Coucou les French learners,

I didn’t send a newsletter last week because we have been moving to another house. But I am now back in almost full swing and I wanted to share Corinne’s relatable experience:

Learning French with no pressure and no memorization is such a nice change from other methods I have tried when learning French. They use simple sentences that build your vocabulary gradually through repetition, drawings, colors, and emphases on new vocabulary words. Each new story builds from the previous story which helps to recall words or phrases already heard and adds on new words or phrases. It’s exactly the method of learning a language that I have been searching for but could not find anywhere until now. Thank you!

Forget about memorizing vocabulary lists and their translations, learning grammar rules, verb conjugation tables, and syntax. It doesn’t work!

Now let’s go back in time… Do you remember when you started to speak your native language? Did you learn how to conjugate a verb in the past tense ?! You didn’t do that and yet you were able to first understand your native language, then think in it, and finally speak it spontaneously.

This is called the language acquisition process and your brain is wired to go through this process with no effort.

Trust me! Follow those 3 simple steps and become fluent in French the easy way!

Step One: Understand

Just as toddlers absorb language by observing and understanding contextual cues, you immerse in content slightly above your current proficiency level, allowing you to make connections and derive meaning without the need for direct translation.

Start with simple stories or stories you know already in your own language. When you are a beginner, start by watching stories. Watch stories that are presented at a pace suitable for your comprehension, ensuring you understand the content while gradually absorbing (not memorizing) vocabulary and grammar in context.

Your focus is on comprehension rather than stressing over vocabulary memorization or grammar rules, making it an engaging and effective way to acquire a language.

Be captivated & make the language acquisition process enjoyable and accessible.

Step Two: Think

Thinking in French is a pivotal stage in language acquisition that naturally follows comprehension. When you understand French well, your brain gradually shifts from translating words or phrases from your native language to forming thoughts directly in French.

Once you read and listened to a story and you understood it, try to reflect on the content. Try to retell the story or the main ideas in your own words in French. Do not worry about making mistakes, it is part of the process. Let your ideas flow in your brain.

The more you hear and read French content, the more you understand, the more French will flow in your brain.

Paula shared:

I find myself spontaneously spurting out ” elle/il est ne pas content!” when I see someone unhappy or “c’est un problème” when I have to wait in line and I’m in a hurry. Don’t know why but my mind just switches to French in my brain. This never happened before. I even think or say it the words with the same story telling enunciation as Alice! C’est bizarre mais ça fonctionne.

Step Three: Speak

Speaking French is the last step in your journey. It is the ultimate goal of comprehension and proficiency. When you can speak French fluently and spontaneously, it demonstrates that you’ve internalized the language to a remarkable extent.

Stephen Krashen who introduced the acquisition-learning hypothesis, wrote in 1985:

Speaking is a result of language acquisition and not its cause.

Read, listen and watch about who Dr Stephen Krashen is in French (it is a free resource!)

Engage in small, low-pressure conversations, even if it’s just with yourself, in French. Our live events help you to just do that. You get to read and discuss stories with other fellow learners. You get to laugh together and you feel inspired to keep speaking French!

Become a member & watch all our live sessions.

JOIN THE MEMBERS COMMUNITY LIVE MEETINGS
SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE. SHARE YOUR JOURNEY. KEEP YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE.

Trust your brain will do the job! Once you understand what you hear and read, it is stored in your brain forever.

Trust the process. It worked when you were a toddler and when you acquired your native language so it works for French too!

Embrace the 3 steps to acquiring French U-T-S
– Understand
– Think
– Speak

Melissa wrote on Trustpilot:

I am enjoying this learning platform. I love the solo option. I can take my time and process this beautiful language. Customer service has been so helpful. I highly recommend this program and I am so thankful for what they offer.