Introduction:

French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d’oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France’s past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.

French is an official language in 29 countries across multiple continents,most of which are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 84 countries which share the official use or teaching of French. French is also one of six official languages used in the United Nations.   

One way to get ahead in the business world is to speak your customers’ language.

That might be exactly why you’re learning French—or it could just be an extra bonus that French is one of the top international languages. The more influential languages you master, the larger your potential customer base and professional network will grow. You’ve already reached a comfortable level of fluency in French and mastered many of its colloquialisms and idioms.

But business French is a different ballgame. Set aside all the French slang you’ve worked hard at picking up. That won’t necessarily give you an edge in the business world.

Here are 10 tips to help you easily increase your business French vocabulary and have you confidently discussing business matters in French in no time.

1. Read La Tribune online

La Tribune is a French daily covering financial and economic news, including stock market news and reports. All of its articles are also available on its online edition.

Choose one business article a day to read on the La Tribune website. Try to find one which relates to the line of business you’re interested in, otherwise, any business article will do.

While you’re reading, jot down 10 words you’re not familiar with. Look up their meanings in a French online dictionary and write them down by hand in a notebook. Writing things down manually will help you to commit them to memory better.

2. Watch a business report online on France24.com

From Monday to Friday, France24.com features a daily video report on French and international economic and business news called “Le journal de l’économie.”

While watching the report online, don’t worry about understanding every single word, but do listen carefully and make note of the words that come up most often. Write them down and look them up in the dictionary to check if you got the spelling right.

3. Give yourself a target of learning five words a day

Review the words you’ve learned in tips #1 and 2 above, and underline the five words you think you’ll have the hardest time remembering.

Write out each word by hand in your notebook, followed by its meaning—ten times each. Repetition is key when it comes to remembering new vocabulary, so the act of writing it down repetitively will help you commit it to memory easily. If you learn five new words a day, five days a week, you’ll be learning 25 new words a week, or a minimum of 100 words a month!

4 Read a business article on Wikipedia in English and French

Choose a precise business topic you’re particularly interested in and look it up on Wikipedia. It could be about business intelligence, the global financial system, or the balance of trade… you choose. Read the description in English carefully, then click on “French” in the “languages” column on the lower left side of the page and read the French page about the same topic.

Again, don’t worry if you don’t understand every word in the article; the aim of this exercise is to try to guess the English equivalent of any new terminology you come across in French.

You can also do this exercise the other way around, reading the French version first. Keep a mental note of any terms you’re not sure about, and then looking for their equivalents in the English version afterwards.

5. Read out loud every day

Reading an article out loud every day not only helps you get your tongue around difficult pronunciations, but it also jogs your memory.

Aim to read a short article out loud every day. You can choose one of the articles on the La Tribune website mentioned above in tip #1, or read the Wikipedia article you selected in the previous tip.

6. Write your CV in French

Writing your CV or résumé in French is an excellent exercise in French learning, and a great way to identify the vocabulary you need to describe your qualifications and skill sets. You’ll also have your French CV ready if you happen to need it in the future. Europass is the European Union standard CV format. Have a look at their sample CVs in French so that you can follow the same format and become familiarized with the terminology commonly used in a French CV. 

7. Read a business book in French that you’ve already read in English

Choose a business book you’ve already read in English and find out if it has a French translation. Need some ideas? Here are a few popular business books which have been translated into French:

• “Screw Business as Usual” by Richard Branson (“Le business sera humaniste ou ne sera pas”)
• “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill (“Réfléchissez et devenez riche“)
• “Competing for the Future” by Gary Hamel (“La conquête du futur”)

8. Write a paragraph in French about your line of business

Imagine you’re meeting an important business contact and have to describe what you do or talk about the line of business you’re in. Write down in French the key points of what you’d like to say in a paragraph, and try to incorporate some of the words you’ve learned doing the other exercises in the previous tips above.

If you’re not currently in a specific line of business, write about your dream business sect. You can also write this in a question and answer format, as if you were having a face-to-face discussion with a potential business partner.

9. Follow French business leaders and influencers on Twitter

Find the Twitter pages of French business leaders and influencers you would be interested in following. Read their most recent posts and decipher any terminology you don’t already know. Here are a few Twitter pages you may want to check out:

• Philippe Béchade, co-founder of CercleFinance.com and editor of La Bourse au Quotidien.
• Alexandre Mandil, an MBA graduate and consultant in economic intelligence.
• Jean-Claude Balès, a digital entrepreneur and CEO of a farming marketplace group.

10. Sign up for classes. 

If you are learning business or you want to live in France, consider enrolling in a college-level course, an intensive language program, or online classes. Learning to read and write will be crucial to your long term success, and having a mentor during the early stages is ideal for developing good study habits and asking all the questions you will have about French language and culture.