Do this one thing to speak more fluid French -
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
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If there was 1 skill I treasure amongst all others as a foreigner speaking French, it’s the ability to get my point across. It’s simple, but that doesn’t make it easy.
Still, knowing what to do is half the battle. The thing you need to learn in order to speak French more fluidly is to simplify what you say. That’s it.
I’ve been through all sorts of frustration and stress when speaking French. Most, if not all of that, came from inside me. Pressure I was putting on myself. If I had accepted from the beginning that I wasn’t going to sound like an adult when I spoke French, I’d have saved myself a lot of pain. But then, I wouldn’t be here having learned how to overcome that pain, if I hadn’t gone through it. So, now that I’m on the other side of it I’m grateful. I can use those experiences to help you, and that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.
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This is actually a trick I learned after having memory issues in my mother tongue and now I've been using it with Spanish and French and it really helps with all of them!
When it comes to those little more "complex" structures I found it helpful to like just try to prepare for their usage outside of the conversation,even by thinking about certain things in French using said structures in my daily life. So for example I'm at work and I'll have certain things to do in a certain order after I finish what I'm doing now. So I think to myself "Bon,ouais alors lorsque je finirai ce que je fais la il faut que j'aille la faire cette autre chose". So I can just train myself in using the French structures as a pattern. It may sound stupid but it works
If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
That was an extremely native looking sentence right there !
Perfect!! I think it is easier to forget we already do this in our native language. Doesnt mean you are stupid! And I always forget my more complex verbs and phrases and get annoyed when I have to drop down to the most popular verbs but like you said I’ll be understood !
We need so much repetition for things to stick sometimes. If you apply that to the entire language, it's unfathomable to try to learn everything. If I did it again I would really pave myself on what I chose to "learn" and give myself tons more practice with the simple yet more versatile stuff.
Glad I could give you the reminder!
Great thanks Alex, having watched this video I realise that when in France I have actually been doing this!! The biggest frustration is speaking your best French, only for the French person to break into English, almost saying "give up, my English is better than your French!" It takes some courage to persist and continue in French
And the more you do it, the less uncomfortable it becomes. Sometimes it makes sense to stay in English but most of the time switching is just an excuse.
You should review a clip from "À bout de souffle", the scene when Jean-Paul Belmondo first meets up with the American girl on the Champs Elisees (played by Jean Seberg). Her French is basic but fairly fluid but it's obvious that she's not native, so she keeps asking "what's this word?", "what's that word?" (in French). Her questioning the meaning of French words even has a part in the plot, particularly the ending. I think this is a great technique to keep the conversation going in Frech, as we can't always assume that people actually speak English, even in Paris!
J'adore votre chain! I realy like how you delve into the psychology of learning to speak fluently in a foreign tongue. It's great to know we're not alone! Your advice to try and keep it in french by simplifying is a good one, but so hard to practice. One of the greatest needs in humans is the desire to be understood.
The one truc I'll add is that even if you revert to English at a point of weakness and frustration, it doesn't mean the entire conversation needs to proceed that way. I've often done this too (reverting to English) and then looked for an opportunity during the subsequent dialogue to respond in French; to a question, statement or opinion made in English by the other person. Once I do that my conversation partner will almost always switch back to french.
After a conversation in mixed languages, I'll guage success in how much of the conversation was actually managed in French. Hopefully with practice, that percentage will grow.
Fantastic addition. Absolutely right. Just because it slips into English, doesn't mean your chance is over. You have to be the master of your own decisions. One of which is being able to decide to take it back to French, or even just to ask the other person.
Thanks so much for the insightful contribution Regina.
This is GREAT advice! I used these techniques all the time. Take a deep breath and describe the word or action you are blocking on. Simplify it! I still do it to this day . . .
So happy to hear it :)
Merci beaucoup, encore!
De rien Terry!
Im learning French on line since late February i almost kept up with the French text and i understood the majority of it but iv no one to speak French with
Hey Gerard. Check out italki for teachers and language partners. Personally, I prefer the tutors option. www.italki.com/i/BE6aA6?hl=en-us Feel free to message me on my social media channels or email me alex@frenchinplainsight.com if you want to discuss your situation.
When I was living in Toulouse, I was taught to use controler instead of vérifier and then controleur comes naturally. I used to use comment dit on nnnn if I couldn’t remember a word, by describing it. Comment dit on ça en franciais was handy when you didn’t know a part of the body or someting else you could point at.
This happened to me today i felt a bit bad but I'll get there eventually
Great advice
Great tips
I have also found just using the present tense helps when you are stuck
Merci Alex. Excellent. Tres utile.
This is really helpful! Thank you 🙏🏼
You're so welcome!
Merci Alex
Very helpful, thank you Alex
You're welcome!
Great advice.
Merci pour les conseils
🙌
This is very helpful thank you so much. I also have a problem of translating in my head. How do you deal with that or how do you stop translating in your head?
Hey Kiara. Personally, it took a LONG time for me to stop translating. And I still do sometimes. Lots and lots and lots of speaking practice. Also surrounding yourself with French as much as possible, making repeating things to yourself a habit, you'll start to think in French. But it does take a long time.
Others will say, learn French without English as it's a bad habit. Fluent Forever is one such method.
Has that helped?
Parfois l'évident n'est pas connu. Quelqu'un qui bégayer utiliserait ces mêmes astuces.
I was advised to say 'comment dit en '' xxxx'' en francais?' whenever I couldn't remember a word. Get them to supply it !!!
"Comment dit-on xxxx en français ?" Oui ! A top bit of advice. It just relies on them knowing the English but very helpful :)
That form of the question is the most formal though:
"Comment est-ce qu'on dit X..."
"Comment on dit X...?"
"On dit comment X...?"
are more everyday forms.