Learn French as a foreign language in self-study

Learning foreign languages and other subjects in self-study

French

French is one of the world's most important languages. It is spoken not just in France but also in Canada (particularly Quebec), Algeria, Andorra, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibuti, Gabun, Guinea, Haiti, Cameroon, Comores, Congo, Madagascar, Mali, Monaco, Niger, Rwanda, Switzerland, Senegal, Togo, Tshad, Vanuatu, Zaire and in the Central African Republic, that is, in all of the world's continents. Hence, knowing French will give you access to incredibly diverse francophone cultures throughout the world. French is also very useful as a lingua franca to help you communicate with people when travelling. Since there is an abundance of original literature, films and music in French, you will easily find opportunities to use French every day and of course there are a lot of learning materials and courses for French available even in small towns. Many people find the sound of French particularly appealing. You can listen to samples of French from France and from Quebec here.

What to expect when studying French: English speakers will find French vocabulary particularly easy to learn, since there are a lot of words that English borrowed from French or vice versa, along with words that have a common Latin root. Although French pronunciation is quite regular in comparison to English, it will take some time to acquire an instinct for it, since the rules are not very obvious and often neglected in teaching. The structure of the grammar is similar to English grammar, however there are more endings to learn and the gender of nouns in particular may be difficult to memorise.

Advice for learning French: Always memorise the gender of a noun along with the noun itself. This could be done by memorising a suitable adjective along with the noun, you'd remember that e. g. "Noel"(Christmas) has to be masculine because it's "Joyeux Noel"(Merry Christmas) and not "Joyeuse Noel". Another way is to associate a male person with every masculine word and a female person with every feminine word, e. g. you'd know that "Noel" has to be masculine because Santa Claus is male. If you can vividly imagine a funny or surreal situation with the word and the person, this works even better. Also be sure to memorise standard endings that already tell you the word's gender, e. g. words ending in -tion are always feminine. Get advice valid for learning any language here.

More resources for French on this site:

Bite-sized language course for French (in German)

Learn a bit of French by solving an engima

French vocabulary puzzles

French phrases for the phone

Find a tutor to teach you French / sign up as a tutor

Get a professional translation from or to French

Links for learning French online and for free:

Online courses:
BBC French course
French tutorial
Lots of French lessons on specific topics
Fast and friendly French
Canadian French for upper beginners, intermediates and kids

Sentences for Travellers

Pronunciation (also an introduction to IPA and exercises)

Grammar