How to Learn French / Comment Apprendre Le Français (Absolute Beginner to Advanced)

There is a lot of unclear and bad advice on Youtube about how to learn French on your own. So, I made this video as a resource to walk you through my entire timeline of learning French from Absolute Beginner to Advanced with real, practical steps. I'm just mad I didn't find a video like this when I first started because I could have saved way more time.

Guide to the Video BELOW:

French Introduction (To Prove I'm Not a Big Fat Phony): 0:10

Month 1: 1:50

Months 2-3: 4:23

Months 4-12: 9:13

Months 12-24: 16:20

Year 2-2.5: 20:20

5 minutes of French is better than 0 minutes of French everyday. There were resources, channels, podcasts, and videos that I didn't mention of course for the sake of time, but these were the main highlights.

[eseusifo]

This is the best video on how to learn French that I have ever seen in my life.. God bless you

[mellowasahorse]

Ha! I've been learning French for 20 months and on the verge of becoming B2, so pretty much the same trajectory... and a very similar path. Some other things to consider, as the advice he's given is great:

- LingQ (I used LingQ to listen to the likes of InnerFrench, Français Authentique, Le Journal (RFI), etc.). The brilliance of LingQ is that it tracks the words and sentences that you've encountered and how well you know them (you score them in a way that's similar to Anki). That way, when you're looking for new content, you can see how much of it you're likely to comprehend before you start, so you don't listen to something that's so difficult you can't make sense of it, but likewise you don't listen to stuff that's become so easy it doesn't push you forward. I still use LingQ to this day. You can also export the words and phrases you come across into CSV and import them into Anki, thus negating the need to manually create the cards (which is pretty time consuming, so it's an even greater efficiency!)

- Anki (Just do it! You will not regret it!)

The great thing about LingQ and Anki is they truly track your progress through the language. Without these systems, it would be such a foggy process. You will encounter periods where you feel like you're not getting anywhere, going backwards even, so the stats that these systems provide give you encouragement that that's not the case.

The NUMBER ONE thing is to make sure you do something every day. Some days you will have more motivation than others, some days it will feel like everything come easy, other days it feels like your brain isn't working, it's completely normal. Learning a language is not a linear process, it's more like a rollercoaster track. If you jump off the first time it feels like you're plummeting you won't make it. You just have to stay the course and trust that one day you will get there. Just turn up every day. Even if it's 10 minutes. You don't need to spend hours and hours a day. I averaged 1.5 hours per day. But that was 1 hour of commuting and 30 minutes of deliberate study a day... not a lot when you think of it.

- Coffee Break French (If you've never learnt a foreign language outside of a school setting before, this is a fantastic starting point. I completed seasons 1 & 2, but didn't do 3 & 4 as felt 1 & 2 had given me enough of a base to push onto the more advanced stuff elsewhere)

- Assimil (I didn't use this, but I will use it when I start learning my next language, which points to the fact that it's a good resource)

One PITFALL that I nearly fell into and I want to warn you against... You will no doubt come across inspiring people on YouTube, Twitter, etc. There's a great community out there that help you stay motivated. Lots of these people are learning their 3rd, 4th... 10th language. Resist the temptation to start learning additional languages. I got into a real stride with French around the 9 month mark. What was previously noise was becoming pretty comprehensible. There was still a lot to learn, but I started to truly believe "hey, I can actually do this!" and I started to flirt with other languages. It was a massive mistake. The golden rule for a first time learner = One language at a time!! Do not forget this. I thought "hey, why just speak French when in around 3 years I could speak French AND Italian? The problem is, you're dividing your time so much and putting so much extra stuff into your head, your brain can't make the same rate of progress in two that it can focused on one. I realised after a number of months that all I was going to succeed in doing was achieve my target level of fluency in something like 10 years in both languages, whereas I had belief if I focused on one language I could achieve it in 3 years. Doing the maths, 2 languages x 3 years each = 6 years, which is significantly quicker than 10 years for 2 at the same time. In short, it's false economy! If you want to learn two languages, great. But do them sequentially rather than concurrently!

Language learning is very personal. Not only is it all down to you, it's an often lonely road. Lonely in that when you're in a low or on a high, there's no one to really bounce those feelings off. You have to get used to the fact that this is a very private journey. But my word, when you succeed, after tens and tens of months of voyaging, you will feel like anything is possible. I also had the recent experience of stunning some friends who I hadn't seen for 3 years by translating a snippet of French that was in a video. "Wait a minute, you speak French?!?!?!" ... "Yep, I do :)"

That's it. That's all I'd add. Good luck!

[lousticvda]

Two years of French for reaching a such level, incredible the introduction, Bravo

[christenhunter]

I saw your post on reddit about this video and I’m so glad I did! Trying to start back up with learning French and this really helped :)

[j.aguilar]

the internet is a crazy place where advice like this is just out in the wild, i feel thankful to have happened to find it. this kinda stuff changes lifes, thanks big homie

[bawiley]

I am so delighted that I stumbled across your video. I have for many years wanted to learn French (for no other reason than I love Paris and the sound of the French language) and recently decided that well into my 60s I need to get on the ball and do it. I just started to seriously work on the language, and I've been trying to put together a plan of action. You have been a tremendous help and inspiration. Thank you so very much!

[jaredwilliams]

My only advice, i taught myself to understand spoken in a year by myself, would learn to map sounds to letters so when listening you can visualize the words and rework the sentence mulitiple times this gives an understanding of structure which in turn help you infer words meanings. This is an underrated necessity because when you read if pronounce all the words wrong in your head the entire process will be hindered.

[parasuko]

Je me suis souvenue de la première fois que j'ai regardé cette vidéo. J'avais un niveau B1 et j'étais tellement frustrée puisque j'avais l'impression que je ne pouvais pas atteindre mon but d'avoir un C1 en deux ans. Mais, après avoir regardé votre vidéo, j'étais tellement motivée par ce que vous avez fait. Alors, il y a trois mois, j'ai passé et réussi le TEF dans lequel j'ai obtenu un C1. Et maintenant, je reregarde votre vidéo et je peux comprendre tout ce que vous avez dit ! Franchement, vous parliez parfaitement le français dans cette vidéo, mais j'espère que vous avez atteint le niveau que vous vouliez. Merci énormement d'avoir raconté votre histoire et trajet en français :)

[patho]

Thank you! I’m native in Spanish, learnt English and now I’m trying with French :)

[axellaurent]

Wow, this is fantastic! I'm at the end of the 12 months level, and I really wasn't too sure where to go, but this advice is great, thanks so much :)

[mxllaveli]

I've been driving myself mad trying to find the best way to learn French, choosing one method and then losing all confidence in my approach because my research suggests it's bad or there's a much better way. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS DOWN TO EARTH, FUNNY AND STRAIGHTFORWARD VIDEO. I am so excited to get on with my goal now. It is so true that there is a bunch of crappy advice on YouTube I really thank you for saying that as I had started to doubt myself.

I know exactly what I'm going to do now thanks to you. Merci beaucoup 😁

[benrose]

Pardon my French (wink), but this is a damn good video. Everyone starting the language needs to watch this first.

[Mat-eqmk]

Love this video. I'm less than a year in but this mirrors my experience almost exactly, right down to the little details.

In case anyone else reads this, the killer tip from me is to start chatting to native French speakers as soon as possible. It guides your learning, highlights your weaknesses, makes it fun and being able to communicate properly with your new friends is a huge motivator.

[dragoncrystal]

Just found this video. I'm definitely going to download Anki and start listening to coffee break French. I'm using FSI French lessons to do active studying for 30m-1hr and that should take about 5-6 months to complete. Hope I see some good improvement :)

[nmh]

just wanted to say this is absolutely the best and most authentic "how i learned french" video i've ever seen....and i've seen a lot of them lol.

most of the popular videos are essentially advertisements. this one seemed genuine, was very detailed and honest.

thanks a bunch man and congrats on learning French. you're an inspiration

[ooo]

My first comment on this video was 3 months ago. Currently November and im able to understand nearly everything you say in your introduction, even though you’re speaking fast, it’s actually rather simple! Crazy how i wasn’t able to comprehend anything before. continuing my journey. my advice is to also get a grammar book. will help with structure and provide sentences you can use in anki

[garytierney]

Merci beacoup Ian, this is greatly appreciated. I'm three months indeed learning and all the links and advise helps.

[stmav]

Thank you so much for this, it's much appreciated, I felt so crazy lost and getting frustrated but THIS is what I was looking for. Three quick questions for you
1) You mentioned that if you could go back, you would start with Logic Language Learning as well, but is there a set playlist you'd recommend or just random watching is it?

2) I notice when you speak french, you REALLY sound french, like if I heard you I'd be like "this guy grew up in France". With this in mind, what causes someone to speak like that, is it really pronunciation of the words entirely? It just sounds so natural with you.
3) Is there an update video by any chance? Would love to see how you've improved even more?
Merci Beaucoup Ian!

[bobweaver]

I came across your video a week ago. I clicked the link to Logic Language Learning. You are correct this is a very good youtube channel. I was at a plateau after about 12 months. I now have some direction. Luc is an excellent teacher and the structure of the French language is beginning to make sense. Thank you so much for taking the time to tell the truth about learning French.
Thank you also for all of the links.

[GoLongAmerica]

Je trouve que t’as un très bon niveau de français ... surtout avec tout ce que t’as dit au début de cette vidéo. Continue comme ça !