Things I wish I knew before starting to learn French | Advice for French learners

Bonjour à tous! In this video, I'll be sharing things that I wish I knew before starting to learn French. These are my reflections on things that could have made my learning process more efficient or easier.
Share any thoughts in the comments.
If you'd like to speak French with confidence and ease, see some more of my videos and subscribe! In my videos, I explain French pronunciation rules and articulation. I explain the position of the mouth, tongue, and jaw required to produce each French sound. After practicing with me, you'll feel more confident in speaking French. It will be easier for you to understand fast native speech in movies and real life.
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⏱ Timestamps
00:00 Intro
00:37 French phonetics is easy
02:42 Learn reading rules at the beginning
04:14 Listen as much as you can
05:48 French grammar is about iterations
08:11 Learning dialogues is powerful
09:42 Don’t learn words, learn phrases

[@french.pronunciation]

Subscribe to my second channel for life updates and more general language content - kzbin.info/door/sF5G1BbRMUPkIu_NluUQ-g ❤

[@TheperfectfrenchwithDylane]

I always tell French learners to learn French pronunciation rules first because written and spoken French are like 2 different languages. But like you say, once you know the rules, it's actually easy. It also provides a great foundation because you can understand spoken French faster after that :)

[@french.pronunciation]

Couldn't agree more!

[@FM-dm8xj]

where do you learn this tho?

[@davineuskens21]

@@FM-dm8xj look up videos or articles on french phonetics and practice a bunch. Songs are great for developing a "natural" feel to your accent, dont forget to add your personality and feel the words

[@linguisticgirlafra5242]

My favourite french teacher here ❤️

[@g.t2231]

i am watching peppa pig with french translation is that good?

[@shayne657]

i cannot begin to explain to you how helpful both the structure and the content of this video is

[@sohit535]

I am teaching French 🇫🇷 to my 10 year old daughter... Thanks for sharing and making such videos... People like me and my daughter in India 🇮🇳 are learning from people like you... 👍👍

[@davineuskens21]

That's very cool. There's beauty in getting in contact with another culture

[@LabGecko]

7:29 Absolutely. I wander around Paris speaking as much French as I can, and my French is _horrible_ ! But people understand that I am trying and try to help. People want you to succeed in learning their language ! Do they laugh? Maybe, but never in my presence in a mocking way. Everyone I've met has been very kind. Even those who don't have time to deal with my French are kind about saying so.

[@french.pronunciation]

I've had exactly the same experience (not while wandering around Paris though) - natives are kind toward people who learn their language

[@sportydude9337]

Last tip I needed to hear! Merci becoup !

[@denisenorton1922]

I’ve been living and working in France for 7 yrs and my accent is British, even after bonjour French people will start speaking English. I want to have an accent, so your videos are perfect for me, keep them coming. Your suggestion to listen to a language first is absolutely essential, I always had the radio on, France bleu, a mixture on music and discussion.

[@zosijana123]

So glad you are back on youtube! Please, could you make a video about different O sounds in french, the difference between the O in mot, and in molle for example.

[@brucecrane9605]

Nice to see you again. Learning French is easier and more fun with you.

[@lindasauers8745]

So happy you're back!!!

[@pascaledelos7537]

The best teacher I found online.. to support my own students!

[@addyk2u67]

Loved the explanation in this!!🎉🎉❤

[@LabGecko]

Word combinations - yes, I find myself doing this a lot. I think about where I'm going and what I'll need to say, think about what I believe the phrase should be, then look it up to see if I'm correct, close, or way off. Then I correct any mental errors and practice saying it out loud a couple of times before I get there. This sounds like a lot, but it actually takes about 30 seconds, including using DeepL or Google to translate. It is also rare that what I look up is all I need, but it is enough to start the conversation, and I can stumble through the rest or not, no big deal either way because everyone involved knows I'm learning.

[@roksannah]

Thank you for the video, your advice is really helpful :)

[@cheberur]

I just found your videos today and i'm super excited cos of your unique and profound content. you are amazing and wonderful person to listen to. Please keep posting more. Love and blessings on you. `

[@khushidubey3618]

after a long time !! thank god that you have again started making videos to be very honest i find your videos very unique and interesting so it's a request from my side that please continue to make videos like this it helps a lot for a people like us...i'm very happy that you are back

[@french.pronunciation]

so happy to read this!

[@tinaranic6916]

Thank you Nasty, very valuable video!

[@TheRealNirvana]

Loved the video

[@arpitchoudhary2821]

Hey, nice to see you again 😃

[@A13JMC]

A great video that shows a real down to earth attitude and practical approach to learning a new language. Honesty, and a here's where I could have done better learning a new language, really connects with learners. Word combinations could be called word phrases, small at first, and maybe slowly, and folks should find situations to use them. But explain to people you r learning a new language, and tell them what u have said. This all points to an ability to use the new language in the target country. Beginner phrases, where are the toilets, or restrooms, where is the nearest atm, where is the nearest food store, etc.

[@yanislaudy8847]

Étant natif français, de mon côté j'apprends l'anglais, et rien qu'en t'écoutant j'améliore mon écoute en anglais car ton anglais est super clair. Au final tes leçons sont utiles pour ceux qui veulent apprendre ces 2 langues ,une pierre 2 coups 👍

[@mketkee]

Thank you! 🙏

[@liegebarbosa7358]

Merci beaucoup pour cette vidéo! Thanks a bunch!

[@lisaonthemargins]

Thank you thank you thank you. Great advice. Now just to find resources for what you're talking about

[@mrsbombardier]

I'm new here and I'm starting with french like my 3 language. Thanks for the advices 🗣️

[@userC-bg2wd]

(It's great to see you again) 👀

[@missymel89]

Love this video thank you

[@addyk2u67]

I love your videos!! Especially the derniere danse one, thankyou!!

[@yokun5764]

This is super helpful! Im stuck at level B1 - B2 level and I agree, I need to definitely master the basic again !

[@vimalneha]

Hi Nastya, liked this video and subscribed! I must say i was planning to learn french for over a year. Know or have native English and professional proficiency in German. The main point is i felt that your advice finally made me start. Thanks for speaking what really matters.

[@mazharsoufi5270]

merci very helpful

[@sstarckjohnson2624]

thank you!

[@laurawilliams2790]

I love dual language books because I can see the French/English sentences side-by-side. This helps with learning vocabulary and also with learning sentence structure. I've learned more French with reading than by any other method because it's slow and I can see it multiple times. Listening to native French speakers is indispensable for pronunciation and learning the "melody" of French.

[@vadirajap9083]

Any recommendations for such a book to get started?

[@matthewupdegrove5013]

Woo, you're back! Tes vidéos sont super! Merci beaucoup!

[@sergenzo7378]

I am looking for an English correspondent with whom to improve my English knowing that I speak French

[@ZEN7-meditation-sonotherapie]

Super video ! KISS FROM PARIS 🇫🇷 🇫🇷 🇫🇷 Plein de bonne énergies a tous !

[@stevedeanda8835]

Nastya, I’m grateful in general for your videos but there are three things that you do especially well that I find very helpful and for which you should know are greatly appreciated. First, thank you for using IPA symbols! They do help me distinguish one sound from another in a written format. Second, thank you for describing tongue, mouth, and jaw positions. That helps me get both their position right and to better transition for the following sounds. Third, your exaggerated lip movements (for muscle memory) and your highly contrasted lips color (lipstick or natural?) are actually enjoyable to watch and copy. Profile views are also very helpful. Sometimes your explanations are a little too quick for me and your inflection in English requires that I listen carefully but with repeated watching I get it. I have other resources for grammar and vocabulary but your excellent videos on pronunciation fill such a foundational aspect of learning French! Once again, much gratitude for your wonderful efforts in helping me and many others to get French pronunciation right!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@french.pronunciation]

Thank you for your kindness! I'm glad to be of help!

[@stevedeanda8835]

After listening to this video a year after my original comments, I’m finding even more truth to what you’ve shared. Since I’ll never live in France, I’ll never completely learn the language- I won’t ever be “fluent” like a native but I could, nonetheless, become conversant (and maybe B2). Still mildly amusing for me to be learning French pronunciation in English from a young Russian woman- but that’s why conversant is such an amazing level. To your points then, you’re right, I don’t need to have an extensive vocabulary (10,000+ words), know all the verb conjugations for hundreds of verbs, or the exceptions to the exceptions of grammar rules-I don’t need to know everything-which is a relief! I just need to know that which is important and useful (and to know it well). And, that’s why reading, conversing, listening to actual people or music, and having a teacher who can help prioritize what’s being learned is so important. Otherwise, too much time could be spent on the trivial, the rare, and the useless. Reading, radio, and real conversations can show us what will get us the 80% results for 20% effort and not the other way around. Years later I’ll still be learning and reprioritizing but at a level above Beginner (but never above “Learner”) -and maybe one day I’ll learn those exceptions to the exceptions.😊 Thanks for validating some of what I’ve been very slowly learning on my own. Everyone’s path is different but it’s nice to have guides like you along way.

[@robertflint2549]

If I had known how long it would take to become fluent in French when I first started studying it in my 30s, I never would have started. But I'm glad I did. Great language. I'm now making the same journey with Spanish.

[@icarusfalls6899]

How much it takes to be fluent?

[@robertflint2549]

@@icarusfalls6899 It took me around 25 years. Maybe I'm extra slow.

[@peonies2121]

I’m in my 30s too - thanks for this sober perspective! Glad you made it on the other side. Can’t imagine the day myself!

[@robertflint2549]

@@peonies2121 You'll get there. All it takes is persistence.

[@omalga]

I have French at college now and I’m sooo stressed. Pronunciation is Soo hard for me. I feel like others are getting it faster. That’s why I’m here to learn it on my own 😅 wish me luck !

[@VivekSingh-ud2pp]

Awesome

[@jeancarlosfuentes6145]

Estoy empezando en el mundo del francés y quería escuchar la opinión de otras personas. Thanks 👍

[@jahnavi.youtube]

Thank you for these useful tips

[@JacksonGao-pg6lb]

language just like a place where can make people talking together, no matter how far you are. i'm tryna make my english like a native speaker, and i also listening english songs every night (with singing), so i can understand (8/10) what are you sayin' so far. finda way to you, if it's the best to you

[@alvarober5]

Bonjour. Je suis vénézuélien. Je parle anglais et j’étudie le français maintenant. Je ne parle pas bien français. Je pense que vous avez raison. Il est important de comprendre ces indices pour progresser dans l'apprentissage du français.

[@whoisappie]

I never know whether to pronounce -ais, -ai and -ait as an "ay" or "eh", do you have a video or this? Otherwise I beg you to make one! Your channel is GREAT, thank you!

[@kendasall9910]

Please could you help me to improve my english and i will the same for you in french, i'm fluent !

[@samanthamiller5773]

0:14 I have been watching you for almost a year now! I greatly appreciate your honestly and vulnerability when learning. You are super encouraging to me. I’m glad you found your talent/gifting to share with others. I hope you continue to post because I will be following. I have had the opportunity to learn Spanish and German too. French keeps standing out to me as a language I want to keep learning and don’t become tired or bored of. I hope to be fluent, but I don’t have much support because most people around me don’t understand it’s importance. I hope to keep learning and not give up!

[@multiversal_hindutva]

I'm learning French from Bharat 🇮🇳 Thanks for this tutorial. I'm 14 year old. 😅

[@RajveerSarao1111]

I m also starting.... learning French 🙆🏻‍♀️

[@fernandomarquez365]

Je crois et considère qu'il faut suivre un cours de phonétique en anglais (c'est la chose la plus simple que j'ai jamais apprise dans ma vie) et tu as raison sur la phonétique en français mais n'oublie pas qu'il y a des milliers d'exceptions (par exemple : fils / fis/ ou femme /fam/ ) et c'est ça qui est difficile dans cette langue. Dans mon cas je n'ai aucun problème avec les sons nasaux (car mon dialecte a ces sons), je parle espagnol et anglais et j'ai étudié la phonétique en français et c'était le plus simple et maintenant j'en suis au stade d'étudier les dialogues. Je ressens la même chose que toi car j'ai des amis français et je n'ai pas pu converser avec eux comme je le fais dans mes autres langues, je pense que la patience est la clé. Excellente vidéo (pour les débutants). Je suis professeur de langues et chercheur. salutations

[@breathmusic1312]

Hi!! Could you please make a video with the song “Bruxelle je t’aime” - Angèle?? Pleaseeee 🙏🙏

[@maithaalmansoori4244]

can you give us example? , i would like to hear vegetable in France.

[@ElizabethMontenegro-zf7we]

GRETTINGS FROM LIMA PERU

[@user-pp5fd6fm5e]

Funny - Im native Ukrainian (speak both rus and ua) who decided to memorise his school level French, watching about it in English on Nastya`s (girl from Russia?) channel - funny!)

[@munkhjargalbaljinnyam1419]

Blaudrachen,Dabomb,Nierenstein

[@marksummers463]

BTW: If want to master English grammar in about two weeks, check out a piece titled The Clear Route to English Grammar. It's like going from a bicycle to the space shuttle, and it's dirt cheap. Seriously.

[@Jonaslive9]

❤

[@FreeEagle-zh7js]

Bon aprés-midi! Comment allez-vous?

[@GingerbreadEllie]

J’aime fraçias 😂is that even right that’s all I know lol

[@CarlSamuel-fm7bj]

Somebody, give me advice pls😢 When noting words in French, I'm not sure which is better, spelling words in English like a,b,c,d,e , or spelling in French like a (ar) , b (bay) , c ( cay) , d (day) , e ( eeh). As an English speaker, it's quite difficult and unfamiliar for me to note words in French, I thought that it would be more easy and rememberable for me by noting words in English accent rather than French accent. As a French starter, I'm not sure about my thought.So , I really need advice from you , guys. Pls

[@munkhjargalbaljinnyam1419]

Dabomb,Nierenstein

[@anita18274]

are you planning to sit any french exam ?

[@alexbr550]

One of the major problems for me with French is the fact that some letters at the end of words are not pronounced......

[@alifnoorwaziri8378]

ca va💓

[@music_observe]

👋😊

[@faygo_cupcake]

English phonetics make no seance at all my mom used to make me do hooked oh phonics every summer and cus of that I spell phonetically it makes sense to me but it can take some time for people to understand my texts 😅

[@monster_fac3512]

Literally I start learning and watching French language from yesterday. It’s very difficult to pronounce the words. The alphabet “R” and “Y” letter are crazy to pronounce. How can beginner make sentences while they’re struggling to pronounce the single word?😂

[@davineuskens21]

Learn word combinations!

[@rc1982]

As a Brazilian Portuguese native speaker, nasal sounds are a piece of cake.

[@dedemuhammad2726]

I wanted to learn Portuguese but the nasal sounds changed my mind, would it be understood if I spoke it without nasal pronunciation?

[@rc1982]

@@dedemuhammad2726 , mostly, yes.

[@achmadiid8644]

Is she from Scotland?

[@joejacquesschulz8514]

Yeah. French vowels and diphtongs are simple. Just compare them to Dutch. I am serious. Dutch has more variations.

[@calvenzen_d_drip]

Try Tamil it's an Indian language (plz don't compare this beautiful language with hindi). The killer of phonetics and tongue and nasal involvement. For a letter called (zha) your tip of the tongue has to to go all the way back to the back roof of your mouth without touching it and come back to the same position without learning that letter you can't even pronounce the name of the language correctly (ITS JUST A LETTER). Try it. If you learn that, phonetics is a just a matter of time. you can learn any language we just have to memorize the words. pronunciation is just that easy.

[@adrian10k5k]

She is right about English. So is it data or data? Did you pronounce it in your head two different ways? I did. Of course everyone knows the correct pronunciation is data.

[@seryjsk]

Si je savais " J'accrocherais de la paille à ma montre..пустъ и не римфо во

[@user-dk4sy7hg2p]

At first, I thought this was just another woman using her good looks to attract viewers, but she has this well thought out and is worth the time it takes to watch. Very good and beneficial.

[@TheNutmegStitcher]

had known;) English phonetics can bring a person to tears. rough, through, bough, fourth...

[@munkhjargalbaljinnyam1419]

🇲🇳🇲🇳🇲🇳

[@pedrocavalcante5822]

Are you from Russia?

[@baronmeduse]

The spelling/sound thing is not entirely true. The sound of 'eu' in e.g. bleu is completely different than that in 'j'ai eu'. Or if you take a sentence such as: 'Leurs chaussettes bleues' the eu in the first and last words are not identical.I can't think of them all off the top of my head, but there are actually many of these. There's also the problem of some endings just not following the general rule of being unpronounced, like 'but' (goal) where the 't' is sounded, but you don't know this until it is learned. It's not the only one. French orthography is not logical at all. However your discussion of grammar and dialogues is excellent advice!

[@jonasv.c.8924]

A bit of a late response, but there is a coherent pronunciation rule for words with "eu". 1. "Leur" is pronounced the same as "beurre", "peur" and "courreur" and "heure" (= "eu" is followed by a pronounced consonant). 2. "Bleu" is pronounced the same as "peu", "feu", "vieux" and "monsieur" ("eu" is followed by nothing or followed by an unpronounced consonant). This rule also applies when the word needs to be declined to fit grammatical gender and number (bleu, bleue, bleus and bleues) 3. "Eu" is pronounced as a French "u" because it's on its own (this also applies to any conjugations of the verb "eu"). French spelling is complicated, but there is a coherent system behind it (with some exceptions). Which can't be said about English spelling. In English, pronunciation and spelling are completely disconnected. Even English speakers struggle when they're reading a word that's completely new to them for the first time.

[@baronmeduse]

@jonasv.c.8924 Once the differences need to be enumerated the idea of coherence vanishes. I know how to pronounce to a reasonable level, my mother was Belgian French. The statement "Which can't be said about English spelling" is often given as contrast, but the reality is that the exceptions in English are also able to be learned and there are lots of coherent parcels of pronunciation. Comparison is irrelevant because we can compare to many languages and get better or worse results. The fact is that French is not as coherent as claimed for learners. It's 'these rules' then long lists of exceptions. Especially the endings problem, with some of them pronounced and some not.

[@jonasv.c.8924]

@@baronmeduse I politely disagree. Yes, the rules behind French pronunciation are extremely complex, but they are a coherent set of rules nevertheless. It’s a piece of cake to pronounce almost any French word’s pronunciation as soon as you master this complex but coherent set of rules. English does have some coherent pronunciation rules, but not to the same extent as French. For example, there’s no way to predict how a word ending in “ough” needs to be pronounced, other than memorising it. An English learner may know how to pronounce “tough” but that won’t give him any clue about the pronunciation of “through” or “thorough”.

[@baronmeduse]

@@jonasv.c.8924 Those English endings are merely a relic of how they used to be pronounced (cognate with Dutch/German e.g. plough=ploeg=Pflug) that's a spelling reform issue somewhat taken up by the Americans. But let's not pretend that French is some coherent system when it isn't. If it was so straightforward the school textbooks (I went to school in Belgium) wouldn't need to be so detailed even for speakers of the languages speaking it at home! It would be a leaflet. So for learners it's a lot worse. When that 'English is chaotic' thing is wheeled out it's very easy to point to dozens of irrational French pronunciations, like 'œufs'. French vowels have an exhaustive set of nuanced sound alterations when in combination with other vowels, with consonants, or a vowel plus consonant. It's much more complex than is often presented and not just a neat little coherent system. And like Dutch (I live in NL these days) the persistent attempts at spelling reforms have only made it more difficult. Whereas English has had no reforms and miraculously half the world has learnt it.

[@menhera2]

Nobody want to talk to French people so don't learn French 😂

[@timotheelegrincheux2204]

Your title in correct English would be Things I wish I had known before I started…. Also, I strongly disagree with your assertion that learning French pronunciation is easy. If it feels easy you aren’t doing it right. Things I wish I knew means now; wish I had known means at that point in the past. Yes, I admit that I am being pedantic but I can’t help myself.

[@thato596]

You are right. Nothing wrong with pointing things out

[@chaosmagics516]

WE LOVE YOU