French is one of the most beautiful languages in the world. It is spoken by more than 220 million people - join them too! Learning a language can be difficult, but this article provides a quick overview of the methods by which you will learn French in no time!
Steps
Start learning
- If you've studied languages before, remember how you learned them and see what works for you and what doesn't.
- In most training courses, you will write a lot and talk little. Speaking the language and immersing yourself in it is extremely important and is an effective way to learn a language faster.
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Memorize 30 words and phrases every day. In 90 days you will know about 80% of the language. The most frequently used words make up the largest percentage of usage, so start by memorizing the most common words.
Learn the structure of the language. Learn how verbs combine with nouns and with each other. What you learn at the beginning will make more sense as you become more proficient with the language. Always pay attention to the correct pronunciation.
Immersion in the language environment
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Read and write in French. To become familiar with a language, you need to read and write in it. This will help you use the words you have already memorized and keep them in your memory.
Listen to something in French. Play French music or your favorite film dubbed in French. Look for French movies, French TV shows and radio stations. Practice by repeating what you hear.
Speak French. This is one of the most important aspects in learning French. You should speak the language, even if you feel uncomfortable because you don't know much. Everyone starts out like this, but over time you will improve.
- Find a pen pal or skype a friend whose native language is French. There are many programs on the internet or at universities and language schools that can put you in touch with people who speak French.
- Don't be discouraged by criticism of your pronunciation. Instead, thank the critic and work on improvement.
- Speak out loud in French when you are alone. Tell what you are doing. If you wash dishes or drive a car, talk about it. Pay attention to your intonation and pronunciation.
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Practice, practice, practice. Without practicing what you have learned, you will not get very far. Even a quick language learning takes a certain amount of time. If you work hard and practice what you have learned, there is no doubt that you will learn French well!
Learn useful phrases
- Some people are naturally good at language, and some are not. Don't use this as an excuse.
- After expanding your vocabulary, start translating things that you encounter in everyday life. For example, after listening to a song in your native language, try translating it into French. The same can be said for menus, road signs, and even casual conversations. You will probably find it tedious, but the language can only be learned with practice. Sometimes, speaking something in your native language, you will find yourself thinking that you do not know the translation of a particular word into French. In such cases, look into the dictionary so as not to lose skills and not forget the language.
- Speak French to yourself. Don't forget to laugh at mistakes - it helps.
- Try to speak French when no one can hear you. If you're not sure about a phrase, double-check it in a dictionary. There are many translation applications on the Internet - look for the right one for yourself. Don't be afraid to make mistakes; mistakes are part of the learning process.
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Find out your type of perception of information. Are you visual, auditory or kinesthetic? This means how you remember better: by seeing the words, by hearing them, or, respectively, by associating actions and feelings with words.
Learning languages is a rather complicated procedure that requires patience and a lot of work. Today, there are many methods on how to learn French, which is quite popular in all European countries.
Today, many learn French in France, which gives very good results. You can get acquainted with such programs on various specialized sites.
First stage
To learn French from scratch, experts recommend following several consistent recommendations:
- First of all, you should decide how you best perceive information. For example, some people can quickly memorize words by ear, while others still need to see them. This is very important, because the speed of learning depends on it.
- Start learning from the basics. To do this, it is better to learn how individual letters and syllables sound. This will allow you to learn how to read correctly, which is very important for this language. In the initial stages, practice for 15-20 minutes several times a week. Then this interval should be brought to 1-2 hours minimum.
We continue learning
When you have dealt with the basics, you can proceed to more complex material. The algorithm for studying it consists of the following sequence of actions:
- Learn grammar. It is important to understand not only how words are spelled, but also how to put them into sentences correctly. Start with the simplest, where you will not need to create complex forms. Move on to tenses and other rules in sequence. Do not try to study everything at once, as you will simply get confused.
- When you already know quite a lot, you can start improving. To do this, watch films in French, as this will allow you to develop speech correctly. You should also start with the simplest stories, which are complemented by translation. Thus, you will not only perceive speech, but also memorize new words and phrases.
- Use the Internet, where many video and audio French lessons are posted. It is important to choose the best method for yourself that will help you.
- After each completed lesson or topic, try to consolidate it by writing your own sentences or texts. It is important to constantly repeat what you have learned much earlier.
Learning French is a complex procedure that requires patience and perseverance. This is the only way to get high-quality and fast results.
This material was sent to us by our regular reader Sanzhar Surshanov (his twitter @SanzharS), who shared very interesting ways to learn a new language for you.
Since the beginning of this year, I started learning French. I do this with the help of English, since I began to speak English confidently, I can say that I found the key to numerous Internet resources.
Below I want to list and describe how I learn French:
1. Duolingo
The site was founded by the creators of CAPTCHA and RECAPTCHA, students of Carnegie Mellon University. By the way, every time you enter recaptcha, you help digitize thousands of old books. The main idea is for people to simultaneously learn languages and translate the Internet into different languages.
All material is divided into different categories.
After you finish the exercises, you will be given real material taken from the Internet for translation. At first, simple sentences, as you learn more and more complex. By translating sentences you strengthen your knowledge and help translate web pages. You can also look at the translations of other users.
The exercises include text translation, speaking, listening. As such, there is no emphasis on grammar.
In addition to French, you can learn Spanish, German, English, Italian and Portuguese.
Audio lessons go like this: 2 students come to him who do not know French. It turns out that you become the 3rd student. Michelle talks to the students and that's how they learn the language. He explains the difference between English and French, first talks about new words, then asks to translate from English into French.
The main difference and rule of the Michel method is no need to try to memorize words, phrases, etc.
I don’t know how to explain, but after the first lesson, on an intuitive level, you yourself begin to guess how it will be in the language you are learning.
I personally really like this method.
3.Memrise
I use the memrise website to build up my vocabulary.
On the site you can find a lot of different courses, you can even learn Morse code. I'm learning - Hacking French.
By learning new words, you "grow flowers." Planting seeds, watering, etc.
The main feature is that you create memes for unfamiliar words and associate with the English language. I did not create memes myself, I use the creations of other users.
You grow flowers like this: at the beginning, memorize the meaning of words, then repeat them repeatedly. Click on the correct answer, write the translation yourself, listening to the phrase, choose the correct answer from the list. This ends the first part.
After 4-5 hours, you will receive a notification by email that you need to repeat the course. Repeat the above, if you make a mistake in the translation, the word goes to repeat. That's pretty much how it all happens.
4. News in slow french
Thanks to twitter, just recently I found a link to another wonderful resource.
Very cool site for French learners - newsinslowfrench.com/french-for-beg… They have grammar for beginners and News in slow french for intermediates
In France, everyone speaks the most beautiful language in the world - French. Learning and pronouncing it is a pleasure. At the same time, there will be no difficulty in pronunciation, except for the notorious rolling “r” for a Russian-speaking person. All the difficulties lie in reading the written words, where 8 letters can be pronounced as 2. Where to start learning French if only "Salute" and "Cherchet la femme" come to mind?
The whole process of learning any language is divided into essential blocks or stages, including mandatory exercises and additional classes to broaden one's horizons and incite interest in the country, culture and history. The first step is always the setting of pronunciation, it includes:
- The study of the alphabet, letters and sounds transmitted by them;
- Learning simple one-syllable words, as examples for the alphabet or for building vocabulary;
- Training in the perception of sounds by ear, getting used to French speech through audio books, music, videos.
The second stage includes reading and perception of French words "from a sheet". It’s more complicated here, the process includes the rules of phonetics and spelling. Usually at this stage, listening to speech is added:
- Performing grammar exercises on phonetics
The study of letter combinations, the rules for reading individual diphthongs or triphthongs. there are a great many of them in French;
Practice pronunciation of words and phrases written in the book;
Collecting the first words in a personal dictionary.To reading, you also need to add writing words, so the third stage is usually writing, which in turn consists of the following additional tasks:
- Practice writing printed and capital letters of the French alphabet;
- Performing exercises in notebooks aimed at developing motor skills and getting used to writing French letters;
- Maintaining your own dictionary, where you need to write down the studied words with transcription and translation;
- French spelling, mastering the features of writing sentences and punctuation marks.
After you can write and gain basic knowledge about reading individual letters and letter combinations, you can proceed to the most important stage - speaking, building phrases. Conversation is the most difficult moment in any foreign language.
It is necessary to express a thought, gathering together all the knowledge gained about pronunciation, grammar, sentence construction. That is why the first 3 stages go first, in order to think based on visual, mechanical and sound associations, the so-called "anchors". At the final stage, already added:
- Adapted literature;
- Audio materials, video materials with subtitles;
- Personal conversation with other students or with representatives of the French-speaking nation - native speakers.
Exercises and methodological literature should be continued to be studied and mastered so that the training is comprehensive and versatile. If you choose one thing, the lessons will become boring and it will be quite difficult to spur interest. Without a significant goal, learning French on your own will be quite difficult.
Who can help you learn French
Self-study of the French language is a difficult and time-consuming task, it requires considerable patience and iron motivation, otherwise nothing will work out. You need to spend 40-60 minutes a day on classes, although be 3 times a week, regularly, without long and frequent passes. Then the result will be noticeable quickly enough. You will not speak French in a month or two, as the advertisements of some courses promise, it takes about six months for a student to start building the first meaningful expressions from scratch.
On the way to becoming pronunciation, parsing grammar and searching for methodological materials, it is better to contact a specialist. It will be very difficult and time-consuming to independently look through all the courses offered on the network and choose the one you need, and the teacher can correctly suggest and correct your searches. What options can you choose:
- Ready-made full-cycle courses presented on the network in free or paid access;
- Online courses of study under the guidance of an educator;
- Classes in a language school - course of study;
- Personal training with a teacher;
- The toughest way is a trip to France for a couple of months with or without basic knowledge, and learning the language “in the fields”.
Any of these options can bring good results if there is a desire to learn and motivation. Without them, no teacher will make you speak.
Resources for Learning French
If you decide to start learning on your own, without the help of a teacher or with minimal participation, then you can use the World Wide Web as a source of information and knowledge. There are dozens of websites, apps and tutorials for learning French. The 7 most popular ones are:
- lingust.ru is a great resource for all levels, from basic to advanced. Methodological literature, assignments and audio assistants will guide you and suggest how best to build training.
- le-francais.ru - offers students to learn French with the help of online lessons and specially designed materials. A popular and useful site for beginners.
- tapis.com.au is an interesting resource for beginners and those who want to brush up on old knowledge. Lots of interesting materials - audio, video and exercises.
- podcastfrancaisfacile.com is a website with a wide variety of audio content to listen to in your spare time. There is information on different topics and sections of training materials.
- francaisonline.com offers to learn a language online with teachers. Convenient and simple site and additional sections of educational materials for self-study.
- bescherelle.com allows you to learn the language in a playful way, the site has complex and simple games, puzzles and rules presented in the form of an interesting game. Suitable for all levels, even children will be interested.
- hosgeldi.com - a resource for vocabulary replenishment, offers to regularly learn new words, you can subscribe, and you will receive materials by mail.
If you are a visual type of perception of information, and learning is easier while watching video materials, then the following resources are for you:
- Video lessons from the Kultura TV channel using the Polyglot system are located on the network at the address TK Kultura. Here you can get basic knowledge of the pronunciation and grammar of the French language in 16 lessons using a specially developed methodology.
- The site bonjour.com is needed for beginners who decide to master pronunciation on their own. Here you can find a lot of videos about the rules for sounding basic words and phrases.
- A treasure trove of videos in all languages of the world - the BBC website, where you can find scientific programs, interviews, funny and educational materials in French. bbc.com
- The interview can be viewed in French with subtitles at ina.fr. The material will be enough to master the features of pronunciation and improve reading speed.
- Interesting material is presented by the website baihou.ru in the form of a training series, where all the information is presented simply and clearly, each video has subtitles.
For maximum immersion in the culture and everyday life of the French, you can join the print and online publications of France, watch national television and listen to local radio stations.
- Television France- france24.com, tivi5mondeplus.com, d8.tv;
All radio stations of the country radios.syxy.com
French daily newspapers and their online versions- Le Figaro and Le Nouvel observateur.These resources will be enough to diversify boring lessons and exercises, to learn a lot of different information about life and the situation in the country, to study the peculiarities of culture, important milestones in history and the mentality of the French.
- Learn to enjoy the lessons. Boring memorization of the rules and monotonous repetition of the same words will not bring results, because something else must be put into the work. Dilute the materials with funny videos, reading books, watching movies, combine pleasant pastime and lessons. Find an interesting interlocutor and work out the acquired knowledge in a personal, relaxed conversation.
- Set aside 30-60 minutes a day for French. Regular, even short, sessions give huge results if carried out productively and to the point where they get bored. The ideal time is 40 minutes, of which 10-15 are for repeating old material, the rest of the time for new knowledge. Choose the time of the greatest activity of your brain. For someone in the morning it is easier to learn and remember, someone is an owl and new material fits in the head only at night.
- Don't try to learn everything in one sitting. It is still possible to sit over the lessons on the first day of training for 4-5 hours, but such a volume will quickly get bored and become a burden. Accordingly, productivity will quickly drop to zero. Break the lesson into blocks of an hour and practice every day.
- Get a dictionary. A notebook with notes performs several functions at once: mechanical memorization of the material covered, words are always at hand and available for repetition, all the studied information is in one place. You can duplicate new words on a separate sheet and attach to a conspicuous place. You can periodically look at what you have written out of boredom and refresh your memory.
- Review what you have learned. Set aside 20-30% of the lesson time for yesterday's topic, and it is better to look through everything recorded at first. If you spend 15 minutes a day on this, then the material will not have to be taught again in a couple of months.
- Read more literature. Reading books broadens horizons, distracts from problems, calms and helps in learning. French authors have worked as productively as in any other country, so there is material for everyone. At the initial stage, you will need to look for adapted literature and read books of your level or higher with a dictionary. With the growth of vocabulary, the range of works will increase and expand.
- Try to speak as often as possible. Without practice, one cannot learn a language, not in six months, not in a lifetime. The meaning of training is precisely in the opportunity to maintain a dialogue and communicate with representatives of another country. You can get the opportunity to communicate on special forums, in language schools, on social networks, on trips. At first, communication will be primitive, but with the help of an interlocutor, you can learn stable turns of speech, words often used in dialogue, analogues of standard phrases, and much more.
- Find like-minded people. A person needs to always feed his interests and find strength for further development. The best way to do this is to show off the knowledge gained and the evolution of knowledge. In language schools, on forums and among friends, you can find the opportunity to share the results. Nothing motivates as much as the desire to do better than someone else.
- Learn the language comprehensively. Exercise, writing, reading, audio materials, video materials - everything should be included. For independent study of French, you need to paint a program where all types of classes will be harmoniously combined. Then the training will be productive and interesting.
- Try not to learn individual words, but phrases in the context of everyday conversation. Concepts vary greatly in meaning depending on the neighborhood. Words taken out of context have little to do with real speech. Try to study exactly the phrases in order to memorize the features of the construction of sentences, the use of individual words, phraseological units and idioms.
- Develop a reward system for yourself. In the classroom with the teacher, this function is performed by assessments, praise, and prizes. Any incentive activities can be suitable for self-study. Learned the block - treat yourself to ice cream, a trip to the park or a new trinket. Pick some nice little things for yourself and celebrate small victories. While waiting for a prize, a boring lesson will go much faster and more productively.
- Don't quit at the first difficulty. The most difficult months will be 3-6 months, when the first fuse has passed, and little material has been studied yet. Then laziness begins, the search for excuses and the first absences from classes. Find the strength to overcome them, in six months it will be much easier, the brain will get used to portioned loads and will begin to perceive new information more calmly.
How to learn French on your own?
Summing up, it is necessary to say about motivation. The main thing is to want to learn French, materials and courses are freely available online and in bookstores. Find an hour a day for classes and have fun, combining learning with watching movies. reading books, meeting interesting people. Then the process will be as productive as possible, without even resorting to the help of teachers and other linguists.
Instruction
Of course, any language is easiest and most effective to learn in special courses or with an individual teacher. But often adults do not have the opportunity to attend classes, so you have to study. Fortunately, with high motivation and perseverance, it is quite possible to learn a foreign language perfectly on your own.
For a person who owns a computer, the best option for learning French will be one of the multimedia programs that are currently released quite a lot. A computer disk will allow you to take a language course almost identical to full-time in the classroom. You can buy a multimedia course via the Internet or in a bookstore that sells educational literature and computer programs.
Using a computer application, you will also receive grammar and syntax explanations like under the guidance of a real teacher, listen to the correct pronunciation and complete assignments. The program itself will check them, point out errors and help fix them. However, in addition to computer software, you will in any case need a French textbook, a grammar guide and a French dictionary.
If it is not possible to use a professionally designed multimedia course, you can learn French on your own in another way. Although in this case, the work will be more difficult and progress will become slower. First of all try to acquire a good French language. When choosing it, pay attention to what style the book is written in, how difficult it is for you to understand the material presented. Try to choose the most accessible literature.
Additionally, be sure to purchase a large French-Russian and Russian-French dictionaries, a grammar guide and, preferably, a French phrasebook for tourists. With the help of a phrase book, you will learn the most common phrases and set expressions. You will also need notebooks to take notes. It is better to have separate notebooks for doing exercises and for writing down new words. Working on the tutorial, try to consistently go through each lesson, completing all the exercises and tasks. If something is not clear to you, do not try to skip the topic and move on, be sure to understand the difficult material.
For better vocabulary acquisition, make it a rule to learn 10 new words every day. Words should be studied in this way: make small cards of thick paper about a quarter of an A4 sheet in size. On one side, write 10 new French words, on the back, the same 10 words with language. Learn the words by looking at the French originals, and look into the translation only if you don't remember their meaning at all. Cards are convenient because they can be carried with you everywhere and with every free minute. For example, while traveling in transport or while waiting at a bus stop.
An equally effective way is to record French words and phrases with translation into an MP3 player and listen to them on the go throughout the day. Thus, you will imperceptibly gain the necessary lexical volume. Almost from the very beginning of your studies, try to watch as many films in French as possible and read simple books or newspaper articles. This experience will give you the necessary skill to understand the language and apply it in everyday life.
Helpful advice
Any language without practice is dead, so from the very first months of learning French, try to find the opportunity to communicate in writing or verbally with native speakers on the Internet or in real life.
French language is the second most common after English, in many EU countries it is official. Learning French language and help you communicate better on your trips around Europe, you will be able to make contact with new business partners and make new friends. There are many French tutorials language y, however, there are several basic recommendations for its study.
Instruction
First of all, pay attention to. French language- one of those language ov, in which pronunciation is of key importance. Read aloud every day, even those texts that you cannot translate. Accustom your speech apparatus to French speech, remember that the more often you pronounce, the more familiar your French speech becomes. language.