r/learningfrench

Hello all,

I'm currently at a C1 level in French, working towards a C2, and I'm looing for advice on two challenges I am having with comprehension/speaking. I use French both in Metropolitan France and Québec.

1. A stranger will come up to me and ask a question, and I will have no idea what they said, whereas I can understand well once we start having a conversion. Part of this is likely my ADHD, I struggle with this sometimes in my first language (English) as well, but way more frequently in French. I have to get in the habit of asking someone to repeat themselves more slowly, because I often freeze and then just fumble the conversation. Does anyone have other advice for working on this situation? Is there some resources somewhere of common questions you will be asked in public so I get used to hearing them?

2. Someone will ask a question, and I'll panic and say "oui" right away, even if I didn't understand what they asked right away! I need to break this reflex somehow. I was at a conference (in French, in a completely francophone audience) this past week and the presenter asked me a bunch of questions about myself, and I kept answering quickly instead of waiting for the question to sink in. Naturally, I didn't answer correctly. I often understand the question a few seconds after they finish asking it, and I don't actually need them to repeat it. Any advice is much appreciated.

I think I'm also putting a lot of pressure on myself to sound as close to a native level of speaking as possible in French. Thus, I feel like I have to respond right away or strangers might automatically assume I don't speak French.

Thank you again.

Je m’appelle Eric, je suis français, j’ai 56 ans, et je souhaite améliorer mon niveau en anglais (B1 vers B2). En échange, je serai ravi d’aider en Français.

À bientôt

i’m an indian and ive started to learn french please help me find good resources. and also how should i do that , does having tutor will help me or i can do it alone ?

I want to ask that how you practice for task 3 speaking because there are a lot of topics in tcf websites. Are you guys studied every single topics or just ideas for all of them ? Please help me ..

I want really help to find a way to learn french language in at least two months, and most important thing, it's speaking it fluently

As a native French speaker, I'd like to tell all French learners here: please don't be too hard on yourselves.

French is a genuinely difficult language, and honestly, even native speakers struggle with it. Many French people make mistakes in spelling, grammar, and conjugation on a daily basis. The language is full of exceptions, silent letters, irregular verbs, and rules that sometimes don't even seem to make sense. Sometimes we even disagree with each other about what's correct!

So if your French isn't perfect, that's completely okay.

For example, I've seen learners get really stressed about grammatical gender, worrying that saying "une croissant" instead of "un croissant" is a huge mistake. But the truth is, native speakers will still understand you perfectly. The same goes for many small grammar or conjugation mistakes: communication matters much more than perfection.

Learning a language is already difficult enough without putting impossible standards on yourself. Making mistakes doesn't mean you're bad at French, it means you're learning French.

So please, be patient with yourselves. If native French speakers can spend their entire lives struggling with certain aspects of French, you definitely don't need to feel ashamed for making mistakes while learning it. You're doing great 🩷

Hello everyone, im looking to improve my French. I have a relatively good grasp of the basics, except I dont practice. Is doulingo good? and if not, then what is better? Also is texting with native speakers or more advanced learners helpful? I am not really open to the idea of actually talking. Im mainly just trying to be consistent since slow and steady wins.

Lien : https://forms.gle/4XhL5L7fcpgq3MbA9

Bonjour,

Dans le cadre d’un stage de recherche, je réalise une enquête sur l’utilisation de l’IA pour l’assurance et les produits financiers 🤖

⌛️ Le questionnaire prend** moins de 5min et est anonym**e. Enquête

Un immense merci à tous ceux qui prendront le temps de m’aider pour ce projet de recherche !! 🙏

Hi everyone!

I'm relearning French, and while my reading is improving (I understand about 80% of what I read), my listening skills are still much weaker.

I'm wondering if there's a specific website, YouTube channel, podcast, app, or any other resource that people use specifically to train their ears to understand spoken French.

What helped you the most? Did you just listen to native content, or did you use something designed for learners?

My goal is to eventually understand everyday conversations without subtitles. I'd love to hear what worked for you. Thanks!

Watching French movies and TV shows is enjoyable, but it's not the fastest way to prepare for the exam—especially if you're at the A2 or B1 level.
Movies often include:

• Slang
• Incomplete sentences
• Very fast speech
• Background noise

Instead, focus on:

• French news
• Easy French videos
• Podcasts with transcripts
• Official exam-style listening exercises

Build your listening skills gradually.
Entertainment has its place.
Targeted practice gets results faster.
What listening resources have helped you the most?

Hey guys, I started to learn French a couple of days ago, and I knew that the pronunciation was going to be a tricky part. I already speak Portuguese and broken spanish (learnt that too, not native) which also has certain nasal sounds and pronunciation rules. Will that make learning French easier for me?

I also am a perfectionist when it comes to pronunciations and not being able to pronounce the R so far is kinda upsetting me. Is it a time thing? Like will I better at pronouncing words like voudrais or Paris in a few months time? Or is it something that certain people can never seem to get a hold of?

Are there dialects in France that do pronounce the R rather than closing it off?

Also, if you like, could you also suggest some resources that I could use? Thank you so much!!

I’m looking for:
A program with strong grammar and speaking practice.
Preparation for the TEF Canada (or TCF Canada).
Affordable tuition.
Live online classes (I’m in Canada, but I’m open to schools elsewhere
I’d love to hear from people who have actually taken classes there.
Which exam did you take: TEF Canada or TCF Canada, and why did you choose it?

Which one helped you the most? Is there another school you’d recommend?
Thanks in advance!

I love learning languages. When I started learning German a while ago, my teacher had quite a nice technique where we learned by going multiple times through the same piece of text until we could speak every word out loud while also being able to translate every sentence. This works very well because we are better at remembering things in the wider context of the entire text.

Later, when I started learning Japanese, I found there are reader apps like Satori Reader that provide interesting content read by native speakers. However, the interactive part of speaking out loud and getting quizzed on sentence meanings was still missing. It was also difficult to find easy content that properly scaled with my Japanese level.

That is why I built a reader app for language learners: Papirus Reader

On Papirus Reader, you can currently learn 12 languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Hindi and Arabic. And if you do not feel comfortable learning in English, you can also learn in Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, Spanish or Portuguese.

It is structured around books and stories that are scaled to ALL DIFFICULTY LEVELS, providing appropriate grammar and vocabulary, so you can read Kafka in German, Tolstoy in Russian, or Pinocchio in Italian, all at your difficulty level.

There is also an interactive mode which asks you to pronounce a sentece and translate it and then delivers instant personalized feedback.

Currently, the first 100 users can test everything for free. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Hope this helps. You can access the app here: papirus-reader.com

I'm curious how people at the B2 level and above keep improving once they’ve moved past the beginner/intermediate stage.

What did your language learning actually look like over the past week? Not your ideal routine, but what you really did.

I'm also interested in things like:

What resources or apps do you use regularly for the target language (TL)?

What's the most frustrating part of maintaining your routine?

Have you stopped using any tools or methods? What made you give them up?

What makes you feel like you're genuinely improving at this stage?