How long does it take to fluently learn French? Perhaps the first question that comes to the mind of any French learner’s mind when they first start learning a new language is “how long until I learn French?” or “how long until I will have completely learned the language?” The anticipation is like an itch just waiting to be scratched. In the case of French learners, with the seemingly never ending lists of rules and their exceptions, a French learner may feel desperate to reach the end goal of fluency and completely skip the potentially frustrating process of learning.
There are several factors that can help determine whether or not your French journey will be longer than necessary or a speedy and smooth track. Furthermore, we will identify things you can do to learn French faster and more effectively. It is important to consider the timeline of how long it takes to learn French and what your potential is.
Why not learn the language faster with more efficiency? Why not learn it in less time but with more understanding of the language itself? Today, we will discuss 3 techniques to help you learn French as fast as possible in the best way. Furthermore, we will identify common mistakes and things to avoid when learning French. What are the difficulties of the French language?
Mistakes and things to avoid when learning French
1. Use of External Resources
Gone are the days of lengthy French textbooks that offer a one size fits all approach to learning French. With technology at our fingertips and the limitless opportunities today’s society offers, one thing is for sure: using external resources and other learning methods besides just memorization is a surefire way to learn French faster, not to mention more effectively.
One method of “using external resources” includes making use of tutoring services. A quick Google search of “French classes near me” will avail the hundreds of options you have. Here at Elite French Tutoring, we offer online and in person French classes NYC. We believe in making use of our unique, customized, and personalized tutoring lessons to speed the French learning process. Our class in French helps you develop an authentic sense of the language. We offer lessons for people of all ages and thus provide French classes seniors and children, as well as everyone in between.
2. Prioritizing Your Learning Style
Unfortunately, one big mistake that French learners make when learning French is to neglect your own learning style. When studying anything, whether it be language or history, it is important to identify how you learn best. Do you learn best when information is presented in a visual format? Or perhaps you learn best when you hear the material? Or maybe you prefer a more hands on approach. Or a mixture of several learning methods.
If you learn best using style A but use learning style B because you heard that is the most efficient way, I have news for you: it’s going to take you longer to learn French, and it may even be a challenge. So, needless to say, it is incredibly important to learn French in the learning style that works best for you.
But what does work best for you? When studying French, try and notice which methods work best for you. When you listen to French, do vocabulary words tend to stick better, or do you memorize the words better when you write them out? Look at your past experiences and take a learning style quiz and implement the learning style that works best for you.
3. Consistency! How Often To Study French?
If only there was a formula that would tell us exactly how to study, when to study, and how often to study French in order to be fluent in French in x amount of time. Unfortunately, we don’t have such a formula. But, we do know what works and what science says will get you to fluency.
A key to learning any new language is consistency. In the same way we need to go to the gym often to maintain and build muscle, we must study the language every day to maintain and gain new knowledge. If we skip our study, we will create gaps in knowledge which will slow down, or even prevent us, from reaching our goal of fluency.
According to the U.S Foreign Service Institute, French falls into the first tier of languages which corresponds to a recommended hour of study time per day. According to the FSI, a Native English speaker could learn a tier 1 language such as French in as little as 2 years.
