If you have always dreamed about learning French but were always set back by how long it takes to learn a new language… Fear not! It doesn’t mean it is impossible nor that it is too hard, and there are many ways to learn quickly and efficiently. In today’s new post, GlobalExam will teach you how to study French fast and efficiently!
- How long does it really take to learn French?
- How to learn faster ?
- Our top 5 Tips to learn French quickly
- Learn French fast online with General Français by GlobalExam!
Now without further ado, let’s get into it!
How long does it really take to learn French?
Forget what you have read about how it takes to learn a new language: it depends on too many factors. It can be easy for some learners, difficult for others, as well as be quicker for some than others. It all depends on various things, and you should take all of them into account if you want to know how long it will take you to learn French.
Levels
First, you should assess your own level. Do you know a little bit of French already? Do you only have vague memories from school? Have you never heard of French before or do you want to learn French as a beginner? All of these questions should help you get an answer. If you’re still not sure where your level is exactly, you can always take an assessment test. There are a lot of them proposed in books or even online. You should also know where you want to go. Do you want to learn a few words and some basic sentences to communicate with a friend of yours? Do you want to learn French to work (and thus, learn specific vocabulary related to your job). Do you want to work, live, travel in a French-speaking country? All of these questions should help you understand why you want to learn French and tell you where you’re going.
Motivation
If learning French for a job or a trip abroad can be a great source of motivation, sometimes you might not know why you want to learn French. Sometimes, it is just because you like the language! And it is totally ok. You should just keep in mind why you want to do it in order to stay motivated throughout your learning process. Staying motivated is the key to avoid being bored and dropping everything in the thick of learning.
How similar is your mother tongue with French?
If you speak one of the Roman languages (which are Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Portugese and other regional languages such as Catalan or Occitan) then it can be slightly easier for you to learn French. These languages have common features and so you will be used to the grammar and vocabulary. If you speak another Roman language, your brain will already be used to the grammar mechanics and the way you have to think to construct these languages. This is why it is easier for you to learn a Romance language if you already know one: your brain is already adapted to their unique features. A lot of vocabulary words are also very similar so you can compare them to words you already know and spot them easily.
Use good ressources
If you want to learn efficiently (and quickly) you should choose your resources carefully. The Internet is a marvellous place for learning languages because there are so many resources available. Fun activities, videos, series, songs, ebooks or podcasts… there is everything you need and everything you want! There are also tons of online resources available for literally everyone: from beginner to advanced resources, free subscriptions, paying subscriptions, different skills to train such as oral comprehension or written comprehension, games and other ways to learn French for kids, podcasts, ebooks… you can even make new friends who will speak your target language!
Do you know other languages?
Studies have shown that the more languages you know, the easier it is to learn other languages. So, if you already know a second language (or more), French will be easier to learn. Learning a language requires a specific brain mechanic and this mechanic is easier to grasp if you have already learnt a language. Why not study French and Spanish together?
Time
How long it will take to learn speak French fluently will also depend on how much time you have got. Remember that regularity is very important and it is way better to learn for a little bit every day rather than for a long period of time once per month. The more you can be regular (learn every day, practise every day) the quicker you will learn.
How to learn French the fastest way
Now that you know why to study French, the main reasons to learn it and how does it take to learn it, all that’s left is to find the fastes ways to study French! Here are five tips to help you learn French quickly.
#1 Choose resources according to your level
We have talked about ressources, they’re a great way to improve quickly. But be careful, you should alway choose resources that suit your level. Ressources (that is to say: podcasts, books, videos, exercises etc.) should always be easy enough to understand but slightly hard enough that you need some brain juice. If you choose something too easy, you won’t learn anything: you know everything perfectly already. And you will be stuck at the same level for a while, progressing only very little by little. On the contrary, if you choose something way too difficult for you, you won’t understand a thing and you will be stuck.
#2 Don’t underestimate active and passive learning
Movies, TV shows, songs, podcasts, books etc. are all means of passive learning. Passive learning is when you only receive information and internalize it. This is what happens when you listen to a song in a foreign language or watch a movie in its original version. You pick up vocabulary words, accents, structure sentences. You should always pair up active learning (the traditional way of learning with lessons and exercises) and passive learning to learn any language. Trust ue, this combination of active and passive study is one of the best tips to learn French easily.
#3 Be coherent
Once you have assessed why you want to learn French, you should try to set up goals in order to achieve it. Learning with goals in mind will help you stay “on schedule” and keep yourself motivated. If you said you want to learn for an hour a day, respect 1 hour a day of learning as much as you can. But don’t beat yourself up if you miss one day and drop everything. It’s okay to skip a day as long as it remains an isolated event. If you realize that you’re missing too many 1 hour a day learning, it is because it is too much and too high of a goal. Instead of dropping everything, just lower your goal a little bit: make it 30 minutes. Consistency is key when learning and you can always go back to 1 hour a day later when you feel more comfortable.
#4 Practise everyday
If you are looking for ways to practice everyday, the internet is the best option you have. There are so many websites and platforms in which you can train it is impossible to not find something that will suit your goals and your level. Training platforms such as GlobalExam will help you get useful resources adapted to your own level. It will also allow you to get statistics and personalized follow-up to make sure you progress at your own rhythm.
#5 Go abroad and learn in French Speaking countries.
We know this last one is easier said than done but the ultimate and fastest way to be fluent in a language is to go abroad for a longer period of time. When you learn a language abroad, you are fully immersed in the language you want to learn. It may sound scary at first but you really quickly get used to it. Plus, foreigners are always so welcoming and willing to help learners!
If you have the opportunity to go abroad whether itis for work, living there or even for a longer vacation, learning French in a French speaking country is definitely the quickest and most efficient method to become fully fluent.
Learn French faster online thanks to Global General
Now that you know how long it can take to learn French, you can start looking for online solutions to help you achieve your goal as quickly as possible, Global General from GlobalExam is one of them. Global General is an online training platform that will help you learn French in a quick and efficient way. Our activities are meant for beginner levels (A1 & A2) as well as intermediate levels (B1 & B2). Training on Global General will give you access to:
- a complete online training that will help you stay engaged and motivated in your learnings
- fun and interesting activities so you can stay focused
- detailed corrections with translations in your native language so you can make sure you understand everything perfectly
- a personal trainer that will follow your progress along the way and give you help whenever you need.
Training on Global General will guarantee you will stay motivated and interested in your learning journey, where classic education sometimes fails new learners.
What are you waiting for? Hop on with us and let’s learn French together!
