How To Learn French: A Step-By-Step Guide (2024)

Whether you’re learning French because you are moving to a Francophone country or because you want to speak the language of the novelist Victor Hugo, the chanteuse Céline Dion and the rapper MC Solaar, you need a strong drive to learn a language that can prove challenging.

Thanks to the proliferation of language-learning apps, online classes, private tutors and traditional French language courses, there are now many ways to pursue French fluency. Keep in mind that becoming a speaker of a new language requires commitment to speaking, reading, writing and listening as often as possible—maybe even on a daily basis.

What’s the Best Way To Learn French?

Explore these tips to make the most of your language-learning adventure.

Learn Pronunciation Norms

Although French does not have the spelling-to-sound correspondence that languages like Spanish do, learning how to pronounce vowels, consonants and letter combinations will get you far enough along to help you piece together pronunciations.

Learn Basic Nouns and Phrases

Pretend you’re heading to Paris next week and need to learn basic words and phrases. Start with nouns, pronouns and verbs that you can utter at a moment’s notice. As you grow more confident in your knowledge of these essential words, you can combine them into longer sentences to express more complex thoughts.

Practice Reading

Whether it’s an Instagram post, a news article or a short story, read as much French as you can. If you’re already familiar with a novel, try reading it in French. Knowing the plot will help you make sense of words you’re encountering for the first time.

If reading books for adults proves too challenging, start with French-language children’s books. These texts, written for beginners, can expose you to new vocabulary and help you practice engaging with written French, eventually preparing you for more complex texts later on. Reading French-language graphic novels and playing French subtitles for English-language films can also offer the visual context needed to understand words you don’t know.

Practice Listening

Whether you choose a podcast, a YouTube video or an audiobook, listening to fluent French speakers will help you recognize the nuances of French pronunciation and the speech patterns of native speakers. If you follow current events and listen to podcasts such as News in Slow French, you’ll have enough contextual knowledge to follow along and cement your aural comprehension skills.

Practice Speaking

For some people, the hardest part about learning a new language is practicing your speaking skills. Even if you don’t have a fear of public speaking, anxiety about making a mistake in front of a fluent French speaker may stop you from trying to talk aloud. If conversing with other people seems too challenging, work up to it by practicing with apps such as Duolingo.

Immerse Yourself

If you can’t take a trip to a Francophone country, surround yourself with as much French media as possible. Listen to French music, subscribe to French social media accounts and switch the audio on the shows and films you watch to French with English subtitles to help you make sense of what you’re hearing. You can even change the language of the settings on your phone or computer to French.

Tips and Tricks for Learning French

One way to incorporate French practice into your day is by using your passions as a catalyst for language-learning. Acquiring French proficiency can be easier if it complements hobbies and interests you partake in frequently.

Cooking and Dining Out

Buy a French cookbook or follow a cooking blog written in French. Though you may have to look terms up to start, eventually you will understand terms such as étaler and pétrir without having to look them up. Likewise, go to a French restaurant and put your skills to the test—do not read the translations of menu items.

Literature and Music

Whether it’s groundbreaking literary works by Voltaire (Candide), Emile Zola (Germinal), Albert Camus (L’Étranger) and Simone de Beauvoir (Le Deuxième Sexe) or popular songs by Edith Piaf (“La vie en rose”), Serge Gainsbourg (“Je t’aime moi non plus”), Céline Dion (“Pour que tu m’aimes encore”) and Gims (“Est-ce que tu m’aimees”), the cultural output of Francophone artists can further your understanding of the nuances of French.

International Events

Before English replaced French as the world’s lingua franca—a common language adopted among speakers of different languages—French gained traction as the official language of several international organizations, including groups that put on events or shape policies with impacts on billions of people around the world. The International Olympic Committee, the United Nations and NATO all use French as an official language. French is also an official language of 32 states and governments around the world.

Relationships

If you want to immerse yourself in Francophone culture, try befriending native French speakers. Once you’ve established a connection with someone with whom you feel comfortable practicing French, speak to them as often as you can.

What’s the Hardest Part of Learning French?

One common challenge English speakers have with French is the lack of correspondence between pronunciation and spelling. The existence of multiple varieties of French exacerbates this struggle: There are about 321 million French speakers around the world, with nearly 62% of French speakers living in Africa, and each regional variant of the language has its own shifts in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.

Despite the differences in French dialects across the globe, those who want to learn French can lean on two arbiters of the French language that help maintain consistency across borders: the Alliance Française and the Académie Française.

The former started in 1883 to promote the French language; it now has more than 800 offices and language-learning programs around the world. Cardinal Richelieu created the latter in 1635 under the reign of King Louis XIII to serve as the official council of all matters related to the French language, including spelling, grammar, syntax and pronunciation.

Note, however, that the “official” French of the Académie Française can be formal and Paris-centric, meaning the further afield you travel from Paris, the more variations you encounter in the way “official” French is pronounced.

How To Learn French

Follow the below steps to build a strong foundation in the French language.

Online French Classes

There are dozens of online-based language classes you can use to learn French. Some notable offerings include the Institut Linguistique Adenet, Coucou and college language classes from Oregon State University.

Language-Learning Apps

Mobile apps like Duolingo, Babbel, Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur and Berlitz all offer tools to help you learn new languages, including spelling and pronunciation practice.

Finding a Tutor

You can find private language tutors through a variety of avenues, including from language departments at local colleges and universities. Adjunct professors and graduate students may offer private tutoring sessions to supplement their income and enhance their teaching skills. There are also several websites that help pair you with private online tutors for language sessions. These include Italki, Superprof, Languatalk and Verbling.

Study Abroad

If your college has a study abroad program that allows you to live in a French-speaking country, take advantage of the opportunity to immerse yourself in the language and culture. Like Spain and England, France had a colonial enterprise that spanned the globe.

Hence, in addition to France, you can study and live in places such as the Canadian province of Québec, the Caribbean’s Martinique, South America’s French Guiana and Africa’s Cameroon. Ask fellow students and people you meet to avoid using English around you so you’re forced to use French as often as possible.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About How To Learn French