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The first step of learning a language is complete and utter immersion. We stuck labels on every object around the house, and useful phrases remained on a whiteboard in our living room until we knew them by heart. French TV was always on in the background, and we made a policy to speak as much French to each other as we could. I filled my iPod with French music, and stacked French magazines on my desk.
The aim here was to normalise the French language in our daily life. It can be exhausting for those around you to be constantly asked what something means. A language exchange is more mutually beneficial: find someone who is keen to learn the language that you speak, and you can help each other!
Fortunately, the girl who lived next door was a similar age to me, and I straight away made it my mission to become her friend. She spoke fairly good english, but I asked her to speak French to me anyway. She was happy to translate anything I needed, so long as I was willing to teach her some English too. This may sound obvious at first, but I challenge you to maintain an equal balance between the four in the long run.
In many ways, language learning is like dieting. You can start off with ambitious goals and a set plan. After a bit of time, you start to falter from the plan for one reason or another. The good news is that, unlike dieting, you will never completely lose the things you previously studied. They go dormant, sure, but you can activate them again. In other words, you need to be determined about reading, writing, listening, and speaking, and you need practice them in a way that creates urgency, simulates real situations, emphasizes common vocabulary, highlights expressions, engages all of your senses, and you need do so consistently.
In addition, simulating immersion can help us understand which mediums of acquisition should receive preferential treatment. In list form:. This order in in some ways counterintuitive. If I tell you to go learn French right now, your first instinct is probably to find a French book. If you focus on reading and writing at the start, you will not progress. The balanced strategy is dedicating an equal amount of time to the 4 mediums of acquisition.
This means that for every hour of study, you should devote 15 minutes to speaking, 15 to listening, 15 to reading, and 15 to writing. To create urgency, you need to watch videos and speak out loud to yourself. To simulate real interaction, you need to watch YouTube channels and speak out loud to yourself. To hear common vocabulary, you need to only consume media produced in France. To highlight expressions, you need to only consume media produced in France. To engage all your senses, you need to take up French cuisine.
To get consistent exposure, you need to study throughout the day. Your study plan needs to simulate immersion in the 6 ways we have discussed, and it needs to incorporate the balanced strategy.
Here are a few app and website resources each of the four mediums of acquisition that I used for practice. Netflix — here you can watch French movies in their original languages or use French dubbing on English movies. Love French cuisine? Looking up a recipe to cook in French is a fun way to learn new vocabulary. There is no doubt about it. How fast you learn French is directly connected to the opportunities you have to practice. Do you have people who you can communicate with French on the regular?
Do you have the opportunity to travel to or live in a French-speaking country? Immersion is easily the best way to learn a language. You pick up a lot of vocabulary from your day to day experiences and interactions. You learn from reading signposts, advertising, bus timetables, from going to the supermarket or simply having a meal out.
But, that doesn't mean if you can't travel to a French-speaking country, you can't learn French. It just means you need to make a bigger effort to find people to practice with. Are there any meetup or language groups that get together where you live?
Does your language academy host events for students to practice? Taking some time to find some people you can speak French with regularly, will pay off. No results for your search, please try with something else. Try Mate Mate Translate, the translator app that perfectly integrates with your learning flow. Learn French faster with Mate Mate Translate, the translator app that perfectly integrates with your learning flow.
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