How to study French more easily?
French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family that descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other languages d’oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France’s past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.
Spoken as a native language by about 60 million people, as a second language by about 202 million people, and as a foreign language by many more people, it is the third most spoken language in Europe, after German and English. French is spoken in parts of Africa, North America, South America, Asia and Oceania, and enjoys the status of an official language in Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, France, Gabon, Guinea, Haiti, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Monaco, Niger, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo, and Vanuatu.
French was widely used as a diplomatic language from the 17th century until the middle of the 20th century when English replaced it to be the lingua franca of the world. It is still used in many international organisations, such as NATO, the UN, EU institutions, and the World Trade Organisation.
Let's now look at a few tips and tricks that will be of immense help when trying to learn French French through classroom or self-study.
- Improve your listening skills with multiple online resources such as talk shows, French news, audiobooks to name a few!
- Watch French films with English subtitles and English films with French subtitles to accelerate your learning.
- Learn with songs, podcasts and anything that you can lay your hands on to get maximum of some spare time.
- Set realistic goals!
- Identify your unique style of learning that helps you ace the language.
- Read aloud to clear your pronunciation
- Find a conversation partner to practice speaking with and seeking feedback.
- Identify French genuine and fake cognates
- Don’t be scared to try and make mistakes. We all do it. Why let that deter or embarrass you?!
- Remember self-studying is NOT meant for everybody!
- Watch out for fake online French learning tools!
- Sign up for an intensive course.
- Restrict translating French words/phrases into English to when you are just new.! As you progress move away from it consciously.
- Avoid writing in your head
- Maintain a journal of new phrases that will help you build your first conversation and not just words.
- Keep a French dictionary handy.
- Prioritize. Start with spoken French if the idea is to learn for business or travel!
- Choose commonly used words to start a conversation rather than tougher ones that don’t find a way into the day-to-day usage!
- Try and link French words/ phrases to images and visual situations, not English words.
- Study a language every day in short intervals or for about 2-4 hours, as much you can spare. Goes for French too. Studying regularly, for a short time, helps dramatically than trying to do it all in one sitting over weekends!
- Practice without a blink. There’s no escape from practice and no shortcuts.
- Engage in constant review to measure your progress – repetition is the key!
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While all the above will help you ace your learning smoothly, the best way to learn great French still remains through the full immersion method. A technique sworn by best of best, that can be daunting at first but has been proven to scale up your French Learning immaculately, in no time. To avoid feeling completely lost, you can reach out to a language centre in France such as the CIA; which is located on the French Riviera and offers tailored programs for all levels.