One of you guys was asking me about the most common mistakes foreigners make in French (Thanks Ira!). And that was my answer :
You know me a bit by now, so you know I’m not a big fan of French grammar.
But if this is your first time here, welcome 
make sure to grab the Roadmap to Fluent French. It will help you get a grasp on how to learn French efficiently.
That being said, grammar is somehow important. Without a bit of grammar, you will end up speaking caveman French for the rest of your life. Doomed to point things out to make yourself understood.
Not really sexy French speaking, is it?
BUT, there’s another way. It’s a technique to learn any language, that will reduce the amount of time you have to spend on grammar. A technique that is used by linguistic and language learning experts.
Also, by using it, you’ll have better listening skills, a better pronunciation, better syntax, better memory,…
And this technique is called : SENTENCE MINING.
Make sure to grab this week’s free goodie at the end of the article. A chapter of my new ebook ‘Show Off your French to your Friends: 100 sentences to impress your friends’.
How does sentence mining work exactly then?
French vocabulary is important. So is forming correct sentences. Well, sentence mining regroups them both.
With sentence mining, instead of learning lists of words, you will learn list of sentences.
Pretty easy right? I understand if you skeptic. I mean learning sentences over words, is it THAT easy?
When you learn a sentence, you do not only learn about its words MEANING. You also learn about :
- HOW to use them correctly,
- WHERE to place them in a sentence,
- And about SENTENCE STRUCTURE.
Which, believe me, is quite important.
Because in fact you’re learning:
- common words,
- verbs,
- basic French,
- and all sort of things.
Beyond that, on a more ‘scientific’ level of things, it will help your brain retain information. And you will be able to use the sentence more easily in the RIGHT contexts.
Taking you on the way to fluency 
It’s a question of reflexes, my friend.
Hooked yet?
Is sentence mining for you?
That’s the beauty of it. Sentence mining is for EVERYONE.
You do not need to understand grammar to be able to use this technique. But if you already know bits of it, then good for you. It’ll give you exemples to go with the rules.
It can also be adapted to any language goal. Wanna learn French to travel? Great, select sentences you will definitely use when you travel. More interested in casual French? Same advice. French for business? Idem.
Also, can also be adapted to any level: beginners, intermediate, advanced, or anything in between.
Bref, whatever your goal, your level, or your age,… Sentence mining is a good technique.
It can also accommodate any type of memories. YEAAAH
So, what about FRENCH sentence mining? How does it work concretely?
There’s not much more to tell you than to select the sentences that match your goal and then learn them.
But, because on Just French It, I’m all about practicality, I’ve written a checklist for you.
To use sentence mining correctly, you have to make sure to meet those three criteria.
1. Be clear on what you need
Learning a language is not about learning everything there is to know. It’s about learning what you NEED to know.
For example, there’s no reason for you to learn all about cheese making vocabulary if you just intend to use French online to chat with your friends. Chances are, you won’t use it.
If you are still a beginner, choose basic french sentences (check out my vocabulary series)
But then, if it’s your thing, GO FOR IT. You do you boo!
If you downloaded and filled the Roadmap to Fluent French, you know what I’m talking about.
2. When possible, learn with audio
Faites d’une pierre deux coups, and learn sentences with their matching audio. This is a simple trick, but soooo effective.
That way, you will get all the benefits from sentence mining, PLUS you will work on your French pronunciation and enunciation.
Although, make sure that the audio you have is CORRECT. Which brings me to the last check point.
If you more even more audio training I have plenty of videos on my YouTube channel.
3. Make sure to select REAL sentences
This is where sentence mining might become a bit harder to put into practice.
WARNING – DO NOT create a list of sentences in English (or your native language) and then translate them. This is NOT how languages work. Your sentences might be correct, but they won’t be ACCURATE.
Also, it works the best with French conversation.
You have to make sure the sentences you are learning are actually used by native speakers. If not, you will end up leaning complicated structures, with sentences that might be good literal translations, but definitely not used in REAL life.
And I see that quite often on Pinterest, or in Facebook Groups. Or even amongst the Just French It community.
So, try out sentence mining in your learning. It would be a real shame to miss out on all its wonderful benefits. And if it’s not a good match for you, then you will know.
But it’s a technique used by serious language learners all over the world, and polyglots in particular. Also, it can be transposed to learn other languages.
