Switzerland who spoke no English at all to me. I was interacting with their children who only spoke French and it was great for forcing me to tune into the language and start thinking in French. We were able to communicate without much problem. On the other hand, I did have one experience where I stayed on a farm with someone from Luxembourg. He only spoke French to me but he spoke very fast and I probably understood about 25% of what he said. Nonetheless he continued talking to me the whole week and I nodded along with the odd broken phrase here and there. It wasn't easy but I did understand more by the end of the week and I'm sure I would've improved had I stayed longer.

My second good immersion experience was in Canada where I had a job that required me to speak French. This was really hard at the start, especially as I was still getting used to the Quebec accent but, by half way through the summer, I could understand and reply almost every time a customer asked me a question and I was able to give instructions in French without a problem.

It's not easy but I think immersion is the only way to really understand a foreign language and culture and ultimately to become fluent. Good luck!

One of my earliest attempts at immersion

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