When you study French, you’re not only learning the language; you’re also learning how to learn foreign languages.
After all, while learning a language may entail mastering new words, rules of grammar and ways of speaking, it also involves using techniques that enable us to pick them up. And, not surprisingly, some learning methods tend to be much more effective and interesting than others.
So if you’re studying French, you might like to try out the following methods to turbocharge your language-learning experience. Bon courage !
1. Write down example sentences for vocabulary
While looking up the definition of words, don’t just write down the French word and its English equivalent like this:
du coup = so
Instead, see if you can also find and write down examples of how the word is used in a sentence, like this:
J’ai eu un problème avec ma voiture ce matin et du coup, je suis arrivé en retard au boulot. Mince, le resto est fermé. On fait quoi du coup ?
[I had a problem with my car this morning, so I got to work late. Damn, the restaurant’s closed. So what shall we do?]
That way, you’ll be far better able to use the word correctly when the occasion calls for it.
2. Think of words like LEGO blocks
It’s also worth thinking about words less as ideas in themselves and more as LEGO-like blocks which, when combined in a certain way, convey an idea. The reason I say this is because French often employs completely different words from English to express the exact same idea. For example, the sentence ‘I’m excited to see you’ might be translated as ‘J’ai hâte de te voir’, which literally means ‘I have haste to see you’. The reason you’d use such a construction is that French — or at least formal French — simply lacks a one-word adjective that conveys the meaning of the word ‘excited’ and hence expresses the sentiment by alternative means.
So while it’s great to consult a dictionary and find the French equivalent of English words, always bear in mind that the word you’re looking up might not be used in French the way you would use it in English. That way, you’ll do a better job at avoiding English sentence constructions while speaking French, which will help you sound more like a native speaker.
3. Use Google to “sound out” a phrase
In my experience, if the expression receives more than 10,000 search results, there’s a very good chance it is used in everyday speech and/or is grammatically correct. If the top search results are from French dictionaries, moreover, you can infer that it’s a legitimate expression, and so you should be able to use it in your speaking and writing without getting into too much trouble. In other words, it would be worth writing down in your notebook.
If the expression receives between 500–10,000 search results, it’s probably perfectly fine to use, but the paucity of results suggests it might be a little irregular or not particularly French-sounding.
If it receives under 500 results, however, you would probably want to avoid using it altogether. I’ve tried using such search terms in French essays before, and let’s just say it did me no favours in the grades department.
It also pays to analyse the top results. For example, if the expression is separated by other words or pieces of punctuation, it might not be as common an expression as the number of search results might suggest, and might just be plain bad French.
4. Learn ‘set phrases’
While reading answers, try to identify and subsequently practice using what I like to call ‘set phrases’ that have to do with expressing an opinion — set phrases along the lines of ‘je pense que’, ‘je crois que’, ‘j’ai l’impression que’, ‘à mon avis’, and so on.
It also pays to do likewise for words and phrases related to ‘actually’ (e.g. en fait, justement, par contre, etc.), ‘so’ (e.g. alors, donc, du coup, etc.), ‘anyway’ (e.g. de toute façon, en tout cas, quand même, etc.), and similarly omnipresent phrases.
While they may not convey anything in terms of actual content, peppering them in your speaking and writing will instantly make you sound more fluent in French — even if you’re just mindlessly reciting them while thinking about what you plan to say next.
5. Speak with a native French-speaking buddy
Of course, this is easier said than done because you have to first find someone to practice with. But if you use apps like HelloTalk, it shouldn’t be hard to find someone you could practice French with (while in return, helping them with their English).
The reason you’d want to practice with a native speaker is pretty obvious – they know the language like the back of their hand. So you’re much more likely to learn French as it’s actually spoken, rather than the more polished but stiff textbook French that you learn in school. Your buddy would also be able to help you with pronouncing words in a way that goes beyond the capabilities of most apps.
One thing that could be helpful would be to ask them to correct you every time you make a mistake. They may be reluctant to do this – especially if it’s apparent that you make mistakes every sentence. But if you tell them that you wouldn’t consider it impolite to be corrected but very much desire to know the right way to say things, they might not feel uncomfortable with your request. If you can learn what you’re saying wrong and then learn the right way to say things, you’ll progress so much faster than someone who continues to say the wrong things without ever being corrected.
