The only way to understand fast spoken French.

[emilybankscreative]

So true! A few days back I was watching a french video and found myself getting frustrated that I was recognising a lot more of the words than before but was still unable to understand the meaning in real time. But afterwards, I realised how far I’d come in being able to even isolate and identify so many words in a spoken sentence without subtitles. That made me more hopeful that someday soon I will be able to put it all together and that comprehension will come.

[MissCarol-ndti]

Thank you. You are absolutely correct. I have taken to listening to french talk radio in the background all day. They have callers with many accents and speaking at different speeds. Just having it on has accostumed my ear to the language better.

[johnheffernan]

I went back to learning french eleven years ago at the age of 56 after having dropped it forty years before, right after high school. I joined the local Alliance Francaise (White Plains, New York) with the expectation that in short order I’d be watching french films sans sous-titres.
Wow! I couldn’t have been more wrong. In spite of having learned a ton of vocabulary, conjugations, and even getting good at the subjunctive, I still have to read english sub titles.
One of the things the staff here at AF strongly recommends for adult learners is to set reasonable goals and in this they are absolutely correct. Now at the age of 67 I have to content myself with the fact that I will probably never be able to watch and fully comprehend a french movie without sub titles, but could have a reasonably good conversation with a frencman…..Si vous parlez lentement monsieur je vais vous comprendre….Thanks for another excellent video.

[bartmulder]

So true. Simple tips: Consume a lot of French content, either podcasts or YouTube videos (which you can listen to with your screen off by the way). Subscribe to French news feeds. Keep Google Translate handy and look up any word you didn't get. I've had to learn French really quickly (within 2 years) and this has helped me so much. There are now days where I only consume French content instead of English. There's plenty of interesting stuff available.

[KhunAdam]

I split my listening into intensive, when I try to decode the meaning of every sentence, and casual, when I listen to the TV or radio and don't worry about understanding everything. As I live in France I get unpredictable situations where I have to listen without prep, and that is good too. You are right that some discomfort is OK when you realise you have learned something.

[FrenchCoach]

Bonne vidéo ! I would say that if your French reading & listening level is not at an Intermediate Level yet, then you are stretching too far trying to understand "fast" spoken French. I would equivalent it to trying to run the MARATHON before you run the 5km! I have found with my own personal journey learning French and the journey of my students I help learn French, that building up a good reading & listening level BEFORE speaking French works really well. It takes the pressure of from yourself, since when you begin speaking, you ALREADY know how words are pronounced, since you have listened and read sooo much French, you already ALREADY know the accent, since you have heard sooo many different French speakers. That is what currently is working for my students, maybe it's helpful to some of you. Love this channel by the way, the community seems amazing! Thanks, Rory.

[JeDindk]

I agree with everything you say in this video ... this method is the reason why most Danes are fairly good at speaking English. We watch A LOT of English television. Using subtitles can help a lot in the beginning and you'll still learn a lot of words, expressions, etc. First and foremost you'll learn something about sounds and rhythm, with is very important when learning a new language.
I've been following your channel for ... I think it must soon be a couple of years, so I think it's funny you've now begun learning Danish.
God fornøjelse med at lære dansk.
😀🇩🇰

[brettsheets]

I've been noticing it matters how you listen as well. I think a lot of people are translating their listening in their head to their native tongue to comprehend it, but this also prevents your subconscious from forming the target language mode in your head. Intentionally listening like i don't know any other language, like im interfacing with the world for the first time, helps my subconscious brain make those connections.

[tommybinson]

Thanks. I speed up slow dialogue as my comprehension improves. At the beginning, I used YT's speed control to slow French speech. Best wishes!

[michelgolabaigne]

Salut Alex,
Une vidéo de motivation unique en son genre… :)
La confiance en notre subconscient est primordiale, tu as bien raison… :) Malheureusement, nous la développons souvent uniquement en cas de réussite…
Comment maintenir un état d’esprit positif ?
Autrement dit, quel niveau de compréhension est suffisant ?
Nous devons apprendre à profiter du processus et à ne nous souvenir que des succès… :)
Merci, Alex, de nous avoir motivés !

[larrypresley-obit]

I strongly agree with you when practicing a language you must immerse yourself in the language and the culture and a person most be honest about there efforts to learn.

[toastbread]

After years of learning french, i finally went last month. I mostly got by entirely in French ("they will immediately switch to english" was a lie!!) and had some rewarding longer conversations. That said, I found that once my interlocutor realised that I had decent French, they relaxed into a more natural, fluid style of speaking and I immediately had to start with the "pardon?"s after every sentence which was frustrating and a bit of a conversation killer. I love to read but since I got back, I've been spending pretty much all of my dedicated French learning time listening to Twitch streamers since they generally speak very quickly and informally and the context of whatever they're doing helps with deciphering. I think my comprehension has already improved and I've learned some slang too.

[jessicaflemister]

I used to roll my eyes, but after changing my mindset overall to look at the positives in life it has made a world of difference ! I’ll still get upset but breath and will just think « well at least… » I do this with French as well and I just passed A1 and am shocked that I can read a short dialogue and understand what it’s about! Glad to know I’m on the right track! Thanks!

[ellenjackson]

Alex, tu es l'un des meilleurs professeurs de français en ligne. Tu as tout à fait raison à ce sujet ! Il m'a fallu des années de plus que prévu pour me forcer à écouter de vrais francophones, pas seulement des podcasteurs. Merci pour ça.

[ValleyGreenNaturals]

I love the parallels you described with "the wins" of learning to play pickle ball and the tiny "wins" of understanding fast-spoken French. I learned to play golf a few years ago (a game which can never be perfected), and as they say, it's the good shots that keep you coming back and motivated for more. The same was true for me recently when I finally got up the courage to attend a local French-speaking group at our library. I was thrilled that I understood enough to know what they were discussing! Baby steps are very encouraging.

[michaelcornish]

I can only agree... C’est probablement la chose la plus vraie que j’ai jamais entendue. Ça fait très longtemps que je ne suis pas passé par ici et je continue d'apprendre.

[MindiB]

I definitely appreciate this topic. I have high school level French. It was taught in the traditional manner—that is, mostly written drills to memorize conjugations and vocabulary. I was good at that stuff, but in the much more useful arena of speaking and understanding I am, as you might imagine, very poor. Native speech is far too rapid and fluid for me to parse it word by word, as my limited skills demand. At best, I identify a few familiar words and try to guess at what is being said by the context, which is hardly ideal. The biggest issue for me is, frankly, shame. I have had several interactions in Paris with people whose reaction to my hesitant greeting and apology about my poor French (uttered, of course, in that poor French) has been so dripping with contempt that I’ve walked away near tears. Literally, I’ve gotten eye rolls and the response, in English, “Then. Why. Don’t. We. Use. English” as if I am an infant (which, in terms of fluency, I sadly am). By no means is this always the response, but the occasions when it has been were, honestly, sort of traumatic. I very much care about being a respectful visitor in other countries and that means not expecting my monolingual self to be indulged. I know the humiliation I experience is a me problem. But it severely limits my desire to practice, as my head fills with self-reproach and embarrassment at my stupidity. I will probably never get to any sort of true fluency, but it is helpful to hear that even a highly-advanced polyglot has moments of self-doubt and frustration. Thank you for the encouragement!

[davidboyle]

Merci beaucoup jai soixante cinq ans et apres presque trois ans la france parlé est encore un defi pour moi. Ilya trois ans jai eu jamais etudier une autre langue.
Je suis bien d, accord avec vous
Mille merci

[claudinehastick]

Thank you for this. I listen to french music and need to add films and shows as well.

[StillAliveAndKicking_]

I wasn’t sure if I should watch this video, as there’s too many people who promote magic methods, which all too often are nonsense. Excellent video. I agree with everything you said. And yes mindset is very important. I can understand French radio and podcasts for natives, thanks to spending two hours each day listening to native level French over the course of several years. I will add a very powerful trick. Apologies if you mentioned it. Some listening can be freeform, but some should be done using the transcript. In other words, listen while reading the transcript. This trains the brain to relate sounds to words, which is so important given that real people tend to elide words together and even drop some vowels and consonants. At the beginning I could only get the gist of a podcast but not the details. Now they are fully intelligible. I still struggle with French films, sometimes I pick up most of the words, sometimes most words fly over my head. I’m sure in a year or two I will have cracked French films. And yes LingQ is very useful.