Best Way to Learn French

In this free French lesson you will

• learn how to say how are you in French
   
• what to do when people continue the conversation.

How to say how are you in French

Look and listen how in the video French friends say hello how are you in French:

• Hello, how are you : Salut, ça va?
   
• "Fine" : Ça va.

Listen and look for the basics in any conversation

There are 2 ways learning how to speak French:

1. learn to speak French only using your memory to learn French words and phrases
    
2. learn to speak French using your whole body: your eyes, ears, imagination and gut feeling!

Even when you don’t understand any French words, or you switch off the volume of the above French video:

• your gut feeling tells you that these French people are greeting each other
   
• your imagination tells you that they are most likely asking how are you, and you, and what do we do next?

When you want to learn French fast: your imagination is your best friend. Both when it comes to learning French online, offline and especially when you follow French language courses in France:

• although languages use different words,
   
• people do communicate the same things over and over!

In most situations:

• you will be able to imagine and guess what the other person is saying, and
   
• your guessing will improve once you learn to recognise some basic French words.

Look back at the French greetings video above. Knowing that ça va literary means: it goes, try to figure out what the girl called Charlotte at the end is saying to the guys?

• without understanding any words, you see that they are all leaving together…
   
• when you did understand the girl saying "On y va?", you recognized the word va, which means ‘go’
   
• so what do you guess she said?
  Right, Charlotte said: "Let’s go!".

Better than French language courses in France

Yabla French provides a great way to practice your guessing and listening skills.

In stead of following French language courses in France where people speak and speak and speak, Yabla French offers you French videos from native French people with a "guess the missing word game"

All you need to do is look at the French video, listen to the French words and guess the missing French word. It’s a great way to improve your guessing skills and trust me: no other French course will teach you the importance of guessing.

Try Yabla out now! For only $9.95/month or less than 35¢ per day you can improve your French guessing skills using their huge inventory of French videos for all learn French levels: from French beginners till French experts.

Go and watch learn French videos now, with 7-day Money Back Guarantee.

How are you in French Video transcript

Before reading the French words below, your best way to learn the French language is watch the French video again and guess what they are trying to say.

Improving your guessing skills by watching peoples body language increases understanding the French words for 90%!

• Salut! Ça va? (Hi! It goes?, meaning ‘How are you?’)
   
• Ça va. Et toi? (It goes, meaning: ‘fine’. And you)
   
• Ça va. (I’m fine)

• Ça va?
   
• Ça va. Et toi?

• Salut!
   
• Salut Charlotte!Ça va?
   
• Ça va bien et toi? (I’m very well and you?, bien means well)
   
• Très bien… (very well, très means very) Salut Miloud …Ça va?
   
• Ça va. Et toi?
   
• Très bien. On y va? (Shall we go?, literary translated: one there go?)
   
• D’accord. (OK.)

If you want to remember anything from today’s French lesson is that you need to improve your imagination and guessing skill in order to learn French quick. You will learn how to speak French much quicker than when you only would rely on reading words in French language courses.

French kissing

Again, people all over the world want to express the same things but do it in different ways.

In Rome, do what the Romans do. In France, do what the French do. When it comes to French greetings, the French tend to kiss each other twice (one left, one right). If you don’t want to ruin a French girl’s make-up, do kiss the air left and right!

La bise, translated to ‘the kiss’, is the usual way French friends greet each other. When you visit France and get to know French people better, they could ask: on se fait la bise? Shall we kiss?

Again, listen for the basic word "bise", and you will know what they are trying to say or do

If you are not fond about giving and receiving kisses, you can equally well shake hands in France. Just be prepared for la bise when you decide to study French in France .

French greeting tips

The easiest way to greet anybody in France is starting out with a simple ‘Bonjour‘ which translates to "GoodDay" (listen to the French audio for Bonjour at our previous online French course: How to say hello in French)

Even when entering a waiting room or boarding a bus, the French will mutter bonjour as a general greeting to everyone within earshot.

How are you in French summarized

I can hear you saying: ‘eh, we hardly didn’t learn any new French words nor French phrases today’. (did you notice you learned the very useful French phrases for ‘very good’, ‘let’s go’ and OK – have a look again at the video!)

In this second of our French language lessons I wanted to emphasize that there is more to learning French than memorizing words out of a French course book:

• look and listen to the French person
   
• try to understand basic French words
   
• imagine what he or she wants from you or tries to say to you
   
• act accordingly
   
• answer accordingly when you learn more French words and French phrases in our next course

The only mistakes when speaking and learning French are: closing your ears, mouth and imagination! Other than that: communicate in any way possible!

So how are you in French now? Ça va?

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Listen to the 2 most used words in French and learn how to say hello in French.

This introduction to our free French lessons will teach you about French pronunciation, the French ‘u’ and the French nasal sounds.

Hello in French

In order to help you in learning to speak French well, you need French audio. We recommend the French tapes / French cds from Rocket French (99.95$ with Money Back Guarantee). Listen to the snippet below to say hello in French:

» Audio 1 Click to hear French Audio

• Hi, how are you? Salut, ça va?
   
• How are you? Ça va?

Hello in French is : Salut

• The letter t is not pronounced and
   
• you have to pucker your lips as if giving a kiss and then pronounce the u.

How are you is translated with saying literary : It goes? Ça va?

Notice that Ç , (a c with a 5 underneath) is one of the French ways of depicting an S sound.

Hello how are you in French?

Try to repeat the French audio as is without looking at the transcript of the French audio because… the French writing will confuse you in the beginning! We will explain more in detail below.

Transcript of the French audio:

• Good day madam : Bonjour Madame.
   
• Good day sir : Bonjour Monsieur.

• Hello Paul, is it going well today : Salut Paul, ça va bien aujourd’hui?

French nasal sounds

French people use "their noses" not only to eat their delicious French food, but also to pronounce what is called "nasal sounds".

Nasal sounds are like trying to speak without opening your mouth and you will feel a kind of humming vibration in your nose!

When a French vowel (a,e,i,o,u) is followed by m or n, the ‘m’ or ‘n’ is silent and the vowel should be pronounced in your nose :

the sound made when kids close there noses to act as if they are speaking on the phone.

» Audio 2 Click to hear French Audio

Listen and repeat as good as you can, open your mouth as little as possible:

• French nasal sounds like un :
   
• un (1)
   
• French nasal sounds like in :
   
• cinq 5), quinze 15), vingt (20)
   
• sounds like en :
   
• trente (30), Henri, Jean, comment (how)
   
• sounds like on :
   
• onze (11), bonjour (good day, hello), bonsoir (good evening), Simon

French greetings

French greetings are the first phrases you can use immediately when learning French.

Equally important are the responses to the greetings. When you have a sharp ear are a master parrot, you French greeting could be just repeating the same phrase as the one you heard when a French person greeted you.

When you learn French in France or travel to France for holidays, you will hear French greetings on a daily basis, so you will internalize them fast. Just go greeting every French person you see in the streets!

How to say hello in French summarized

• Casual ‘Hi", ‘Hello’ : Salut
   
• Casual and formal : Bonjour

 Notice that what the French write doesn’t look the same as what you hear.

Be aware of French nasal sounds written like "an", "in", "en", "on" and "un".

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Would you like to learn French in France? Then read on which level to choose, which French city you will love and how you prepare yourself best for your French course in France.

In this post you will learn:

• how to choose a French course that suits your needs
   
• where exactly to study French in France
   
• what questions you need to ask before enrolling in a French course.

Learning French in France is fun. Add to that the enormous amount of French you will learn in a very short tome by being immersed in French day in and day out.

Why following French courses in France

My friend Amy had studied French before, but not in France. She did her French studies in college a long time ago and had started to study again with various French books, tapes, software and Rocket French.

But she didn’t study as much as day-to-day things kept getting in her way. That all changed when she enrolled in a French language school.

That’s why you need to find a "Study French in France program": far away from home and from your daily chores so you can focus 24/7 on learning how to speak French.

Which French language school do you choose?

Once you decide to study French in France, the hardest part is deciding which program to enroll in and which French language school to enroll in. Numerous French courses are available in all parts of France.

You mainly need to decide if you want to:

• study French in a large city in France,
   
• learn French in a small town in France or
   
• take French lessons tucked away on the countryside in France.

Each offers distinct advantages:

• learning French in a city offers more choices in terms of cultural activities and restaurants.
   


• small towns provide a better opportunity to interact with French people and get a real feel for the local French culture.
   


• French language schools situated in the countryside normally provide the most opportunities for
  outdoors activities and are ideal to combine with a French holiday.

Why are you learning French?

It is also important to consider why you want to study French and what you hope to gain from studying French in France.

There is a big difference between someone who has a professional need to study French and people who learns French to feel more comfortable when shopping and dining in restaurants when traveling through France.

Determining how much time you want to devote to your study French in France is also a factor.

French courses in France

The French courses in France tend to fall into three general categories:

1. standard French course
    


2. intensive French course
    


3. immersion French course
    

1. Standard French courses

Standard French courses offer two to four hours of daily formal classroom instruction.

In the afternoons you are free to do as you like. Some French schools will plan activities for you for an additional fee.

2. Intensive French courses

Intensive French courses follow a curriculum similar to those in the standard French study programs in France program. However, they are supplemented by afternoon French classes that allow you to :

• improve your French conversational skills,
   
• acquire specific professional French vocabulary, or
   
• learn more about the French culture.

Both standard French course and intensive French course programs tend to group students by language ability through placement testing.

The quality and intensity of these French language tests varies:

• some French schools may ask you to complete the test (on the honor system) prior to arrival
   
• others French courses administer the test on the first day of the French class.

Before going to study French in France, try to understand what type of testing your French school offers:

• is it French vocabulary,
   
• French grammar, or
   
• French reading comprehension?
   
• Does the French assessment also include an evaluation of French speaking and French listening skills?

If you study French in France and after a class or two, you feel that you are over your head or totally bored, do request a change to another French course or level!

3. Immersion French courses

French immersion courses are exactly what the name implies. You are “immersed” in the French language continually during the day and evening.

A typical day consists of :

• French breakfast,
   
• instruction in French grammar and French comprehension,
   
• French lunch and
   
• an afternoon excursion in France.

During these French activities you participate in French conversation with the French instructors
and other students in French language. Your French pronunciation, French vocabulary, and French grammar will constantly be corrected.

Dinner typically concludes the day, although sometimes there is an evening activity like a French movie or French concert.

Your French instructors hope "that you go to sleep dreaming in the French language".

While exhausting, a French immersion program enables you to improve your French language skills rapidly, particularly in the area of French communication.

The downside of a French immersion program can be that the French learning experience is too intense and often stressful.

Immersion programs are not for the casual student but more for people who have a professional or personal need to speed their knowledge in the French language quickly.

A French immersion course is often based in the home of the French instructor(s). When this is not the case, French students are usually housed in a hotel nearby.

These language courses are normally limited to fewer than six students.

Some French schools will try to place French students in groups based on their French language levels, but many French schools do not. Why? Because a mixed group more realistically mirrors the real world, where you will encounter French people with different levels of ability and French regional accents.

Always check the size of your French class in advance!

Whichever type French learning program you choose, remember that the French class size is very important.

Experts agree that for French learning or for improving French language skills: six or fewer French students is ideal.

Before you spend your money learning French in France, do inquire as to what happens if there are only one or two French students of a particular level. Many French schools will then reduce the number of French class hours (but not the French tuition) proportionately:

Your 3-hour French class based on six students could turn into an hour and a half French class if only you and one other student are present.

Housing when learning French in France

Most French language courses in France will help arrange housing for you. Housing options can range from:

• staying in a French hotel,
   
• staying in a studio apartment in a French student residence or
   
• boarding with a French family.

The location of your accommodation is important. You do not want to spend a large part of day traveling to and from your French school.

One French school in Paris offered a boarding situation that required three changes of Metro lines and was barely within the city limits. Although interesting to improve your French skills in using the metro, you don’t go to France to learn how to ride their public transport!

 

Do inform yourself about your accommodation in advance when you want to learn French in France.

 

Learn French in France speaking countries

What is similar to learning French in France but outside of France? Maybe you live close by one of the following countries where French is widely spoken?

There are many excellent French programs in Switzerland, Belgium and Canada: all countries where one of the national languages is the French language.

Learn French in France summarized

• know why you want to learn French in order to choose for:
   
• location (cultural city vs small town with lots of people interacting with you)
   
• what kind of French course you want to follow (immersion, intensive, standard language course)
   
• ask in advance:
   
• how far is your accommodation located from your French school?
   
• what happens if there are only 1 or 2 students enrolled in the French class?

And ask yourself whether it wouldn’t be easier and cheaper to study French in other countries than France like Belgium or Canada.

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