What is the key to speaking French? 

Some might say passion, some might say hard work, some might say immersion....

What do you actually need to get by in French? 

We are not talking about fluency here, just some good old fashioned basic French that will be good enough to get you through your next trip and will allow you to enjoy the amazing gratification that connecting with the locals can be.

You can do it, I promise. 

Here are what you truly really need to get there...I promise it's not that bad.

1) Master the sounds

Do not worry about your accent but work right away on your pronunciation. Listen, say it, repeat, and then do it again.

Speak from day 1. Do not wait until you're better, until you know more vocabulary, until you have been to classes.  

2) Basic tenses

Learn and understand the most important 5 tenses and some common verbs.

4 or 5 tenses will allow you to speak of any situation. The present, the futur proche, the passé...

Struggling to work out which books you need?

You are not alone, the challenge often faced when buying books or resources to learn French is not that there isn’t enough available.

The problem is that there’s so much out there that it can be overwhelming to decide what’s good and what is not.

At the end of the day, French is French and you will mostly find the same content or same approach packaged up and presented a little differently. While some are good,  some are bad and a lot is simply awful and more confusing than helpful.

So how do I know?

If it claim to be able to teach or help you learn a language in a few days, weeks or months or it promises you fast fluency, save your money. 

Anything promising you a way to ‘get fluent quickly’ is no different to an add promising you six-pack abs without effort even if I truly understand the tempatation! 

Languages take time, a lot of effort,...

What a title!

Now that I have said it, there is no turning back.

Let's have a closer look at why you want to get back into French, shall we? 

Picture yourself planning your next trip, speaking with your local boulanger, asking about the origin of the produce at the local market, enjoying an aperitif with your delightful neighbours...that's what we all want when we learn another language. Very rarely...ermm...actually never, do I hear : "ohhh, I'm learning French because I really want to understand the reasons why avoir is so irregular".

No, what we want is connection, we want to understand and be part of conversations, we want to get the jokes, the nuances and feel culturally supercharged..hey..maybe we want to feel we could live there and be ok, maybe we could almost be French.

I know because that was exactly me when I started learning English. I just wanted to be able to talk to Madonna, the guys from Depeche Mode and Lloyd Cole if I ever met them. That's true, when I...

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...

I'm afraid to report that there is no way around learning verbs and grammar when you decide to study French. It's an essential part of the learning journey but there are a few ways to make it easier, smoother and lot more enjoyable.

Here are my top teacher approved hacks to learn better and faster.

• Say it out loud: whenever you hear some new word, repeat it, put your French voice on and go for it. Nobody has to hear you. If it is a new word you aren't sure how to pronounce, just google it and click the sound icon, click again, then repeat.

•  Learn some ready made sentences. Why not? I used to learn songs lyrics in English (taken from teen mags back in the day) cut and paste them in my essays. Yes, I did that...and you know what ? I still remember so many of them ! Don't hesitate, dedicate some time to find sentences you like, that you would see yourself using and go for it. 

• Watch some French movies with subtitles. I feel like a broken record but...