Things I wish I knew before starting to learn French | Advice for French learners

Bonjour à tous! In this video, I'll be sharing things that I wish I knew before starting to learn French. These are my reflections on things that could have made my learning process more efficient or easier.

Share any thoughts in the comments.

If you'd like to speak French with confidence and ease, see some more of my videos and subscribe! In my videos, I explain French pronunciation rules and articulation. I explain the position of the mouth, tongue, and jaw required to produce each French sound. After practicing with me, you'll feel more confident in speaking French. It will be easier for you to understand fast native speech in movies and real life.

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⏱ Timestamps
00:00 Intro
00:37 French phonetics is easy
02:42 Learn reading rules at the beginning
04:14 Listen as much as you can
05:48 French grammar is about iterations
08:11 Learning dialogues is powerful
09:42 Don’t learn words, learn phrases

[TheperfectfrenchwithDylane]

I always tell French learners to learn French pronunciation rules first because written and spoken French are like 2 different languages. But like you say, once you know the rules, it's actually easy. It also provides a great foundation because you can understand spoken French faster after that :)

[Rinedida]

For me the easiest way to learn a new foreign language is by watching cartoon, because cartoon is made for kids. That way our brain can develop a natural way to process the language.

[LabGecko]

7:29 Absolutely. I wander around Paris speaking as much French as I can, and my French is _horrible_ ! But people understand that I am trying and try to help. People want you to succeed in learning their language ! Do they laugh? Maybe, but never in my presence in a mocking way. Everyone I've met has been very kind. Even those who don't have time to deal with my French are kind about saying so.

[sportydude]

Last tip I needed to hear!
Merci becoup !

[shayne]

i cannot begin to explain to you how helpful both the structure and the content of this video is

[sohit]

I am teaching French 🇫🇷 to my 10 year old daughter...
Thanks for sharing and making such videos... People like me and my daughter in India 🇮🇳 are learning from people like you... 👍👍

[khushidubey]

after a long time !! thank god that you have again started making videos to be very honest i find your videos very unique and interesting so it's a request from my side that please continue to make videos like this it helps a lot for a people like us...i'm very happy that you are back

[denisenorton]

I’ve been living and working in France for 7 yrs and my accent is British, even after bonjour French people will start speaking English. I want to have an accent, so your videos are perfect for me, keep them coming. Your suggestion to listen to a language first is absolutely essential, I always had the radio on, France bleu, a mixture on music and discussion.

[laurawilliams]

I love dual language books because I can see the French/English sentences side-by-side. This helps with learning vocabulary and also with learning sentence structure. I've learned more French with reading than by any other method because it's slow and I can see it multiple times. Listening to native French speakers is indispensable for pronunciation and learning the "melody" of French.

[LabGecko]

Word combinations - yes, I find myself doing this a lot. I think about where I'm going and what I'll need to say, think about what I believe the phrase should be, then look it up to see if I'm correct, close, or way off. Then I correct any mental errors and practice saying it out loud a couple of times before I get there. This sounds like a lot, but it actually takes about 30 seconds, including using DeepL or Google to translate.
It is also rare that what I look up is all I need, but it is enough to start the conversation, and I can stumble through the rest or not, no big deal either way because everyone involved knows I'm learning.

[zosijana]

So glad you are back on youtube! Please, could you make a video about different O sounds in french, the difference between the O in mot, and in molle for example.

[stevedeanda]

Nastya, I’m grateful in general for your videos but there are three things that you do especially well that I find very helpful and for which you should know are greatly appreciated.
First, thank you for using IPA symbols! They do help me distinguish one sound from another in a written format. Second, thank you for describing tongue, mouth, and jaw positions. That helps me get both their position right and to better transition for the following sounds.
Third, your exaggerated lip movements (for muscle memory) and your highly contrasted lips color (lipstick or natural?) are actually enjoyable to watch and copy. Profile views are also very helpful.
Sometimes your explanations are a little too quick for me and your inflection in English requires that I listen carefully but with repeated watching I get it.
I have other resources for grammar and vocabulary but your excellent videos on pronunciation fill such a foundational aspect of learning French!
Once again, much gratitude for your wonderful efforts in helping me and many others to get French pronunciation right!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[robertflint]

If I had known how long it would take to become fluent in French when I first started studying it in my 30s, I never would have started. But I'm glad I did. Great language. I'm now making the same journey with Spanish.

[brucecrane]

Nice to see you again. Learning French is easier and more fun with you.

[pascaledelos]

The best teacher I found online.. to support my own students!

[ZEN-meditation-sonotherapie]

Super video ! KISS FROM PARIS 🇫🇷 🇫🇷 🇫🇷 Plein de bonne énergies a tous !

[samanthamiller]

0:14 I have been watching you for almost a year now! I greatly appreciate your honestly and vulnerability when learning. You are super encouraging to me. I’m glad you found your talent/gifting to share with others. I hope you continue to post because I will be following. I have had the opportunity to learn Spanish and German too. French keeps standing out to me as a language I want to keep learning and don’t become tired or bored of. I hope to be fluent, but I don’t have much support because most people around me don’t understand it’s importance. I hope to keep learning and not give up!

[omalga]

I have French at college now and I’m sooo stressed. Pronunciation is Soo hard for me. I feel like others are getting it faster. That’s why I’m here to learn it on my own 😅 wish me luck !

[cheberur]

I just found your videos today and i'm super excited cos of your unique and profound content. you are amazing and wonderful person to listen to. Please keep posting more. Love and blessings on you. `

[Binkerer]

As someone who has learned 98% of Japanese phonetics, what she said about phonetics is true. Once I learned most of the Japanese phonetics, the language learning process became extremely simple compared to trying to learn a new word and it's pronunciation.