How to learn French Fast and Well
The following points of advice were developed over thousands of hours of private tutoring.
Take the following into account and you will save a lot of time and disappointments.
1. Apps, films in French and podcasts are neither strategic nor time-effective. They project the illusion of learning but don’t lead to substantial results.
2. The popularity of a language app or platform is usually due to efficient marketing.
3. Languages are like Plato’s Cave. We have unfounded ideas about our abilities, about the nature of French, about best learning techniques and about what’s achievable.
4. Human perception distorts reality. We can deceive ourselves into believing most things about language learning.
5. No one picks up a language abroad. The result will be riddled with errors and approximations.
6. Forums of expats on Facebook, Quora and advice on Youtube are a collection of opinions from non-professionals.
7. Succesful language learners on Youtube are likely only telling part of the story. They do not detain the secret to French.
8. The fame of the French language schools is based on volume rather than professional breakthroughs.
9. By paying for hourly French classes you are embarking on a ruinous path that you could well accelerate for a lesser cost elsewhere.
10. Not knowing the credentials of your teachers means they could be selling you anything.
11. Most teachers in language schools are freelancers. They are neither personally invested in the success of the school nor in yours.
12. Language levels (A1, A2, B1…) are an invention that serve to sell language tests. They do not translate to reality.
13. Anything in our economy can be bought and sold, unless it is absurdly dangerous. Bad French lessons are not an unusual occurrence.
14. A language school or an app is not necessarily interested in making you good at French. Most are in the business of entertaining their students.
15. You will encounter a big resistance on a subconscious level when you start to learn French. Discipline will be required.
16. Our interpretation of our actions and results is usually distorted. We can easily pretend to learn French.
17. Students set the bar too low for subconscious reasons or because of social mirroring.
18. Learning with a “strictly French” teacher (even if they speak English) is equivalent to learning from their point of view, not yours.
19. High schools likely taught you very badly simply because they are not equipped to teach foreign languages.
20. High school is designed to be a very slow and drawn-out experience. It does not represent true learning.
21. A linguist is the equivalent of a scientist for languages. Not all teachers are linguists.
22. Most francophones believe themselves to be language teachers because they know French as natives.
23. The language industry does not have a “best” teacher or school. Reputations are based on marketing or longevity.
24. Adults do not not learn as a child learns. You are not a child. Neither in your circumstances or your brain.
25. Some teachers have gimmics like storytelling or learning French with songs. Use common sense.
26. A learner’s frame of mind is everything. See yourself as a speaker of French and embrace this identity.
27. Learners do not see clearly in a language. It is the lack of perspective that makes it difficult.
28. Speaking is the most visible manifestation of having learned, but is not the tool by which we learn.
29. Knowing something also means knowing what we do not know. Developing an appreciation of what remains shows us where we truly stand.
30. Making progress should be a quantifiable step forward since the last French class.
31. Selling time and selling skill are two very different business models a language school can choose.
32. We achieve no more than we set out to. Whether we believe French will take us 1 year of 5, both are true.
33. A student who can rationalize their French and fall back on grammar will understand better how to keep progressing than one who learned “phrases”.
34. There is no such thing as “getting by” in a language. There is a minimum amount that is necessary.
35. The priorities of French are not the same as English. Basing one on the other will cause you to overlook the important points of French.
36. French is a conjugation-based language. English has more to do with how we express the message.
37. Native speakers might respond well to your French despite it being full of errors. They might simply not know where to start correcting you.
38. We live in a society that believes in progress for the sake of progress. Language learning is not a field that can easily be improved or made easier.
39. Regular practice is needed. There are no shortcuts apart from a neat layout and clear explanations within your study program.
40. There is a hierarchy within the language system we call French. Learn the important skills first.
