From saying ‘Bonjour !’ to being able to converse with your French friends from Paris with confidence, how much time do you need?
Let me tell you the story of two students of mine.
6 months: The Story of Neil
My first student is a 30-ish British guy – let’s call him Neil 😉
He and his French wife knew their international company was about to move in Paris in the upcoming months!
A life changing experience, and his very first time living and working abroad.
He would need to adapt to all things French: French food (an easy one 😉 ), the French work culture, the language.
He knew he had a lot on his plate.
Although his wife was French, he didn’t learn much.
Understandably his wife wasn’t ready to use the little spare time she had patiently teaching her husband French.
His motivation was strong: he took a set of 10 private lessons with me to start with.
We set out was the best learning plan was according to his needs.
We focused exclusively on the things that we knew he would need the most when settling in Paris.
An ambitious, smart man in his 30s, he proved to be such a gifted student.
He picked up the sounds of French from his native French wife.
Soon he was able to put together conversational French at a very decent level.
Another set of 10 lessons later, he was in Paris.
He wanted to have more listening material to work with. He was so frustrated not understanding what people in the cafés were saying. I recommended him the Inner French podcast from Hugo. It was the appropriate material for his level at this time.
He made huge progress from there. We also used some podcasts to study in much more detail, as material for our private lessons.
I was so happy when he was able to have natural conversations with his French colleagues at work.
Although he didn’t have to speak French, as the company was very international and used English a lot.
I felt like he had integrated to French society, through learning the language.
How long it took Neil
So how long did Neil need to get to that point?
Well we only had 20 private lessons.
We studied things like confusing verbs, reflexive verbs, how to deal with particular French structures.
But most importantly we studied how to learn and which plan to follow.
I directed him to the best resources.
Along with his strong motivation and skill, he did French outside our lessons – hard for me to estimate of course 😉
It took him very little time overall to get to a strong conversational level.
At this level he found himself to be « comfortable » speaking with French colleagues in Paris.
What Neil did
So Neil had:
– a very strong short-term objective
– a need to integrate to French culture, the culture of his wife
– time that he could use to learn French despite life being busy
– the confidence to get speaking, even though he knows it’s not perfect
He did an amazing job that is simply unprecedented.
I would estimate his learning time to about:
– 20 hours of private lessons (a 1 hour lesson a week)
– 80 hours of French outside of lessons
That means he needed about 5 months overall, with one private lesson per week.
Adding to that 4 hours of French time every week.
So it is definitely possible.
3 years on and off: The Story of Bob
Bob is a former student of mine from the USA. He has had a rich life and is now retired.
Bob likes to read a lot of novels and history books but is still very active.
He likes to have a nice French style dinner out with his wife. He is in love with all things French.
Bob learned French at school – but feels like he has forgotten most of it.
Because his brain is going strong, he can muster the energy to learn a lot.
But he doesn’t feel confident enough to get speaking.
He recalls being good at French at school because he was interested in the culture.
A confident, experienced man, as he puts together French sentences, he is still wondering:
‘Am I doing this right?’
Bob has a relaxed approach to learning French. It is a hobby of his that keeps him going, along with reading and gardening. He iss also busy writing his memoirs.
He wants to make the most of his retirement. Going on a trip to Paris is one of his many objectives.
In the summer we would not have lessons. Bob just wanted to unwind and change his routine.
We had a weekly private lesson that was mostly conversational.
Bob needed a speaking partner who was not only a French native speaker, but also a French teacher.
He needed guidance, someone to tell him where he needed to improve.
I would listen to him carefully and take down notes while keeping all my attention on him.
Then at the end of the lesson, I would give him the feedback he needed in order to improve.
I would also direct him to the resources that would most help him.
I was helping him speak French to a very decent conversational level with confidence.
What Bob did
The week after, Bob would make the same mistakes he did the week before – and he was ok with that!
His approach is much more relaxed, which means he wouldn’t dedicate as much time to French as Neil would.
Bob didn’t have what Neil had:
– an urgent need to learn French and integrate French culture
– a French partner to give him strong motivation
– French as a tool to speak to French colleagues and serve his workplace ambitions
In other words, he does not need to learn French.
But he has a strong interest in the language.
French is the gateway to learning more about French culture, one he finds to be very refined and rich.
What that means for you: Just how long does it take?
It depends.
How bad do you need to learn French?
How bad do you want to learn French?
This will naturally define:
– the amount of time you want to dedicate to French every day or every week
– the amount of exposure you are having to French on a daily or weekly basis
When you need French, chances are you will get to work much faster.
There is a sense of emergency here that needs to be taken care of.
When you want to speak French, your motivation needs to be paired with a strong sense of discipline.
You want something, and you are ready to put everything in place to reach that goal.
When you would like to speak French some day, what will happen when life gets busy?
When other things (family, friends, personal commitments…) will take priority?
Are you Neil or Bob?
Let me know in the comments below if you see yourself in Neil or Bob.
How much time do you give yourself to learn French? What’s your plan?
If you’re like Neil and want to speed things up with your French, check out my free mini course.
Neil or Bob, tell me what’s your current situation with French and what is most frustrating about it.
I will do my best to help 😉