How I Learned French In 15 Months (Step By Step Process)

The other day, I learnt that I passed the DELF B2 French exam. This is a world recognised qualification which proves that you have an intermediate level in French, signalling that you’re comfortable understanding a large amount of the language and that you can communicate comfortably.

It was crazy to receive this news because, 15 months before I took the exam, I had a very basic understanding of the language and had only a few classic words like ‘bonjour’ and ‘au revoir’ in my French repertoire.

Growing up, I always thought that learning a foreign language would always be out of my reach. It was something reserved for very intelligent people, or those who had parents from different countries so were brought up on the language from birth. When COVID-19 hit in February 2020, and with all of the free time from staying inside, I decided to give learning French a crack. ‘What’s the worse that could happen?', I thought.

I remember the distinct feeling of overwhelm as I started on the journey. It felt like I was about to climb a tall mountain with no idea of the route to take, nor what equipment to bring. What was the problem that led to me feeling overwhelmed? I didn’t have a clear process to follow.

Over the next year and 3 months, I experimented with different methods for learning French. Some worked a treat and others weren’t worth the time of day. After a while, I realised that I was creating my own step-by-step process for learning the language. Finally, when I felt like I had progressed enough, I decided to test my skills by taking the DELF B2 exam which I subsequently passed.

Looking back, I remember how daunting it appeared to me trying to learn a foreign language without a clear process. So, to help others who might be in a similar situation of wanting to learn a language but not knowing where to start, I’m going to share my step-by-step process in this video.

The process that I lay out is by no means perfect and it can certainly be tweaked and refined to suit your individual learning style. It is just what worked for me, and I would follow this exact process if I were to learn another language like Spanish or Italian.

Links related to the methods and content covered:

Equipment used:

Credits

Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
2:10 Method 1
3:10 Method 2
4:26 Method 3
5:14 Method 4
6:01 Method 5
7:29 Method 6
9:05 Method 7
10:21 Method 8
11:29 Method 9
12:47 Conclusion

#france #french #learnfrench #language #languagelearning #learnlanguage #frenchin15months #français #lafrance #englishtofrench #bilingual #italki #hellotalk #harrypotter #duolingo #paulnoble #podcasts #news #music
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[runningcafe]

Useful resources linked to each method can be found in the description. 📚

[marianneboutall]

Amazing video. I’ve been learning French with a private tutor since January after doing it for my GCSEs over 30 years ago. I’ve set myself a goal to be fluent in 2 years. Your video has given me the clear outline of how to achieve this. Thanks so much!

[robaudio]

Thanks for all the great tips. Congrats for passing DELF B2

[parkercushingable]

How do you have so little comments, your videos are great! I just randomly learned out the Paul Noble series and downloaded on Audible. I just kindof got a random desire to work on French this past week. Rock on buddy!

[Daniel-qild]

I'm a B1 in English, but now I'm going to learn French because I want to move to Canada :D

Tomorrow I'm taking my first French class, wish me luck, guys :3

[lukesters]

Well this was very reassuring because I started with Paul Noble (and agree completely with your assessment) and I have now just reached my 100 days on Duo Lingo and again it has proved a game changer in my learning. I will certainly follow your advice and hope my journey proves as successful as yours has clearly been. Merci beaucoup.

[mecallkate]

I had zero french knowledge. I actually started with Duolingo for three weeks then started with Paul Noble. I feel someone like me would benefit from picking up some basics from Duolingo first before listening to Paul Noble 🎉

[curiousstrawberry-kwsp]

Why I only got this recommened now? Great video, thank you so much!

[MatthewJBD]

Paul Noble's audio book is excellent. He's quite dry and sarcastic too

[gillhanson]

I have just finished Paul Nobles "Next Steps" in French and I was literally lost as to what my next steps would be. You popped up at exactly the right time for me and I plan to use all your tips. Thank you so much for sharing your journey.

[TheNutmegStitcher]

Your experience mirrors my approach -- even to the point of reading through HP in French. I have not jumped into the deep end yet of tutors/native speakers, but planning to add that in the next few months. Thanks for sharing!

[dispassionateobserver]

Thanks for this video. I'm currently learning French in a similar way that you did. Your video gave some really good suggestions of other things I can do to progress.

[shreyabhosale]

Loved this video. I am currently at B1 of Spanish and just finishing A1 of French. Doing both simultaneously from English as my base. Will definitely be using the methods you suggested. I have been studying through Duolingo too and contrary to the opinions of most people, I love the app. I have a 960+ day streak and they are very helpful to expose you to the language.

[Hazy_Cooks]

Congratulations! Great video. I’ve just moved to France and the struggle real! Starting with paul noble today 👍

[igor-ypxv]

Congrats on your achievement and thanks for sharing your journey! It's really helpful.

[Jim-iwyd]

Brilliant, very useful, thank you. Magnifique !

[David_]

Had you not shown your DELF exam score in the beginning, I would have thought you were making this up. Great suggestions!

[sophieliu]

J'adore la musique t'as choisi!

[kelseycrowe]

This is so incredibly helpful! Thank you. I am basically going to follow your plan. 🙌

[yink]

Great vid learned a lot on how to learn.