So you are over 40 and want to learn French as a second language, that’s well and good.

French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. This language is historically spoken in 29 countries across multiple continents and the community of 84 countries that share the teaching of the French language. French is spoken as a first language in France, Morocco, Canada, and as well as other Francophone regions.

Dependant on factors 

Despite the age factor, the time taken to learn French depends on three factors such as the attitude of the learner, the time spent by the learner with the language, does the learner like the language, feel confident in their learning process, and the learner’s attention to the language.

Language acquisition

So with a positive attitude and attentiveness to the language, the learner will learn the language easily. But in general young people will acquire new things easily and faster than the old ones.

Research outcome 

FSI research indicates an estimated time that is required to learn French languages with lots of learners who are over 40.

It takes approximately 500 – 700 hours to reach basic fluency in all the groups. If you spend 10 hours a day learning a language, then for reaching basic fluency it takes 70 -80 days for French. 

But if you spend only five hours a day then it takes up to three months.  

Activities

It will take a longer time for you if you do not spend this mentioned time for the learning. So if you don’t have 10 hours a day, then it’s better to focus on activities that are easy to organize, like listening and reading, using many sources such as books, podcasts, apps, websites etc. 

Moreover, for older people through these activities, they might learn faster than expected and then it might be easier for them to understand. 

Input based learning

If it is difficult to spend 10hours of time, then focusing on input-based learning, such as with a lot of listening during dead time, at the time when you are doing other work, washing the clothes, when driving your car, walking, exercises when you are doing in your free time etc. 

This method of learning will make you learn faster even if you are over 40 years old.

Various level

To reach the final level or full professional fluency, it would take quite a bit longer for over 40 years old. It would also be twice the time or four times as long based on the factors that are mentioned above.  

Following an intense program, or something similar, would help you to achieve basic conversational fluency in two months for the French language. It is important to get a grasp of some basic vocabulary and a sense of how the language works. Moving on to fluency will give you confidence. If you want to learn French with experts, then join your classes with Multibashi to learn the language easily in no time. All the best!!!