Learn conversational French on your own from scratch. How to start learning French

In a year, I improved my French from the level of "I understand a word in ten" to almost fluent - now I calmly read books, magazines, communicate with friends and colleagues, watch movies in the original and just enjoy this language. "How did you manage that?" - the most frequent question. I always thought it was all about desire. If you, like me, are not a fan of spending days and nights on textbooks, if the status of a nerd is far from you, but you want to learn a language, then this post is for you.

I am a supporter of the opinion that the language should live. Live a real life, not on the pages of annals. Well, more precisely, let him live there too - but that's a completely different story. Victor Hugo's French and the French of a twenty-first century man are very different stories. And if Hugo's language is really complex and there are many "pitfalls" in it, then the spoken language is not so complicated. It's all about practice. So let's go.

2. Ask and be persistent. This is my favorite item. Thus, I learned a lot of funny words, youth slang, and generally replenished my vocabulary well. Often on the set with actors, I ask my person being portrayed about life, hobbies, and interesting cases. When a word hurts my ears, I just ask you to explain it in French in other words.

3. Cinema and music. You can watch the same movie in Russian and then in French. Music is my favourite. Some songs I learned by heart because I really love French music - Françoise Hardy, Serge Gainsbourg, Léo Ferré, Georges Brassens, Jacques Brel... For me it's not just music, not just learning a language, it's a whole world. When you find something "your own" in French culture, learning the language will become meaningful and will be much easier.

4. Teach in phrases. It turns out that this is faster and more efficient - for a spoken language, the number of established expressions is not so large. Thoughtless memorization of words personally all the time pushes me to the thought “and where will I apply this word later?”, While phrases and constructions are immediately clear and logical.

5. Communicate in social networks. Find friends with similar interests and chat constantly. Even better - if they are your real friends. One can know a language, but without reproduction it perishes. This is constant creativity. How often do people say: "I seem to understand, but I can't say anything." Familiar? You won't tell unless you try. And you won't try many, many, many times.

6. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. This is one of the most important points. The fear of saying "something is wrong and funny" is a problem for everyone, not just yours. And just at the moment when you say to yourself: "If I tell you wrong, the world will not collapse," you begin to progress. I remember this moment clearly. Now I also make mistakes, I hear them, I know that I still need to work, every day - but I am no longer afraid to make mistakes, on the contrary, my French brings me great pleasure.

7. Record yourself on video, on a voice recorder. So you can clearly hear your weaknesses and work out the accent. In France, there are special centers where, for a lot of money, you will be relieved of your accent and minor speech flaws (this is already for owners of a more advanced level). But I will say - you can do it at home and for free. Again, the main thing is desire! You can buy a language course, but you have to develop your own thirst for development.

8. Translate your operating system, phone and tablet into French. The words you see on your mobile device every day will prove to be very useful. "Settings", "messages", "send", "call" - these are the basic words that will be before your eyes every day. And repetition, as they say, is the mother of learning.

9. Read news, articles, simple books. By my own example, I will say - I love fashion, style, photography, articles about nutrition and sports. I often read French. I never close the translator. I have it on my browser tabs, on my phone, in my head. I am always interested and not too lazy to see what a new word means. Plus, popular articles are a living language used in real life.

10. Try to think in French.“Now I’m going to drink coffee”, “I need to call Masha”, “I have a meeting at 10 am, what should I wear?” - you can say all this in French. Write a diary, essays, plans. Start a blog - you can hide it from everyone if you are shy. Write one or two sentences a day. Try. Do not be afraid - and everything will work out.

Learning languages ​​is a rather complicated procedure that requires patience and a lot of work. Today, there are many methods on how to learn French, which is quite popular in all European countries.

Today, many learn French in France, which gives very good results. You can get acquainted with such programs on various specialized sites.

First stage

To learn French from scratch, experts recommend following several consistent recommendations:

1. First of all, you should decide how you best perceive information. For example, some people can quickly memorize words by ear, while others still need to see them. This is very important, because the speed of learning depends on it.
2. Start learning from the basics. To do this, it is better to learn how individual letters and syllables sound. This will allow you to learn how to read correctly, which is very important for this language. In the initial stages, practice for 15-20 minutes several times a week. Then this interval should be brought to 1-2 hours minimum.

We continue learning

When you have dealt with the basics, you can proceed to more complex material. The algorithm for studying it consists of the following sequence of actions:

• Learn grammar. It is important to understand not only how words are spelled, but also how to put them into sentences correctly. Start with the simplest, where you will not need to create complex forms. Move on to tenses and other rules in sequence. Do not try to study everything at once, as you will simply get confused.
• When you already know quite a lot, you can start improving. To do this, watch films in French, as this will allow you to develop speech correctly. You should also start with the simplest stories, which are complemented by translation. Thus, you will not only perceive speech, but also memorize new words and phrases.
• Use the Internet, where many video and audio French lessons are posted. It is important to choose the best method for yourself that will help you.
• After each completed lesson or topic, try to consolidate it by writing your own sentences or texts. It is important to constantly repeat what you have learned much earlier.

Learning French is a complex procedure that requires patience and perseverance. This is the only way to get high-quality and fast results.

Given:

September 2008- a naive young lady with a level of French: under A2. Random scraps of knowledge in my head after foreign language courses. Phonetics, grammar, vocabulary - the initial level, conversational skills and listening comprehension tend to zero.

November 2010- level of French: B2 according to the young lady, or C1 according to DALF.

Hello, my name is Galya, I am the same young lady and I learned French on my own (almost). Two important caveats:

• I was taught to read (and in French this is important!)
• I was not raped by Popova-Kazakova (this is about the second part of the title of the article).

After documenting my knowledge, I taught and continued to learn French, and now I have become so bold that I give out advice on self-study. So, the best advice I can give so far is to go to the country of the language you are learning! I did this in my time with French and never regretted it. Now I'm learning Spanish, and I would gladly move to Latin America for a year, if not for a million “if only”. If your “ifs” don’t let you do it yet, another piece of advice: create a language environment at home.

What is a language environment? If we take away the romantic and enthusiastic cries about “aaa there are French around”, “aaa I saw Paris and did not die” what did I do differently? It took me 5 years of teaching to understand: NOTHING.

I just devoted more time to the language than at home.

No magic pills and secret secrets. There are no miraculous introductions of language into the brain in the language environment. I did the same things as in the courses, the same things as at home, I just spent a lot more time on it.

I read a lot

First, children's books were used (I worked as a nanny, and my wards were 4.5 and 10 years old). First of all, I dealt with preschool publications, then with comics, then switched to teenage literature. Then I began to look at the library of my parents, but this happened after the first 3-4 months of being in the environment. But even without the environment, you can download yourself interesting adapted books.

In addition to books, I read everything I saw: for example, after visiting museums, I took with me booklets in different languages ​​with descriptions of the paintings and the plan, and then translated the French version, looking into the English/Russian translation. But what is stopping me now from opening the Louvre website http://www.louvre.fr/ and doing the same?

I listened a lot

I listened to radio and TV, understanding only 10% for the first couple of months. I watched news, series and cartoons. I never believed in “passive listening” before, but it really improved my listening skills and helped me to speak faster.

If only I knew about this magical “immersion”, I could do this from the very beginning and accompany my studies with daily listening, and not once a week 5 minutes in courses. I could choose the right level of listening: listen to the news en français facile, for example. Listening to French is not just important, it is a must if you want to understand more than just written language.

Speaking of writing. Although the French themselves can sometimes scare you with their spelling, deal with all superscripts from the very beginning and learn how to type correctly.

I spoke with the natives.

You will say: it is easy to look for carriers when there is no choice. But there was a choice. There are plenty of Russian-speaking people in Paris: ours are everywhere and you yourself choose with whom to communicate.

My classmate moved to New York and for the first year of her life did not speak English at all. She knows the language perfectly, it was just that there was no one to practice it with. Her employers, colleagues and friends spoke Russian. Here is the language environment. If you create it at home, then you have excellent italki, polyglotclub and many more places where you can find a friend to chat on Skype to talk with native speakers.

I studied according to authentic textbooks.

This will not surprise anyone now, however, some prefer Popov-Kazakov. Let tomatoes and slippers fly at me, but how good it is that no one gave me this famous “base”. Then I still had to go through it, but I'm sure that you need to start with a modern textbook, from the very beginning gaining live vocabulary and listening to live dialogues.

Conclusions of this story:

1. Intensive is the best pace for taking the language. Stretching pleasure, we lose the fuse, desire and, accordingly, regularity.
2. You can create a language environment without leaving your computer. For this you need the Internet, desire, and also concentration. So stop reading about how others learn languages ​​and start doing it yourself!

If you decide to immerse yourself in French next year, then keep an action plan for beginners:

1. We are looking for someone to teach you to read or check your well-read texts. If you understand yourself, then this is the only exception when it is better to take a Russian-language textbook. But in any case, let someone control you and correct the mistakes. The worst thing you can think of is not knowing the rules of reading and taking on the Passé Composé. Learn the pronunciation once and for all. It is logical and also beautiful.
2. We take the Latitudes 1 textbook - it will be the basis of your program. Go through it, in no case skipping the audio and tasks in the workbook. The answers to all this wealth can be found for free, as well as the manuals themselves.
3. You can “dilute” this textbook with the books Grammaire en dialogues and Vocabulaire en dialogues, pulling up grammar and vocabulary. But no more than one chapter a day, because the learned material must be repeated. To practice new words, use the method that suits you.
4. Every day we listen to French speech - the more the better. You can start with Coffee Break French podcasts, Extra series. Watch movies with subtitles, sing karaoke songs, watch interesting interviews or musicals. Dive in, in a word. Here is a list of resources you can choose from.
5. After the first month of classes, we begin to read regularly. First, adapted or children's literature, like Petit Nicolas, then light books that you read in Russian, then something from modern authors. Balzac and Flaubert will wait for your confident B2.

In moments of despair, read Kato Lomb's "How I Learn Languages" and you will understand how lucky you are in the age of the Internet. There are so many authentic materials of excellent quality now that it will last more than one life.

P.S. If you have already started, quit or are in the process of learning a language, then all these tips are already clear to you, and you, of course, have not learned anything new.

I just wanted to say that the language environment is not a panacea. In the language environment, laziness is exactly the same and “I will do it tomorrow” in the same way. Moreover, neither a collection of links to valuable resources, nor advice from polyglots, nor unlimited Internet will save you. It's all about motivation and discipline, and then you'll be able to learn French on your own!

As for me, I did not stop learning foreign languages, although I returned home. My little secret: like-minded people from Language Heroes. It's more than a language environment :)

Many thanks to Galina Lyapun for writing this article. You can find even more excellent and useful materials on French on her website.

This tutorial was created by an experienced French teacher using a simplified methodology developed by her and is aimed at effectively mastering live conversational speech. The course consists of 17 lessons, the study of each requires 1.5-2 hours. You will be able to speak and form simple sentences after the first lesson.
The tutorial contains the basic rules of pronunciation and grammar, Russian transcription, as close as possible to French phonetics, thematic dictionaries, conjugations of the most necessary verbs, the formation of the five most common tenses, exercises with keys, dialogues and colloquial expressions. The course is very intensive, so if you go to Paris in just a month, it will help solve your problem.

Two kinds.
In French, there are two genders - feminine and masculine, and they rarely coincide with the Russian language. For example, le livre (le livre) - a book - is masculine, but we have a feminine one.

The gender can be determined by the article: le (le) is the masculine definite article, 1a (la) is the feminine definite article. To remember the gender of a French noun, it is easier to learn it immediately with the article.

If a noun begins with a vowel, the truncated form of the article is used regardless of gender:
le + amour \u003d l'amour (lyamour) - love.

In this case, an apostrophe is put - a superscript comma, indicating the omission of a vowel. That is, “love” is masculine in French, but this is not visible from the word, since the article le is truncated due to the vowel a. In French, e and other vowels at the junction of words are unacceptable, so you can’t say “le amour”, the vowel e will definitely fall out.

Content
1. Two genders, 6 Unstressed pronouns, 6 Basic reading rules, 7 Conjugation of two basic verbs, 11 Common phrases, 11
2. Indefinite articles, 13 Letter h, 14 Binding (liaison), 15 Turnover c "est, 16 Two important verbs, 18
3. The most important prepositions, 20 Turn se sont, 22 Possessive pronouns, 23 Word order in a sentence, 25 Preposition chez, 25
4. Demonstrative pronouns, 27 Rules for reading some nasal vowels, 27 Fluent e, 28 Negation, 28 Hack to ask a question, 30 Interrogative phrase est-ce que, 31
5. Gender of adjectives, 36 Place of adjectives, 38 Plural of adjectives, 39 Groups of verbs, 41 Regularity in the endings of conjugation of verbs, 42
6. Continuous articles (definite article + prepositions a and de), 46 Imperative, 47 Adverb, 48
7. Question words, 55 Conjunctions, 57
8. Negative question, 64 Comparative degree of adjectives, 65 Grm meanings of the word si, 66 Time and hours, 70
9. Personal verbal pronouns, 72 Emphasis, 73 Impersonal expression ilfaut, 74
10. Personal stressed pronouns, 80 Verbs like venir, 81 Near future and recent past, 81
11. Impersonal phrase Well, 88 Suffixes that help determine the gender of a noun, 89
12. Feminine nouns, 95 Plural nouns, 97 Polite expressions, 98
13. Indefinite personal pronoun on, 104 Passe compose (past compound), 105
14. Personal verbal pronouns, 112 Reflexive verbs, 113 Other reflexive verbs, 114 Indefinite words 118 Restrictive phrase ne... que, 120
15. Prepositions and adverbs, 129
16. Futur simple (simple future tense), 132 Adverbs en, y, 135 Adjectives and nouns - antonymous pairs, 137 Verb plaire - to like, 138 Degrees of comparison of adverbs, 139
17. Imparfait (incomplete past tense), 141 Basic Conversation Phrases, 142
Repetition 148.
Keys 149.

Free download e-book in a convenient format, watch and read:
Download the book French from scratch, Intensive simplified course, Kileyeva V.A., 2012 - fileskachat.com, fast and free download.

Download pdf
Below you can buy this book at the best discounted price with delivery throughout Russia.

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If you have ever heard a conversation in French, you will definitely want to learn it. There is no consensus regarding the complexity of this language. After all, learning is different for everyone. Like any other language, French can be learned in a short amount of time. The main thing at the same time is desire and perseverance.

You will need:

• Scientific literature;
• French dictionary;
• Movies and music in French with subtitles.

You will need:

Start with…

Decide how best you perceive and remember information.

You will have to choose from: textbooks, audio and video tutorials.

Track effective techniques. The more you narrow the circle, the easier it will be to start.

Self-study means that you will write a lot. But don't forget to speak as well, as communicating in the target language is the best practice.

If conversational French is important to you, pay more attention to learning vocabulary and pronunciation.

Grammar and spelling can be given time at the end of the course.

What to do daily

Pay attention to the rules

Read about how to combine nouns and other parts of speech correctly. You have to learn 3 forms of verbs, without this knowledge you will always speak with errors.

For example, in English we say a guest room, but in French it would be more correct - a guest room.

Pronunciation is very important for the French. He needs a lot of attention.

Since the spelling and pronunciation are completely different from each other. For example, the vowel "oi" is not pronounced like "oh" or "oi", but sounds like "wa".

Read and write a lot in French

In order to quickly memorize words, you need to write them down several times, and the best is a whole page. This will keep them in memory faster.

For reading, use books for children, they will lay a good start.

Another option is to choose your favorite book translated into French. This will interest you and allow you not to sit with a dictionary so much, because you already know what it says.

Don't take difficult books. After all, if it seems to you that you do not understand anything, you may lose interest in learning the language.

You can also keep your diary in the language of interest. Try to write in sentences. After a while, you will notice your progress.

French audio recordings

If you do exercises in the morning, include a lesson with a coach in French.

It will be interesting for you and with the help of the exercises shown, it will be easier for you to understand what is being said. At the same time, do not forget to memorize the words, and then look up their exact designation in the dictionary.

Love music - turn on French performers, after listening, look at the lyrics of the song with translation and write down unfamiliar words. Music will also help you remember pronunciation.

When watching movies, use subtitles. This will help you learn how to spell the words the actors say.

Talk as often as possible

Without the practice of speaking, you won't get far. Try to talk as much as possible. You can just tell your friend how a certain word will be in French.

If you're talking to him on Skype, ask him to correct your pronunciation. This will give you the opportunity to understand your mistakes and correct them in the future.

No practice anywhere

• Set aside a certain amount of time that you will devote to the practice.
• Try to practice every day.
• You can complete different tasks. One day it might be grammar exercises, and another day it might be vocabulary checks.
• Try to set up some social network in French and slowly figure it out.
• Transferring phone usage would also be a good option.