About three days before I left for my trip I decided to start learning French. Obviously not very useful for this particular trip (also we were only in Paris three days our main destination was Venice). I didn’t study while I was travelling because I was too busy enjoying my trip. But now that I am back I have decided to add French to my daily routine.
I already speak two languages, obviously English, but I also speak Spanish. I primarily watch youtube or tv in spanish when I am home and speak english at work. Because of this I am already used to switching between two languages on a daily basis. So hopefully adding a third should not be too difficult.
Why French? I chose French as my third language for the following reasons: 1) My sister speaks French. So I have someone to practice with. 2) I go to Paris about once a year. Either as a main destination or for a few days before heading to my ultimate location (like I did this year). And it would be awesome to be able to navigate Paris in almost entirely French. I think this would bring a new experience to a city I love. 3) I love France and would love to have a vacation home there. I can’t afford Paris so that means a smaller village, which means English will not be widely spoken. And lastly, 4) I have co-workers based in French speaking Belgium and it could be useful in my job to be able to communicate in their native language instead of my native language.
My Method for Spanish
I am half Mexican and grew up hearing Spanish. I didn’t really start making an effort to really speak it and learn it until I was about 12 but I had heard it my whole life and already understood enough that I could watch cartoons and understand what was happening. So while I did pursue “learning” it I had a base understanding of the language and a good vocabulary base to start with. So my achieving a fluent level was not really difficult and I never really started from zero except as a small child starting with no language ability at all.
Given my research on learning languages I would say I took a mostly comprehensible input approach to getting myself to fluent, but I also did some grammar study every once in awhile. Because I already had a base, I am not sure that an entirely comprehensible input base is the best for me when starting from scratc with French. I do think that it is very helpful but I feel like I would need a base of understanding for the videos to really be helpful. Some words, sentence structure and probably pronouns and direct and indirect objects.
My Chosen Methods for Learning French
I am not a linguist and other than when I learned language as a child, I don’t really have any experience learning a language from scratch. The methods I have chosen are purely what I think will be best for me and not necessarily a recommendation for others to follow.
I do not have a base in French and I think comprehensible input is at its best when you can understand at least 70%. Because of this, I am going to start with using Doulingo and Babbel as well as start with comprehensible input. This will allow me to get a grasp of some vocabulary but also build my audio listening skills.
I think comprehensible input is very important (particularly when listening to native speakers). This is because often the way a language is taught and the way it is actually spoken in daily life are not the same. So as I build my vocabulary the time I spend daily on Duolingo and Babbel will naturally go down and my comprehensible input will go up.
Right now I am aiming for about an hour of French a day. That is 45 minutes of Duoling/Babbel a day and about 15 minutes of comprehensible input. Right now I am watching the most basic children’s shows in French because the visual with the audio helps with understanding what is being said. I hope to be able to watch native youtubers in French within the next 6 months. To me, it is much more enjoyable to “study” or “practice” when you are watching something you want to be watching. So i can just find French content similar to what I already watch.
My Goal
My ultimate goal is to be fluent. I want to speak French as well as I speak English and Spanish. This will take a while because I have been speaking these two languages essentially my whole life. My short term goal however, is to be conversational by the time I go back to Paris. I would really like to be able to go into a cafe or brassiere and order and converse entirely in French. As I have time frame for this, January 2025, we will see where I land before my trip.
I will do periodic updates with my progress and whether my chosen methods work for me or not and whether I need to change course. The true check up will be before I leave next year.
Au Revoir and stay tuned! If you have tips on teaching yourself a language please leave them in the comments!