Bonjour there, this week’s special. Because this week’s, we welcome Hunter from Frenchplanations! And he’s going to give you 3 super helpful techniques to improve your French speaking ability.Â
The floor is yours Hunter! (I’ve always wanted to say thaaat).
Speaking French confidently is probably one of the hardest parts of learning the language. So much so that many learners forego speaking entirely and just work on improving their reading, writing and listening skills.
Learning to speak well is not only more difficult than improving your other language skills, but it’s by far the most scary and intimidating
Nobody wants to work up the courage to speak with a native-French speaker only to be mocked or misunderstood.
However, improving your speaking abilities doesn’t have to be this difficult.
There are indeed ways to get over your fear of speaking French and speak with ease and confidence.
Let’s take a look at some of these techniques together…
Read aloud instead of to yourself
I think that most people know that reading is a great way to improve your French reading skills, but did you know that it can also be a great opportunity to improve your speaking ability?
The next time you find yourself reading a French book (or any written content that you enjoy) take the time to read it out loud.
At first this may not be very enjoyable as most people aren’t typically able to speak out loud as fast as they can read in their head.
You’ll end up getting through your content at a much slower pace, but you’ll find that your speaking will improve much quicker than if you only spoke when you were with a native.
This is particularly helpful if you read texts that contain dialogues as you can use these directly in your conversations.
Another benefit of doing this is that if you do it enough you can build up the muscles in your face that are needed to make the various French sounds.
The more you build up these muscles the easier and more fluently you will be able to speak. Pretty easy, huh? If you just get into the habit of reading out loud every time you read something your French speaking skills will skyrocket.
Learn the most commonly-used French words
How many different words are there in the French language?
Well, according to The Grand Robert Dictionary there are around 100,000 different words with about 300,000 different definitions.
The amount of time it would take to learn all of those would be incredibly long for even the smartest French learners.
However, the great thing about learning any language (French included) is that when it comes to learning vocabulary things are very front-heavy.
This means that of the 100,000 or so French words out there if you can just learn the most common two or three thousand then you should be able to speak and understand the vast majority of everything.
Sure, learning between two and three thousand vocabulary words may seem difficult, but when you pair it against 100,000 it’s a piece of cake.
Speak along with French content while listening to it
This is a technique that is quite popular among serious language learners, but is pretty much unknown to those who are casual learners or just starting out. Nevertheless, pretty much anyone can do it.
Pick a piece of audio content that is at your level or perhaps just a little bit above. If you are able to find a text transcription of this, great, but if you aren’t then don’t worry about it.
As you play the audio content try your best to speak along with the what’s being said instead of waiting for a pause (which is what most learning materials usually want you to do).
You probably won’t be able to keep up with the speaker 100% as you will tend to lag behind by a half second or so. If this is the case don’t worry about it at all.
Serious language learners know this language-learning technique as shadowing, and it can provide serious benefits to your speaking ability.
Not only do you practice with content that you know is correct (as opposed to speaking with your current knowledge which can be unreliable at best), but you also get used to the rhythm of the language.
Each language follows its own rhythm that can be incredibly difficult to get down if you haven’t spent time mimicking it.
You also will find that your accent will increase greatly as you will naturally try to change your voice to match that of the speaker.
Because both of you will be speaking at the same time you’ll have a better time hearing when your voices are in sync (making the same sounds) and when they aren’t.Â
This technique alone is enough to greatly improve your speaking confidence as you will not only gain vocabulary, but you’ll also improve your accent.
SO..
What do you think?
What are your suggestions to those looking to improve their French speaking skills?
Comment below and tell us all about them.
I hope you all enjoy this article! I certainly did.
Thank you Hunter for your advices.Â
Give some love to Hunter by visiting his website, which is full of useful content for French learners. 😉
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