Get better at speaking and understanding everyday French faster, anytime, anywhere with your favorite modern French teacher, Géraldine!
Whether you want to refresh your rusty French, visit Paris regularly or just want to reconnect with your life-long love of France, bienvenue.
Each Tuesday, on Comme une Française (= “Like a French woman”), you'll find a new lesson on French language and French culture-from embarrassing mistakes to avoid to pop-cultural references to “get”!
For over 8 years now, with millions of views and students in over 56 countries, I’ve been helping people just like you gain the confidence to speak French. And better than the “textbook” French!
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I love this format! My french level is higher than the phrases but comme une anglaise j'ai du Mal à parler français assez vite et Mon accent EST toujours la raison pour laquelle on ne me comprend pas
A note for beginners...(people like me)...in French, the time of day uses a 24 hour clock, like military time. At 1:49 in the video, the reason that "3 PM" is "quinze heures" is that 3:00 pm is 15:00 hours. We would like to say "trois PM," but that's not how they say it. HTH.
In Normandy,people say quand même. I think that serves as a filler word. In Brittany it means, well, and yet, any way, or many other things depending on the context.
I understood everything. I have a French degree but do not have the opportunity to speak with French here in US. I need to learn spoken French and practice using new spoken French. Please list the name of the podcasts and shows that can be helpful. A French club will be great too. Merci❤
Eres la mejor! Muchísimas gracias por dedicarte a ayudar a la gente a progresar. :) Tengo una maestría en francés y aún aprendo cosas nuevas con tus videos. Te lo agradezco mucho.
Re: Too old to learn....A few months ago, via a learn italian podcast, the hosts reviewed a recent academic study regarding the reasons why learning a language was difficult and IMPORTANTLY the long held belief that it's easier to learn a second language when you're young. One of the hypothesis was that children pick up languages not because they're young, but because they are not hampered by the embarrassement of (and I'll add ego) or concern with making mistakes. This I believe lines up. As soon as I stopped caring about screwing up the language, I improved. I'm on my last week of two months in France and one month working in Italy. Where I work in Italy, so few people can speak English, I have to learn the language and they are chuffyt that I struggle and try and laugh while trying to learn the language. This has so emboldened me that I'm now adding Italian to my arsenal. For french (and I'm from a country where French is one of two official languages), it's been different. The first month was in Montpellier and far too many people there wanted to practice their English. I was frustrated and didn't make much progress. (In fact, I've had far more and longer conversations in my home country.) This month, I'm in Narbonne. Far fewer individuals respond in English (like Italy, they don't have the language to do so). What I have found IMMENSELY helpful is to tell individuals, when they speak to me in English, is to excusez-moi, mon français est mauvais mais j'essaie de l'apprendre. The result - they help me out. And the conversation continues.
If you bought a baquette sandwich from the Boulangerie, would it be acceptable to eat it in the street as you walked back to the office, or would it still be seen as the unacceptable, 'croquer le bout de la baguette'?
After 3+years on Duolingo, I can read and write French fairly well....enough to keep the streak going on free version, but still have trouble with speaking and understanding any French conversation. We are planning on moving to France next year so really need to understand and be able to communicate in French. I appreciate that they may switch to English, but I want to speak French! At 76 am I just too old to learn??
Never too old, as they say! Yes, you tend to learn more slowly as you age, but you also have the huge advantages of real motivation and time. And you can pick things up very quickly when you're living there. I travelled around Brittany as a student and was disappointed how I couldn't follow a word of conversations people were having in French, but speaking one on one with patient people was very rewarding and, looking back, I'm impressed with some of the conversations I somehow managed to have. Although they did have a tendency to respond to my initial "bonjour" with "Ahhh English!" and then spoke in English to me!
This is me as well! I decided about a year ago to only speak to my 1 yr old twin grandsons in French. Now that they are two, they understand everything I’m saying and are speaking to me in French. I’m only at B1 level, but speaking to them has given me the confidence to speak with others in French too. I/they still have so much to learn, but the boys have a great foundation already. 💙🤍❤
I'm in a similar situation. I studied French in high school and college, and I went to France for some weeks. But the last time I studied French was 15 years ago. I'm here in France now after 15 years, trying to learn again all I've forgotten and trying to become fluent. I've been here for 3 weeks, and I'm having to speak more by necessity. I can see a huge improvement in a short time. I already understand alot more and can speak more readily (though my speaking is still halting and elementary).
I enjoyed this video, thank you! Could you do a video with some sample sentences that cover all the pronunciations difficult for English speakers? I'd love to repeat these sentences over and over so I can master the pronunciation?
Je m'appelle Helen. Pas vraiment,mais… I took French in school from 1st grade through 12th grade, including AP French. We had to read classic French literature and write essays about what we had read. But I always found it difficult to SAY what I wanted (or even write it) because words would be missing - even if when someone would say them or I'd read them, I'd understand. And it wasn’t that I was translating in my head, either. Fast forward to now - 40+ years later. And my French is VERY rusty. I tend to say, “J'ai perdu tous les mots” (as a bit of a joke because I DO know that “oublier” would be more accurate (forgot, versus lost), but it is as if they disappeared, rather than merely being forgotten). I'm not yet retired, but expect to in a few years and we’re hopefully moving to France (my wife - who is German - would prefer to move to Germany, and yes, I also took FOUR years of German in high school and yeah, my German is worse than my French). Last few times we were there, I did ok. Asked about getting my watch battery replaced, bought a replacement laptop charger, spoke to a pharmacist about getting a COVID test, spoke to the flight attendant about our failing engine which caused us to return to CDG, bought food, all in French. I signed up for Babbel lifetime because it was cheap, and then a few months ago, signed up for their “live” for a year because it was on a special. I know that would help IMMENSELY being able to actually practice speaking with another live human being - specifically a native speaker. But… I'm NOT yet retired, and just haven’t had TIME to set aside an hour or so. WAY too much else I do even get to. And therein lies MY problem - time. I watch a bunch of videos (like these) usually late in the evening when I'm just unwinding and half asleep, anyway. But that doesn’t get me very far.
I totally appreciate this emphasis on spoken French. One of my friends has a truly impressive vocabulary but has trouble hearing the difference between some sounds (particularly "ou" vs "u.") I'll recommend this to her. I was surprised though to hear the subjunctive mentioned. My friend (retired French professor) and I spoke a lot of French when we were in Paris last year, but we didn't hear a single subjunctive, and none of the Francophones de souche ever use it in conversation.
Nice vid. Overall, if you study grammar, you get good at grammar. If you practice reading & listening, you get good at reading & listening. If you speak, you get good at speaking, If your goal is to speak good French, well studying grammar is the complete opposite of what you want to be doing. Instead, you should be building up (1) your comprehension level (via reading & listening) & (2) your speaking level (via speaking). Learning how to swim will not help you ride a bike. Hope that helps. Rory :)
