How to become fluent in French without living there?

I am often asked how to speed up the process as well as what is actually required to become fluent in French.

Well, fluency takes time and a lot of practise, books, apps, drills and exercises are great but when it comes to conversation, you guessed it…it’s all about practise!

One thing though is start simple !  You will not be able to automatically translate what goes inside your educated English brain into French straight away! Students often think of quite complex sentences in English, only to get frustrated when they find it hard to put into French. Simplify what you are trying to say in English first, then, put it into French.

As you keep doing this, which if you think about it is more about how to tackle English than French, you will become more and more comfortable and start developing a gentle fluency. Remind yourself that your fluency doesn’t have to be like the one of a native straight away, let’s aim first for a flow of ideas that is delivered nicely.

With more practise, you will come across more tenses, more grammar and new words, which you can use in order to make your sentences a little more complex and richer as you go. Accept the fact that you will make mistakes, that sometimes, a new point might not click straight away but keep going.

Are you learning to drive ? Ok…think about it a bit the same way. Understanding how the car turns left or right, pressing the pedals is very easy but why do you think you need about 120h of practise before you can go on the road by yourself?

Being comfortable with a language is quite similar. Learning a thing or two is quite easy but putting it all together, thinking about the tenses, the grammar, good vocab, the irregulars can feel like driving at night in the rain. Spooky!

In order to see progress fast, set some clear and achievable goals.

Focus maybe on 3 points every week, make a list and pin them where you study, maybe “1 new tense, 1 grammar point and 5 new verbs” and use them all the time, these should be the focus of the week.

Put into manageable chunks like this, the task will seem less daunting, by the end of the week, you won’t even be thinking about it.  

Another great way to fast track fluency is to watch French films regularly. Trust me, put the English subtitles and let yourself get immersed into a wonderful or funny French film.

So what is your secret to reach a better level of conversation?

Let me know,

Alex

ps....did you know that La Pause dej' Membership gives members up to 4h per week of French conversation on Zoom ? Try it free for 7 days.