Learning French naturally with the “Think French” method”

Dear Learners of French, 

I’ve been teaching French for almost half of my life - and yes, I do look young - but we are talking about 15 years’ experience. No, this post is not about aging, but about teaching you my native language: French. And this post really is about learning French naturally with the “Learn French, Think French” method. 

 After years of teaching French, I have met all types of learners facing the same issue: it’s so hard to learn French. From the pronunciation to the pace, and don’t we dare forget about the grammar! What even is a preposition? And come on, it’s the 21st century so why do we still have the masculine and feminine? 

 Now, I may sound too sarcastic (I do love sarcasm), don’t get me wrong. I do sympathise with all you learners. You are right. It’s so hard to learn another language, French in particular. But instead of focusing on all the little annoyances, what about seeing them more like, quirks that make it special? 

 Here’s what I offer to help: learning by making connections with what you already know in your own language. That is what makes learning a language fascinating to me. The way people see things, from one culture to another. Who decided that the word “chair” would be feminine, but “desk” would be masculine in French? There may be some explanation going back to the origin of the words. But the point here is: just accept it. Go with it. But then, you’ll say that it takes forever to remember which words are feminine, and which ones are masculine. Yes, it does… Unless you make connections in your head, in the world of your own. 

 Here’s an example of what I mean. I’m learning Ukrainian. I thought “this is going to be so hard”. And yet I am finding it very fun to learn because of all the connections that I am making with what I know in other languages. “Brother” is “брат“which to my own ears sounds like you’re saying “brat”. Easy connection to make… What about the word “хліб” (sounding like [shlieb]) meaning “bread”? In my head I made a new connection thinking it sounds like "I love" in German ("ich liebe"), and since I love bread, it is established in my head that "хліб" is the ukrainian for "bread". And that was enough for me to remember the word. Now everybody is different, but we can find connections together, so French becomes easier for you to learn and make progress efficiently and in no time. It just takes some creativity. 

If you have tried to memorise lists of words and felt frustrated, or worse, you have forgotten it all and can’t face it anymore… If this post has awakened the French in you, and you would like to learn how to make connections, and make progress way faster with way less frustration, get in touch and try a 30 minute lesson at https://www.learnfrenchthinkfrench.com/lessons.