I wish I had been told these things when I started learning French. If you just started learning French, read this very carefully, because it is important. Hope you like it! :)
✔ Things that are very useful.
French/English Dictionary
Verb Conjugation Book
Textbook for practice ideas
✔ Take a class in school on it.
It helps tremendously when the teacher actually is from France or a Francophone country. In French 1, my teacher wasn’t from france, and she spoke the words with an english accent. Now, in my French 2 class, my teacher grew up in France and speaks in a french accent, even when she’s speaking English. It realllyy helps to actually hear the french accent because over time, you can easily pick up the accent on your own and it helps you to better understand when other people speak it.
✔ Take time outside of class to practice and learn more.
I recommend using the app DuoLingo. It has really helped me know where I stand as far as how much I know. I thought I knew quite a bit, but it turns out I don’t even know some basic phrases. For a website, I recommend DuoLingo, because it’s online too, and Livemocha(http://www.livemocha.com/).
✔ Don’t just learn vocab.
I cannot stress this enough. You will never be able to speak french if all you know is a bunch of fruits and vegetables. You need to know proper sentence structure and grammar. Just like in english, you can’t just string words together to make a sentence. For example, when we say “I jump”, you just can’t do the same and say “She jump.”, it’s “She jumps.” Verbs are conjugated differently. So LEARN YOUR VERB CONJUGATIONS! I still don’t know them very well, and I know I need to work on them. If you don’t know what I mean by verb conjugations, don’t worry about it until you get there. And when you do get there, study them hard.
✔ Nouns can be male and female.
Yes, that chair is female. For some odd reason, all nouns are either feminine and masculine. You must know which one they are. I WISH someone would have told me this in French 1. When you start learning vocabulary, the “la” and “le” are more important than you think. I always have grammatical errors because of this.
✔ Listen, Read, Speak, and Write French.
Understanding when French people talk is the hardest part. You have to listen to videos of them speaking, otherwise, you will probably be lost. Take time to look up children’s books in French and try to identify as much of it as possible before looking it up. And when looking it up, don’t type the whole sentence into google translate, only 1 word at a time. I also thought it was cool that my teacher had a French version of Charlie Brown! Learn to use the accent when speaking. Have you ever heard someone with a foreign accent speak English? It’s hard to understand them isn’t it? It’s good to be able to speak it correctly. And lastly, write it. I like to write in French because I can visualize the spelling and sentence structure easier.
✔ Immerse yourself in French.
When you’re constantly surrounded by people speaking the language, you’ll learn it a whole lot faster. However, it’s costly to go to another country, so this is just a side note really. You probably won’t do this, but it helps to go to the country.
✔ Other Tips:
label your stuff in french- “la table” for the table (include the “la” and “le!!!)
listen to French Music- I like Christophe Mae
think in french- when you think “This is fun!”, then try to think “C’est amusant!”
when taking notes, don’t write the english translation- i know, it sounds crazy, but when you have to look it up over and over again because you didn’t write it, it helps you learn it.
teach it to your friends- when I learned I love you in French, i automatically went to my boyfriends and told him it. It took him forever to guess what it meant :P
~ Hope you really benefited from this tip! Let me know by liking and commenting if you have any questions!
Taylor ☺
✔ Things that are very useful.
French/English Dictionary
Verb Conjugation Book
Textbook for practice ideas
✔ Take a class in school on it.
It helps tremendously when the teacher actually is from France or a Francophone country. In French 1, my teacher wasn’t from france, and she spoke the words with an english accent. Now, in my French 2 class, my teacher grew up in France and speaks in a french accent, even when she’s speaking English. It realllyy helps to actually hear the french accent because over time, you can easily pick up the accent on your own and it helps you to better understand when other people speak it.
✔ Take time outside of class to practice and learn more.
I recommend using the app DuoLingo. It has really helped me know where I stand as far as how much I know. I thought I knew quite a bit, but it turns out I don’t even know some basic phrases. For a website, I recommend DuoLingo, because it’s online too, and Livemocha(http://www.livemocha.com/).
✔ Don’t just learn vocab.
I cannot stress this enough. You will never be able to speak french if all you know is a bunch of fruits and vegetables. You need to know proper sentence structure and grammar. Just like in english, you can’t just string words together to make a sentence. For example, when we say “I jump”, you just can’t do the same and say “She jump.”, it’s “She jumps.” Verbs are conjugated differently. So LEARN YOUR VERB CONJUGATIONS! I still don’t know them very well, and I know I need to work on them. If you don’t know what I mean by verb conjugations, don’t worry about it until you get there. And when you do get there, study them hard.
✔ Nouns can be male and female.
Yes, that chair is female. For some odd reason, all nouns are either feminine and masculine. You must know which one they are. I WISH someone would have told me this in French 1. When you start learning vocabulary, the “la” and “le” are more important than you think. I always have grammatical errors because of this.
✔ Listen, Read, Speak, and Write French.
Understanding when French people talk is the hardest part. You have to listen to videos of them speaking, otherwise, you will probably be lost. Take time to look up children’s books in French and try to identify as much of it as possible before looking it up. And when looking it up, don’t type the whole sentence into google translate, only 1 word at a time. I also thought it was cool that my teacher had a French version of Charlie Brown! Learn to use the accent when speaking. Have you ever heard someone with a foreign accent speak English? It’s hard to understand them isn’t it? It’s good to be able to speak it correctly. And lastly, write it. I like to write in French because I can visualize the spelling and sentence structure easier.
✔ Immerse yourself in French.
When you’re constantly surrounded by people speaking the language, you’ll learn it a whole lot faster. However, it’s costly to go to another country, so this is just a side note really. You probably won’t do this, but it helps to go to the country.
✔ Other Tips:
label your stuff in french- “la table” for the table (include the “la” and “le!!!)
listen to French Music- I like Christophe Mae
think in french- when you think “This is fun!”, then try to think “C’est amusant!”
when taking notes, don’t write the english translation- i know, it sounds crazy, but when you have to look it up over and over again because you didn’t write it, it helps you learn it.
teach it to your friends- when I learned I love you in French, i automatically went to my boyfriends and told him it. It took him forever to guess what it meant :P
~ Hope you really benefited from this tip! Let me know by liking and commenting if you have any questions!
Taylor ☺
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