r/learnfrench • u/samsonee1 • 4h ago
Resource Recommendation I've been studying French every day for two weeks (+ resources)
I study for an hour a day. Imo my studying is going really well because I’m able to filter out what to focus on the most in terms of vocabulary and grammar. Here’s a short text of what I can say right now without any tool, strictly based on what I’ve learned so far (corrections are welcome):
Salut. Je m’appelle Sam. J‘ai 24 ans et je suis bresilienne. J‘ai un chat qui j‘aime. Je parle portugais, anglais et italien. Je parle aussi un peu coreen. En plus de ça, j’ai beaucoup de hobbies: j‘aime lir des livres de fiction (pour me faire reflechir sur la vie), tenir un journal, écrire dans les cahiers ou dans l‘ordinateur, étudiér les langues et apprendre des faits completement random et écrire ce faits dans mon journal hahah. Hier j‘ai lu le petit prince en français, trop difficile mais j’aime apprendre grammaire et paroles comme ça. J‘ai une amie française, je l’ai rencontrée su hellotalk.
How I am studying:
I downloaded an app called French Listening & Speaking, and I watch one of their videos everyday. I learn the vocabulary and practice speaking line by line (it has french subtitles, translations and speech recognition). After that, I take that vocabulary and ask AI to write sentences using those words that (and here’s the trick) relate to my daily life, hobbies, and personality. For example, since I love reading, Chat GPT always sends me sentences related to stories or bookstores. It also generates sentences about my routine, but in french. If your AI doesn't know you well enough to do this yet, I recommend taking a short personality quiz (you can even ask the AI to generate questions to get to know you) and answering them.
I watch some free lessons on Youtube to grasp the grammar. I recommend memorizing the verbs to be and to have, at least at the beginning. They are VERY important. After that, learn the passé composé (compound past). I have to admit this part was easy for me because the logic is identical to italian, but it’s not hard. Over time, you get used to this past tense format and might even prefer it.
I’ve been practicing spontaneous dialogues with Google Translate’s beta feature. You put in your level and your goal for learning french, and it gives you everyday scenarios to practice with. It includes dialogue, a listening exercise, and then a speaking practice where you have to complete three tasks to finish the conversation, though you can answer whatever you want or ask for hints on how to respond. It’s really good.
I’m also using the wlingua app as a supplement. It explains a few grammar points and covers basic vocabulary as well.
I watch Peppa Pig on YouTube with french subtitles. It’s really boring, but I’ve learned so much vocabulary doing this. Afterwards, I do the same thing I mentioned earlier with the vocabulary: I ask AI to create personalized sentences for me. Then I import those sentences (with audio) into Anki and review them every day.
And lastly: shadowing, shadowing, shadowing. Pronunciation is the hardest part for me in french, so repeating everything I hear is super important. On top of that, EVERY new word that catches my attention and that I want to learn, I listen to its pronunciation and add its audio to anki too.
I hope this helps in some way! I still have a long way to go, but this is what I’ve been doing and what’s been helping me out. Please be mindful that I’m Brazilian, so it’s naturally a bit easier for me compared to a native english speaker, since french and portuguese are derived from latin.
If you have any advice or tips for me, please let me know!
