How to sound more French.

You have learnt so much, you are killing it with your grammar, you feel ready to take on the French world by storm and speak French all the time until your conversation partner asks you to repeat or simply and rudely switch to English half way through your effort....how frustrating!

They might just want to be practising their English but they might also feel that you are actually struggling and maybe they are saving you.

To keep the natural flow of a conversation going, you will have put 'your French mouth' on. That's what I always tell my students when I hear them slip...You know what I mean, us French can go a bit lazy too and revert to " Ello..ow arrre yoo? " or  "Ze sheese is delissious".

So, follow these few tips and before you know it you will sound like you have been learning French for ever.

• listen.

Obvious, non?  learning a new language will be the exact same process as learning your first language, just faster. Hearing it over and over and over again will get you in the right space. For conversation, you are much better off knowing how a word sound than how it is written. 

There are many ways to hear French, watch some films, listen to Podcasts, watch French ads, documentaries...if you learn a new word that seems tricky, google it and listen to it. Hear some French, as often and as much as you can.

• keep it simple.

Especially when you start to really have a go, forget your tricky grammar and flashy vocab, keep your sentence structure simple. You want to ask a question..no worries, just drop the 'est-ce-que' and all the rules and just raise your voice at the end of the sentence. ' Tu veux dejeuner avec moi ?' Super facile!

• master some French sounds. 

Just like ' The" needs to be practised by the French to sound right and not " ze" you will need to accept a few things that will never change no matter how many time you pronounce it your way. The "H" at the start of a word will always be silent...always. 'l'hopital' sound like 'lopital'.

There are a few rules like this one and there are no ways around it.

• learn some sentences by heart.

This is a good way to make sure you never revert to English when you are stuck...

Imagine yourself in a patisserie in France and it's your turn to order. You could either point and say " s'il vous plait" or you could say " comment on appelle ça en français?"

Now, which one would be more beneficial to improve and learn I ask...bien sur the second option , it might even start a real conversation!!

Having a list of great sentences is a sure way to fake it until you make it.

So, time to throw yourself and speak speak speak....do not worry about your accent or your mistakes or your structures.  

ps. DId you know that I host daily French conversation classes in my Zoom Room ? Check out La Pause Dej' Membership and reach out if you'd like to give it a go.