Your French Teachers Lied To You (It's Not Your Fault!)

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Free 3-Day Challenge for Stuck Intermediates starts April 22 2024: learn.frenchinplainsight.com/challenge?.q2.2024

[@XH13]

French here. The passé simple is the main tense use to write (and read) novels and academic papers. The best way to learn it is reading books. Young French kids learn it by writing stories. In a professional setting (documentation, reports), we use the passé composé et l'imparfait like when we are speaking. And there are a lot of tenses that are purely used by teachers as a form of torture

[@lordlucan7655]

If I could meet my old French Teacher in the street I would shake his hand and say Merci . He didn’t teach me French to any level other than getting a CSE grade 1 back in 1982 . But what he did give me was that spark to want to know more and more , and to not care about mistakes but just live and breath the language , culture , geography and history . A tiny spark back then … but one which lit a fuse that took me around the world to a much brighter future - one a shy kid who spent all day looking out of the French Class window couldn’t have ever imagined .. In the other side of the glass was a whole new universe and his spark made me open the window and walk out …..

[@aurevoirpet-ourfrenchlife6772]

Very good video and I really liked how you involved native French speakers. You can’t beat having things reconfirmed by the people who use the language every day. Well done.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Yea exactly. Maybe one day I'll have the courage to interview people in the street. @ClapFrancais is pushing me to do that :D. Ça s'appelle des micro-trottoirs :)

[@aurevoirpet-ourfrenchlife6772]

Oh I think you’d be good at that. I’ve seen videos where people do that and I do like the “straight from the horses mouth” set up. You could always start off small in a little town as opposed to a big city. Bon courage 😁

[@learningeasilywithlucie7160]

Super contente d'avoir participé, la vidéo est vraiment chouette !! :) la prochaine fois, je t'invite sur mon podcast haha

[@donfzic7471]

C’est amusant ! J’adore parler en Français sur cette chaîne KZbin. 😄🇬🇧🇫🇷🇬🇧

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Avec plaisir. Merci beaucoup d'avoir participé à la vidéo Lucie :)

[@sayfrancais]

Merci beaucoup Alex de m'avoir invitée 😊😉🤗 C'est aussi ma manière d'enseigner: le plus important est d'apprendre le " real life french" 😁🌟

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Merci d'avoir participé Sevin :)

[@colleenmarin8907]

Sacre Bleu is something a cartoon character would say, wearing a beret and a black-and-white striped shirt, with the Eiffel tower in the background

[@anitawallace2166]

I have to unlearn so much! I remember being taught that the proper way to ask questions was the inversion method. I was told that using the statement with inflection was “the baby way” and to be avoided. I was also taught to call a waiter or waitress “garçon”. I was never comfortable with that and I’m glad it’s no longer used. We memorized long dialogs, some of which I still remember. I laugh now at the formality between friends. “Jeanne, je voudrais te presenter Paul Martin”. I can’t imagine school friends talking like that!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Haha. Oh, you've illustrated my points so well Anita. Yes that's a hilariously old fashioned way of speaking amongst friends. Was it ever like that? :D

[@dees3179]

Well some of us were in school a long time ago so it was more current then, and our teachers were already old and not invested in updating their skills ………..it makes sense why we learned such shite but I’m glad there are resources available for better learning now.

[@anitawallace2166]

@@dees3179 Yeah I’m talking 50 years ago! Junior High School.

[@HeManSean]

This was one of your best videos, and I'm grateful for all of your insight ! It was especially helpful to bring in others to suggest "proper" ways to speak. I've been living in France for nearly three years, spending our first year in full-time language school, and it was the native French teachers who lied and made it seem like everyone spoke like Molière wrote!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Hopefully today will be a turning point. I know how powerful it is to feel heard and understood. Good luck!

[@phillycatlady]

You are fantastic Alex. 6-7 years of school French and I could throw 90% of it out the window.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Your journey led you to me so I'm grateful :)

[@phillycatlady]

@@FrenchinPlainSight at least I knew which tenses you would choose as important. 😂

[@ba8898]

Good advice. But I think the real reason people spend many years learning French and still can't hold a conversation or understand authentic French content is simply their lack of input. If you've been listening to authentic French content regularly for some time, you'll know that spoken French rarely uses "nous", inversions to ask questions, the past simple, etc.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Yes, lack of input is a huge reason! The reasons behind lacking in input can be many: - Not knowing how important it is. - Sticking with what's comfortable (usually studying or reading because you can go at your own pace whereas conversations or audio go too fast) - A dislike of video/audio sources. I help my students understand why they are not choosing to spend more time in the language because, of course it's often not as easy as just saying "go listen/read more". Thank you for your comment :)

[@ba8898]

@@FrenchinPlainSight yep, you're right. It's not easy to convince language learners of the immense value of input!

[@jeremygordon4460]

Love the dropping 'nous' but am I still correct in saying such as in tu peux venir avec 'nous' ?

[@patwelsh5561]

Yes, because that « nous » is not the subject of the sentence. Nous is used all the time as direct object, indirect object and object of a preposition (your example). But as the subject of a sentence, it’s not used in conversational French.

[@jeremygordon4460]

Thank you Pat 🙂

[@JenniferA886]

Great advice 👍👍👍

[@BGTuyau]

Alex presents a great, practical -and economical- approach to language acquisition here. That said, in the matter of verb tenses, I also find le conditionnel passé to be very useful in talking about many of life's situations. À part ça, Bravo!

[@patwelsh5561]

This was a great video. The idea of strategically focusing on the most common tenses, usages, etc. is, as you said, the best way to help people cut through the clutter.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Glad it was helpful!

[@blanche.o]

I was listening to this while getting ready for work so didn’t see the screen, and when I heard my name (Blanche) I thought omg is this a live stream that I’m not aware I’m a part of?😂 Blanche is a very uncommon name in my country, I’ve only met one other person with the name. However, Bianca (Italian version of Blanche) is extremely common

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Ahahaha. There's always a camera somewhere!

[@JenniferA886]

Cheers for the vid 👍👍👍

[@RichardBlack-g9z]

Great video Alex.. thank you.

[@jacquieclayton261]

Merci beaucoup! Love this advice! 🤗👍🏻

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Avec plaisir 😊

[@rodrigodf234]

Sacré bleu!!! (just joking ahah) I myself use ""Avez-vous..." or Auriez-vous..." quite often for a request in a restaurant. For example, to ask if they have some condiment: "Avez-vous de la mayonnaise?" ou "Auriez-vous du ketchup par hasard?". Mais ça marcherait aussi bien de dire "Est-ce que vous avez/auriez du ketchup ?".

[@donfzic7471]

You are a very good teacher ! J’espère avoir tout compris. 😉🇬🇧🇫🇷🇪🇺 Retenez uniquement : le présent, le passé, le futur.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Merci !

[@suefield5190]

You're so right Alex. I've been going to adult classes where most, if not all, students want French for travel, or perhaps they're going to live in France. Far too much time on grammar, should be way more time on conversation. It's crazy !

[@40mmSummarit]

Very helpful, pragmatic advice. Thank you!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

You're very welcome!

[@acchaladka]

Great video Alex, thank you! As someone who picked up French by living in a Franco place but never studying it formally, I'm running through a grammar book and DuoLingo at the moment to go and grab all the fundamentals i never learned properly. Once that's done, I'll be curious about the question of how i best begin to refine my French. I work in French mostly, and my family is French, thence the motivation. So, a video suggestion, or perhaps several video suggestions, and thanks again for sharing your joy here.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Ah that's fascinating. It's like the opposite to me :D. But, you've got to be aware of what you like and don't like and then stay consistent. That's hard because you're changing how you learn, but it's key. I'm sure others will be curious to know: Have you ever felt judgment for not having great grammar?

[@StillAliveAndKicking_]

I would strongly advise you to avoid Duolingo for so many reasons. It’s a bad way to learn. Babbel is better if you must use a course, otherwise watch KZbin example conversions and read the transcript. LingQ is very good.

[@rundalina]

So helpful. I’ve been wondering what ‘bof’ means. Now I know!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Now you know :)

[@fredericroy]

9:07 C'est compliqué de généraliser pour toutes les personnes qui parlent français. En effet, cela m'arrive de l'utiliser.

[@ROCKINGMAN]

Misled maybe, but I wouldn't say my teachers lied. The word 'lied' is a deliberate attempt to avoid the truth. They were good teachers and even took us to France.

[@yohanannatanson4199]

Very interesting as usual. I think your 80/20 approach might be relevant in any language learning situation. You're definitely right about the passé simple: it is purely written language. I'm not sure about "bof". To me, it conveys a rather negative or dull state of mind. As for the 'p' word, i admit it has become very common, but it still remains very vulgar and even rude in many people's ears (i never use it). I would advise not to use it in a conversation with someone you don't know. Prefer "mince" or "zut" both acceptable in any context... Keep up your excellent job!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Merci beaucoup comme d'habitude !

[@junaidgul6665]

excellent Alex, il faut dit.

[@AnonymousSam]

Great video! Being a bit strategic in learning french does move things along much more quickly. I admit it's hard not to try to learn all the conjugations of a verb when I pull them up on word reference lol. Is it fair to say that imparfait is used in conversation for certain very common words? (je voulais sortir... j'étais embarrassé...il avait peur de...) and even phrases in the conditions perhaps? ("je dirais que..." )

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

It's easier said than done, but it's better to be aware of it and choose the balance that's right for you than to accidentally waste time through ignorance. But, for some things "ignorance is bliss", right?

[@paoloponessa]

I don’t agree on the suppression of the « nous »form. We say « on est con », it’s informal and far from being clear in certain contexts. The « on » form may be used to replace « nous » in certain informal contexts, but hardly in all. « On » is more for the « one » in English, like « à Londres, on… »

[@francaisfacileCyril]

Great advice! Beginners should focus on the most useful things at first and deal with formal stuff like “nous” later (it’s mostly used only in formal written French, like business/commercial emails). I don’t fully agree on placing the imparfait with the subjonctif passé on your graphic though, but I understand you mean beginners should focus more on passé composé first. I had a beginner student (first month) who surprised me because he was trying to memorize all tenses (even passé simple) of avoir être prendre etc, without me asking of course, and I had to stop him doing it. Great video, as always.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Not even just beginners. I see the levels not as just 1 level per person, but broken down into levels per skill. One person can be B2 in grammar but A2 in speaking and listening, because one is so much easier to train than the other or because of low self-esteem that stops them growing in that area. So, for this person, focussing on keeping things SIMPLE will really make a difference.

[@frogoyes7611]

​@FrenchinPlainSight This is my situation, I'm around b2 to C1 in Writing and reading, with my speaking maybe being B1 to B2 but my listening is horrible, A2 at most.

[@fredericroy]

7:24 On l'utilise parfois. parfois. par exemple : "ohlala je fus vraiment surpris quand il m'a dit..."

[@StillAliveAndKicking_]

I hadn’t heard of using punaise in place of putain, that’s lovely, so cute. It reminds me of using tabernouche and taberouette instead of tabernacle which is very rude in Quebec. And fudge in English for the F word. I am sure people are best advised to listen to real conversations rather than formal ones where people speak a series of perfect sentences, with no thinking, no pauses.

[@user-kp6eh2wp3o]

Thank you for the video.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

You're welcome !

[@stuartdryer1352]

I know this but I need to be reminded frequently.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

I know what you mean!

[@raffinataonline]

I can conjugate forever, but probably couldn't order lunch. 😢😏

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Allez, il est temps de changer ça ;)

[@raffinataonline]

@@FrenchinPlainSight If I can get away with the present, the passé composé, and the futur simple. I spent an entire college class on the subjunctif, and my brain switched off. 🤣😱

[@ritapaquin7672]

I'd love to participate in FFFF Challenge but because of the time difference I will be at work all three days during the zoom meetings. Will the zoom sessions be recorded so they can be watched later?

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Yep it's all recorded :)

[@slowlearner3785]

Can I attend the challenge asynchronously, sir?

[@AngieHP]

I did french school! I was TOLD OFF for speaking with ON instead of NOUS! I am SO annoyed! 😂😂😂😂😂

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

I wish teachers would be pragmatic. They might not like that "on" is used, but they should admit "defeat" and tell students - who mainly want to have normal everyday conversations - the real picture, so they can decide what they want to use.

[@AngieHP]

@@FrenchinPlainSight Exactly that! Another one that really annoyed me and still does to this day is “ça fonctionne” is supposed to be better than “ça marche”! Example: Les vitesses de mon vélo ne marchent plus! I would get corrected to “ne fonctionnent plus” It’s decades since I was in CM1 and CM2 and it still grinds my gears. Pun intended 🤣

[@RobertDeLGF]

Saperlipopette!

[@ericvu8886]

Merde. I have been lied to through all the years of learning french. 😢

[@matcradle]

First comment! :P Thanks for the video Alex!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

💪 Quelle rapidité !

[@gillesbrenier406]

I'm French. I knew "comme ci comme ça" and "oh la la" are known among foreigners as typical french locutions, which they are not at all. But lmao with sacrebleu ! It was very used until the 17th century (the french king Henry IV was wellknown to often say it, and "jarnicoton", "tudieu" and so on). But all these swear words belong totally in the (far) past !

[@rodrigodf234]

I beg to disagree! I hear "oh la la" and "ro la la" quite often haha

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

People say "oh la la" every day!

[@patscott8612]

Je m' en doutais. Menteuse🤣

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Mdr !

[@Patricia-km7js]

Que crient les Français lors des matchs de football ? Putain?

[@kurtschulz]

Great tips, Alex! Some others..."garçon !" 🫰, "plaît-il ? ", "maître d'", "je suis excité !" 😬, "je suis fini" 😵, "vous êtes les bienvenus".

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Oh, some great additions Kurt! "Je suis fini" is definitely an error, most of the time.