Parlez-vous français ? Oui, mange tout ! Learning French chat.

If there's already a French language learning thread I'll delete it but I haven't been able to find one. The Spanish thread is pretty active so just wondered if there were an French speakers here (any level) to share tips on learning, decent podcasts, books, films etc.

I studied for a few years at the instituit Français in London (I massively recommend them.to anyone in London), did A1 to B2, just started B2 when the pandemic hit and pretty much stopped speaking any French completely during covid.

I just moved to France in August and I'm hoping to take the B1 exam in the new year so I can apply for citizenship so now I'm back in a learning world I obviously thought London's friendliest forum would be the place to chat.

I’m probably around B1, started learning about 6 years ago, and had a stint living en Suisse, but I’m not very consistent, and haven’t done a lot this year. It’s pretty embarrassing how bad my French is considering how much effort I’ve put into it.

I found the Coffee Break French podcast really helpful.
And the book Easy French Step-by-Step by Bell and Rochester I found helped a lot.

I did Duolingo for a year, and all it did was add another reason to glue me to my phone. The game-ification is all well and good to help you come back each day and maintain your streak, but I was so relieved when I stopped. I’m sure It helped some, and I like that it helps users learn languages for free, but I won’t be using it again.
The podcasts and audio stories were good.

But my speaking and listening is rubbish. I’ve been meaning to try Italki, and do 1-2-1 lessons, which is what I need. But I never seem to get around to it.
I need to find a way to speak it regularly, but don’t have the need nor motivation right now.

Don't have much to add for now, but I've been living in Suisse Romande for 10 years now, so I speak French quite regularly. I haven't taken any lessons since being here and therefore my French hasn't really improved (actually probably got worse since I did B2 at Uni).
From watching friends experience, a shorter more intensive course followed by more casual conversation practice has had better results than 1 hour per week in a class over 6 months for example. Maybe look if there is a language cafe or language exchange group where you are?

I'm moving to France in around 18 months or so and definitely need to improve. Studied to A-level, worked and lived in France but it's years since I practised speaking anything beyond bar/dinner party chat. I can get by and understand an awful lot, but know I need to improve.

Visited a mate last month and watched a bit of telly without subtitles, which was good. Also started listening to RFI in the evening, which also helps. But I reckon I need sustained grammar practice and probably weekly conversation sessions to get where I need to be.

From my time there, the french literacy levels are low. That's from several ex teachers.

Most written stuff you can get away with ai. Learn the dialect or regional bits of language where you are. Example is pain au chocolate and chocolatine.

In my experience, France is getting more right wing in and around Paris. The rest of the country I found to be really nice people. Motorcycling and cycling seem to have a camaraderie.

nice people.

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That island is Italian. So is Nice ;)

Think there are language meet ups on meet up. If in London maybe good to go to one of them.

I did Duolingo for a year... but I won’t be using it again.

Yeah, I started using it again just before I moved, I found it good for practicing vocab but I agree, it's pretty useless on it's own.

If you're looking to lessons look at the institut français like I said above, they do online lessons as well as in person now since covid.

Maybe look if there is a language cafe or language exchange group where you are?

Yeah, this is the next thing for me, not necessarily language specific but some kind of group meet to chat with people. I've only been here 3 months and I can already feel a massive improvement. Because of brexit I'm a proper immigrant so have to do the full process, a happy by product is that I got 100hrs of intensive lessons for free but when I went to the assessment they said I was already above B1 so can take the test immediately (so no lessons). Obviously it was nice to hear but I would have liked to do the lessons anyway.

I think being a bit relentless is the key though, I completely refuse to speak English to anyone, if they speak to me in English I just carry on speaking French, we speak English at home, my wife's French but we've got 2 toddlers so keeping it English at home for them as they're completely immersed in French at school anyway. So apart from that it's full immersion.

But I reckon I need sustained grammar practice and probably weekly conversation sessions to get where I need to be.

Yeah, this. When I was doing my lessons it kept everything moving. If I didn't do anything other than the 2 hour lesson in the week I still made progress but if I did more I made big improvements. If I didn't have that anchor I would have just found excuses to sack it off.

Where abouts you moving? I'm in Lyon so if you ever find yourself in this neck of the woods you'll find someone up for a beer.

Where abouts you moving? I'm in Lyon so if you ever find yourself in this neck of the woods you'll find someone up for a beer.

I'm going to be in the Loire valley, but I've been eyeing a trip to Lyon for some time, so will give you a shout when I'm next over there.

Nice, we can have some optimistic cricket chat!

You know me; ever the optimist...

bonne chance aux nouveaux expatriés

I've lived here 3 years now, and I've gone from a smattering of 35 year old GCSE grade C French to reading quite well and being able to understand spoken French pretty well. My spoken French is terrible really, entirely due to a lack of confidence. It's OK if I know what I am going to say, or if it's completely off the cuff and I forget to be nervous. Otherwise my brain just freezes. Same in English and Italian really!

I learned by a mixture of Michel Thomas MP3s (which I kept answering in Italian, cos that's how I learned what little Italian I speak, and the courses are almost identical), reading everything that came into the mailbox ('pub' is great for learning the names of obscure things), buying French car mags and newspapers, etc. and watching French TV. Initially it was things like N'oubliez pas les paroles, or The Voice, or Wheeler Dealers France, because if you know they are only going to be talking about a limited subject matter you can concentrate on the language. Then I graduated to Scènes de ménages and C'est Canteloup for some comedy. Then dramas like Lupin. TV is good for slang and all the oddities of spoken French like people saying "en fait" in every sentence and never saying "ne" when they negate something.

Also good are HelloFrench and French avec Nelly on Youtube. Great for teaching slang, swearing, alternatives to textbook French. Really helped with my comprehension of spoken French. Nelly is nice looking too which is very shallow of me but it does help to keep me watching.

Because I moved during lockdown and accidentally into a village which is 50% anglophone I've not really done much talking to real French people. Postal workers, delivery men, checkout staff, restauranteurs, that kind of thing.

I used to have a really good French accent before I moved here but I've actually gone backwards and deliberately sound English now, so that French people will reply to me more slowly and clearly. What accent I have picked up is Charentaise so people in Paris probably think I'm a yokel. I need to train myself out of it.

a village which is 50% anglophone

This is one of the things that really held me back when I lived in Toulouse. Just so many English speakers there and a working population in shops/restaurants, etc. entirely used to responding in English when you asked them something in an obviously English accent.

I found going to the local pub helped a lot. And, oddly enough, buying a second-hand car. That taught me shitloads not just about French and the accompanying vocabulary but also the insane bureaucracy.

I've lived here 3 years now, and I've gone from a smattering of 35 year old GCSE grade C French to reading quite well and being able to understand spoken French pretty well. My spoken French is terrible really, entirely due to a lack of confidence.

I don't think you really get a sense of how different the skills of reading, writing and speaking are until you learn another language. Reading, for me at least, seems to take a lot less effort and is relatively easy to pick back up if you take a long break but speaking falls off a cliff if you don't use it regularly.

The confidence or just not thinking too much will only get better if you just continue to speak in French, if someone speaks to you in English just answer in French, no matter how painful it is just plough on. If anyone questions just explain 'j'habite ici maintenant, je dois apprendre la langue'.

I think you might have mentioned that your wife is fluent? So she's probably sorting most stuff out? Don't get me wrong I understand, my Mrs is French so she sorted all the French admin bollocks but I sort out all post office, delivery stuff, I'm taking the kids to school/nursery so talking to the teachers regularly, do all the shopping, basically all the daily admin and we're looking for a gaff to buy so I'm organising the visits with estate agents. I just make my apologies for my shit French at the beginning of the call and crack on.

I bang on loads about doing a course but it really is the way to get over the confidence thing, check out the immigration office (OFII) to see if you qualify for anything, you'd be surprised how much the state offers, even if you have to pay for something they'll at least be the best source of information.

What accent I have picked up is Charentaise so people in Paris probably think I'm a yokel. I need to train myself out of it.

Fuck Parisiens, bunch of cunts anyway.

which I kept answering in Italian

This was me the last time I went to France. I have been trying to learn Spanish for the last 4 years and comically kept replying to French in (broken) Spanish, which my wife found hilarious even though she refused to utter a single word of any language to anyone other than me.

Fuck Parisiens, bunch of cunts anyway.

We ended up in a really 'local' restaurant one Sunday afternoon that was well away from the tourist trail and had a great conversation with an older parisien couple (in English....) whose son was living in Bristol. They aren't all cunts.

Just most of them, especially the ones not born in Paris but moved there ;)

Have you guys read the year in the merde books Stephen Clarke. The author also wrote about Paris in 2012 called Paris revealed. It is an interesting book.

Also conard is better.

Putain on en prend pour son grade ici...

You silver tongued devil you....

Fuck Parisiens, bunch of cunts anyway.

That has certainly been my experience with the ex-Parisiens who moved away, or who escaped to Pairs when young and for some reason decided to return when they retired. They are the most miserable mean-spirited ones in the whole village.

I feel like I can really speak French properly when I can respond to their complaining about something with "Listen, you might think you're all that because you're from Paris, but I'm from East London, and I think you'd stop worrying about [insert imaginary problem] if I burned your fucking house down." with the right level of whoever is the French Grant Mitchell.

Day 1025 of Due Lingo for me and I just did a couple of French tests (which I was rubbish at) so the local French Studio can work out which class to put me in. Possibly, based on my tests, something involving pomme de terre printing.