What is the proper way to learn French on your own?

France, officially the French Republic, French France or République Française, is a country in northwestern Europe. Historically and culturally it is amongst the most important nations in the Western world. France has also played a highly significant role in international affairs, with former colonies in every corner of the globe. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, the Alps and the Pyrenees, France has long provided a geographic, economic, and linguistic bridge joining northern and southern Europe. It is Europe’s most important agricultural producer and one of the world’s leading industrial powers. French learning brings with it, immense personal and professional benefits irrespective of your age or skill level!

Watch French TV shows/ Movies/Talk Shows. 

Watch English movies with French subtitles and French Movies with English subtitles to get a good understanding of the language in an entertaining way. 

Watch videos to understand the natural speech patterns,  rhythm, pitch, tone, modulation of speech. 

Apart from this,  the videos will also help you listen to the words and recognize them during repetitions. Eventually, when you start speaking with native speakers you would be a little relaxed and would be able to follow a few, if not all, words at the speed they speak. 

Further your understanding and learning via the shadowing technique to repeat dialogues that you hear. 

You can also turn on subtitles so that you can follow along and speak with the actors. TV shows in particular are also a great way to learn colloquialisms that you may not learn in a formal learning environment.

Start by learning the basic alphabets, progressing naturally to word building, phrases, idioms and slangs in the language 

Empower yourself to read small two-letter, three letter words, with children books so you can get confident with speaking the words. This will further strengthen your vocabulary as well as enable you to read; record yourself, playback,  correct your mistakes and repeat until you get the hang of it! 

Further your learning by listening to a lesson, reading along, and reading out loud. Then re-read and speed up your speech. Do this again and again until you can speak faster. Try your best to pronounce words correctly, but don’t exhaust yourself over it. 

Capture new words in a journal or diary to refer back to! 

Ensure you start by adding day-to-day used words that you hear in French audio, movies so as to be motivated to build small sentences.  Remember, One of the best ways to improve your speaking is to improve your vocabulary!

Listen to French talk radio/podcasts/ audiobooks/audio clips

Utilise your spare time whether it will be waiting in a queue, walking your dog, washing your car etc. Use all such time to listen to the podcast, audio clips, basically any audio resource you can lay your hand on, to be able to gather more vocabulary and correct accent. 

Music plays an immensely important part in our life. 

It is so evident from the fact that Alzheimer patients who forget the names of their loved ones, situations, have been known to recollect song lyrics and tunes! Song lyrics can also help you to improve your vocabulary. Also, singers tend to pronounce the words more clearly than people. By memorizing songs, you will learn the pronunciation better! 

Seek other reliable audio resources online that can help you learn. 

A learner who wishes to learn French should listen to French news as it is spoken more formally and clearly. They are also a great way to add new vocabulary words to learn! 

Gather the Right Materials to learn 

Old language versions aren’t in use anymore; therefore I suggest you learn the Modern Standard version of a language. Get yourself the right resources that help you learn to speak French properly. 

Use SRS to excel 

I could suggest proven apps such as Anki and Memrise where you can learn through existing decks or create your own!

Try Mnemonics to improve your learning 

Mnemonics is another popular method to further your learning by memorizing the existing French words, phrases into something,  known and common in your own native language. 

Practice, practice, practice! In the end, it is the only practice that is going to help you learn the language. 

Try the Pomodoro technique! 

Spending 45 minutes at spaced intervals, 3 times a day, every day, rather than spending long hours at a stretch on the weekends. 

Find a conversation partner to converse with and seek feedback from to improve your learning. Look for conversation partners around you, in your neighbourhood, any community near you; if you don’t find one I suggest going online on Conversationpartner, Tandem, Languagepartner, Italku, Hello Talk etc. Review again and again. 

After you are confident about your pronunciations and the accent, I recommend you talk aloud and record yourself. Then hear yourself again and correct your mistakes, to re-record yourself. You may continue doing this until you get the right pronunciations in one recording.

French is the sixth most widely spoken language in the world, and there are over 220 million French speakers across the globe, according to the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs. Considering the many cultural contributions that France has given us in Arts -Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Seurat, Degas, Gauguin, Caillebotte, Rodin, Pissarro, Signac, arguably van Gogh, Music -Ravel, Debussy, Bizet, Saint-Saëns, Berlioz, Stravinsky, arguably Chopin, 41 Heritage sites that are preserved under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), philosophy, literature, architecture, political ideas, historical wonders, cuisines, fashion, films, croissants and champagne etc

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