How I learned French | My journey to fluency

Wondering how to learn French? Watch my journey to fluency in French - how I learned French, what exactly I did and what I didn't do that I would have done if I was learning French from scratch again.
My favourite French courses and resources:
www.5minutelanguage.com/learn...
(The video I mention in this video is currently not available - sorry!)
My video on how to learn French from scratch: • How to learn French fr...
My video on whether French is difficult to learn: • Is French easy or diff...
My video on the reasons to learn French: • Should you learn Frenc...

[@wberckmann]

I taught myself to speak French fluently and she has a good technique. I'd add the following: learn common phrases or constructs, not just words, which allows you to "plug" them into many different sentences. Learn pouvoir, vouloir and devoir (to be able to, to want to; to have to) early and you can greatly expand your ability to create sentences. I disagree on the subjunctive early on - save it for later. The French will forgive a foreigner not knowing it. Practice speaking in the past tense to increase your speed and fluency because you already know what you did and you only have to focus on the language. In discussing the future, you have to focus both on the idea of what you want to do and the language. When you want to learn the future, begin with the compound future as we do in English (I am going to) go to the store, play soccer, have lunch, travel to France etc. Read out loud to practice thinking, speaking, hearing at the same time and read the same passages over and over until you master the comprehension without translating i.e. internalize the meaning. If you try to speak by translating from your language into French as you speak, you will handicap yourself and develop a really bad habit. You need to develop the ability to think in French from the very start, no matter how simple your phrases are. Breaking the translation habit becomes more and more difficult as you go on.

[@storytellingsnek5255]

This is essentially how tutor English students. I help them do away with translating from Spanish to English and tell them to immerse themselves in the language.

[@toutenfrancais...everythin9498]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pYXXnYqjjbKeqaM

[@WanderwithJon]

I did notice this in my learning journey (which I just recently started). For some reason, my brain keeps translating the sentences despite me having a general idea of what the speaker meant. It's kinda hard to shake off, but I do hope I learn to stop the mental translating.

[@alexysq2660]

*@Warren Berckmann* Oh la`, en vrai ce sont des archi-merveilleux conseils vous offrez la`, hyper reyfle`chis et tout bien utiles, je dois since`rement dire 😊 ; bien su^r chacun c'est tellement vrai, et donc faut vous d'eux remercier autant, voila` 💚💜...!

[@wolfthequarrelsome504]

Could you give some common phrases that you picked up?

[@benredfield6643]

Teaching someone else is definitely a good way to consolidate our own knowledge. I'm learning Japanese and am currently teaching a beginner some of the basics. It really is a great way to check my own understanding and see if I know something well enough to be able to explain it.

[@diariosdelextranjero]

It really does help consolidating your existing knowledge.

[@english_with_aga]

It's great to hear that this approach is helping you! Thanks for sharing :)

[@opdhaka]

Wow.. I also teach japanese at my channel.. Currently struggling from frenxh😅.

[@khawlaboukherissa4075]

Exactly i teach french to my friend like that i consolid mine too.

[@chin5707]

Her English is really good. If she told me she was from the UK I’d definitely believe it

[@wolfthequarrelsome504]

She lived in the UK .. Probably in the south East. But there's a German accent in there?

[@hanshikakaushik9266]

You are super amazing.....I was literally searching for such kind of video...I am so thankful to you

[@rituraj4447]

I thought you were a native speaker of English! Very helpful video, learned a lot and subscribed. My listening is terribke too! Just earned my C1 diplôme in French. Bon courage Madame!

[@sotoslfcclips7519]

Nah not really, she didn't sound British. She overpronounces her t's and so it got me struggling trying to figure out her ethnicity. I think she's German

[@jeremybuckets]

@@sotoslfcclips7519 She literally says she is Polish in the video

[@heyyouimmargaret]

Thank you so much for the advice. I started learning french this month and this will be very helpful 😁

[@english_with_aga]

Amazing, glad I could help!

[@toleen553]

It’s been 7 months so what happened? Are you happy with the results?💛

[@keidanekeith668]

How is it

[@sonicart1808]

Brilliant advice and very real thank you, your English is amazing.

[@nickeastonline]

Great tips and content as always

[@english_with_aga]

Thank you! Glad you found it useful :)

[@lottiewakerley]

i really wanna learn french because it’s such a beautiful language and i really want to live in paris when i’m older even if it’s just for a year. 🤍

[@user-qj9np2hc5x]

same with everything!

[@tfjdfhozs3s849]

Quand on veut, on peut, bon courage 😉

[@nevillec5252]

Thanks for your excellent videos. Seriously, why don't you have a million subs yet? You're excellent. Hope that happens soon.

[@english_with_aga]

Thank you - I appreciate it! :)

[@EasyFinnish]

Salut! Merci beaucoup pour votre vidéo.

[@Baubette]

It is very true that teaching helps understanding a language, even if it's your native language. I like teaching French to friends because it makes you actually think about the language and about things you may have been taking for granted. I may have learned more interesting things about French in the last few years than I have throughout high school.

[@toutenfrancais...everythin9498]

c'est vrai!

[@ninocharlesp.caitor5451]

Thanks for this✨

[@bejit10]

Just started a few months ago for fun! Thx for sharing the video.

[@salmaalaa938]

Thank you so much for such a video as I asked you a lot to do it thanks.

[@english_with_aga]

You're welcome!

[@ronniej.9925]

Thank you :)

[@celineseasyfrench95]

thank you!!!

[@pamelchowdhury]

Thanks

[@dodgermartin4895]

This is a good guide ! There are FOUR competencies (1) reading (2) writing (3) speaking (4) listening... and the challenge is finding the right balance.

[@wolfthequarrelsome504]

You don't need writing and speaking. Just read and listen. The rest comes.

[@AlexPatrickT]

Great tips! I will be giving myself presentations in German!

[@english_with_aga]

Good luck! Glad you found the tips useful :)

[@dylansylvan6398]

Thank you

[@aadishrisoni3638]

Merci 💜🥺

[@english_with_aga]

De rien!

[@BurnYourBrain]

super, merci pour ce partage

[@english_with_aga]

De rien!

[@Meliszzaaa]

This is very helpful

[@glurp1er]

My advice to learn any language : watching TV or movies is way more efficient than reading any book. Languages often aren't following their own rules when spoken. For example you'll learn "je ne sais pas" but most French will say "ch'ai pas".

[@jeanfrancoisbe2]

La majorité des français disent je ne sais pas, une partie seulement des jeunes disent chai pas ou j'en sais rien...

[@wolfthequarrelsome504]

I agree. But your going to read the subtitles too.

[@pauld3327]

Audiobooks are very good to learn a laguage. Graded readers are the way to go for beginners.

[@deepakkumaar8413]

Thanks mam

[@MohamedAli-rd7rn]

Hello madam I am so excited about the way you definitely learned French language. To me you have a great chance to learn French because you are really British. So English and French absolutely share a lot of vocabulary especially the political terms On top of that the British and the French also have a lot a lot of things in common the continent ,the cultures the system of government etc. etc.more over the technology ,the civilization and best of all the economy.

[@wolfthequarrelsome504]

It isn't easy.. Even for native English speakers.

[@irinatomashevska5392]

Thank you for your experience, Agnieszka! Can you please write the author of the book you mentioned, by Amelie....?

[@Evan12346]

It is interesting to hear you say that when you went to France you had a hard time understanding people. I've found that on my trips to France that people spoke so quickly that it was hard to understand them, especially in Paris. When I had learnt Spanish in Guatemala for only 2 weeks (vs years with French), I found that I could understand native speakers much easier. Given the number of languages that you speak, do you find that spoken French is particularly difficult for beginners? Or is it simply that in France they speak so quickly? I've love to hear your thoughts on this. Another great video. Thank you.

[@diariosdelextranjero]

This is a possibility. I saw a video of a girl from Spain speaking about something and there were a lot of comments from other native spanish speakers alleging that she spoke really fast.

[@english_with_aga]

That's interesting - thanks for sharing! Many people say that Spanish speakers are difficult to understand because they tend to speak fast. However, I personally think Spanish is easier to understand than French when you're a beginner. It seems to me that that's because Spanish pronunciation is more phonetic so it's easier to hear all the sounds and visualise what letters they represent. French, on the other hand, has so many silent letters and sounds that resemble each other that it is quite tricky to hear something and know how it's written (and therefore what it means) straight away. Struggling to understand French might have something to do with the way Parisians speak as well, as that's exactly where I encountered those challenges mostly.

[@ballintogher]

@@english_with_aga Spanish is spoken differently in Spain to Guatemala, it's spoken much faster in Spain.

[@Aditya-te7oo]

@@diariosdelextranjero What is the name of the video ?

[@diariosdelextranjero]

@@Aditya-te7oo cómo aprender idiomas (a cualquier edad).

[@marcgueguen4294]

bientôt,une vidéo entièrement en français alors ?

[@english_with_aga]

J'espère que oui! :)

[@deborahmeek6529]

Thank you, I have been learning with Alexa French for 5 months she is awesome but I think I am to caught up in conjugating verbs I think I should be knowing more then I am now, I do about 2-3 hours French everyday

[@jolyne6]

Is she good at teaching? Do you know others ??

[@teresita.lozada]

Loooove it!.

[@tusaludintegral]

Hi! How long did you take to read complex texts?

[@vinne1234]

How long did it took you to learn French.. and daily how many hours did you spent on it ?

[@ankutoonz]

Bonjour I am beginner how can i learn french? S'il vous plait Merci

[@parthiv4708]

Hi I'm Parthiban from India I am a Graduate in Engineering I Want to Learn French How much time it will take from A1 - C1 (DELF - DALF) If I Study Intensively??

[@Hilushenka]

Agnieszka, moglabys polecic jakies latwe nowelki po francusku . Ta autorka ktorej ksiazki czytalas Amelie Nothtomb ...moze sprawdzalam jej trudniejsze ksiazki, ale mysle ze jest dosc ciezka... :)

[@MrSidney146]

Ma'am, I had click the link available in our site but I am unable to join. Kindly guide me.

[@lindaa3534]

Please repeat the name of the author you said you enjoyed reading.

[@english_with_aga]

It's Amelie Nothomb :)

[@mustaqeemazeem]

Please tell which language I must learn for future

[@philippehlivanov7707]

Chinese

[@royfigueroa9210]

How many hours did it take to learn a basic conversational level?

[@maniravandi5983]

How long did it took for u to reach b2 (semi fluency)?

[@Jim_in_AR]

Who is the French writer she mentions reading a lot of?

[@AyeshaFahad2023]

🙏 merci

[@english_with_aga]

De rien!

[@nolanr1400]

Philosophy is easier to read than literature. Just because its vocabulary is more limited

[@ali_dolll2829]

I speak English and Spanish and I’m currently learning French by myself. Is there any text books I can buy that you recommend for learning French?

[@beliosares2831]

I'm french and I recommend you to watch " intouchable" . It's a masterpiece , this is the best french moovie( not book)

[@ali_dolll2829]

@@beliosares2831 ok do they have it on Netflix of YT?

[@toutenfrancais...everythin9498]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pYXXnYqjjbKeqaM

[@toutenfrancais...everythin9498]

kzbin.info/door/KzCfq5-H3hVoHRdcCEhIGg

[@lunahaumonte7723]

Where am I doing😭😭😭 i’ m a native french and I watch someone who learn me how to talk franch🥲

[@toleen553]

Who teaches me*♥️😊

[@MsCankersore]

Been learning for a year and one month and can’t speak jack

[@english_with_aga]

You’ll get there!

[@emilykg]

How old were you when you planned French?

[@english_with_aga]

I was 15 when I had to decide what second foreign language to learn at school and I chose French. I started learning it at 16 😊

[@emilykg]

@@english_with_aga Thanks!

[@khadrajama6516]

Hello everyone! Is there anyone native French speaker who wishes to help me with practicing the language please? I really appreciate that 🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@aiyanaperry4016]

I would’ve liked to hear you speak French more but nice video

[@english_with_aga]

I can do that next time :)

[@kevinb3706]

I don’t know why I am watching this video as I am French lol

[@royfigueroa9210]

Do you speak french?

[@kevinb3706]

@@royfigueroa9210 Yes, I am.

[@kumaraditya9183]

Yeah the 5minute language evolved to 15 minutes language

[@english_with_aga]

Haha - true!

[@khoaluong9982]

Wait you’re polish ? i thought you were british lol

[@Journeyman1642]

English isn’t foreign, polish and French are! 😂

[@yusukelee9590]

Wait english isn't your native language, could've fooled me, you just sounded british to me ,so what is your native language

[@english_with_aga]

My native language is Polish :)

[@yusukelee9590]

@@english_with_aga oh wow that's not even close to English Russian must've been easier for you than English thats impressive most get good at English to the point of being understood clearly but very little get to the point of being fooled for a native

[@eduardoinke7081]

@@english_with_aga Congratulations!!! Your English is beautiful!!!

[@slicksalmon6948]

Interesting to hear someone whose native language is Polish speaking English with an RP accent to talk about how to learn French. I feel dumber every day.

[@english_with_aga]

Haha, thank you 😊

[@Faisals_Adventures]

talking about taking classes at university sound like to like nails scratching on a chalkboard to many self-learners. most of us cannot go back to college due to costs or other prohibitive reasons. sometime to keep in mind when making these types of videos even if you consider yourself self-taught.