Bonjour bonjour,
Ça va bien ?
Surprise! I’ve prepared something special for the full month of August:
4 weeks to relax while improving your French.
Today, you’ll practice your French. The one you already know.
Tuesday 12th, you’ll enrich your vocabulary.
Tuesday 19th, you’ll practice your comprehension
Tuesday 26th, you’ll set your goal for the end of the year.
Ready?
What’s stopping you?
Before you start, I want you to write down in the comments:
what’s your NUMBER ONE issue with speaking French?
Opportunity to practice? Vocabulary? Time? Too shy?
Please be as specific as possible, this will help you later in August. ????
Let’s find you a penpal
As we are part of such a wonderful community, it’s a perfect opportunity for you to find a penpal to practice your French with by email and Skype! (Feel free to mail letters too)
To enter the game, fill in this quick form (5 questions) so I can pair you with someone in your level and your time zone.
IMPORTANT: PLEASE. Do it. Don’t be shy or ashamed of your level in French. I KNOW from experience that you speak French way better than you think. Trust me. 🙂 Practicing with another learner is the best way to improve and have fun doing it.
>> The form is now closed. <
What to talk about?
Here are a few topics to talk about:
– Where have you been in France?
– Do you have one fun anecdote to share with me?
– What is your favorite place in France? Why?
– What is your favorite French movie? What is it about?
– What did you do today?
How to start
And if you’re looking for colloquial conversation starters, there are several Comme une Française TV episodes to help you:
How to start a conversation in French
5 steps to start a conversation (post in French focusing on the cultural side)
How to ask a French friend for news
How to connect with a stranger – in French
Other places to practice
Want more? Here are a few extra tools and ideas to practice your French:
– Find a French conversation group in your area on meet-up: http://www.meetup.com/
– Start yout own group! Pair with other learners in your city and meet once a week (or a month) in a café
– Start a language exchange on We Speke: http://en-us.wespeke.com/
I look forward to reading your comments and helping you find a partner to practice. 🙂
Géraldine
I think I’m too late to join up with anyone but just in case there’s someone out there …! I can understand written French far better than hearing it spoken. I’ve been going to French classes and our group is about intermediate level. Sometimes I can speak and feel quite free but mostly I just go dumb and don’t know how to start. If I’m on a bus and someone starts talking to me I can usually just about follow and smile and nod my head! Anyone like to team up? 🙂
I have recently stepped out of my comfort zone and tryed to speak, the little French that I know.
Only practice helps.
The thing is that they respond in a very fast French…. Which leaves me guessing or not understanding much!
Bonjour Mariza,
Congratulations! That’s great! Well done you!
ahah, ask “Vous pourriez répéter plus lentement s’il vous plaît ?”
My problem is that I SUCK at listening…I passed Delf B2 with an oral comprehension mark of 8.5/25(pretty bad)…
What a great method…where did you find this resource for exchange with french students?
thanks
I have different issues at different times- either I’m confident and can speak fluently in french telling them all about whatever but then be unable to understand whats being said to me or I can understand what is being said to me in french but I can’t respond. I can’t have a proper conversation because I cant manage the ‘give and take.’
Bonjour Geraldine, je voudrais participer avec quelqu’un(e) mais vous avez ferme le forum. Je vais lundi au cours de francais mais je suis un peu timide. Je prefere parler une a un(e) et pas dans un groupe. J’habite a Colorado, je suis en retraite, et je peux aider un(e)/des autres avec anglais. Merci mille fois! Leslie
Bonjour à toutes et à tous,
je suis tombé par hasard sur ce site (qui est très bien fait au demeurant) et j’ai lu avec beaucoup d’attention vos commentaires sur la difficulté de parler dans une langue étrangère. J’apprends moi même une langue et j’ai les mêmes problèmes que vous au moment de parler. Les mots n’arrivent pas assez vite ou dans le désordre, même ceux qui pourtant semblaient maîtrisés ont du mal à faire surface !. Entre la construction de la phrase, la prononciation, la peur d’être incompris ou de dire une bêtise, je dois avouer que je me sens souvent “gauche”(maladroit.
Cordialement
christophe
Salut! My biggest challenge is getting my head around the gender thing! That and I really need to work on my ‘r’ sounds at the back of my throat – I sound way too English – even for an Australian 🙂 I am slowly rebuilding my vocabulary on what I learned at school many years ago, and there are not many French speakers in my part of the world! Still a beginner, but have really enjoyed my few trips to France so far
My biggest problem is lack of confidence. Whether it’s my pronunciation, or if I’m choosing the right word. I know it all comes with practice, but I don’t want to feel like an idiot. But then my fear holds me back from improving.
My teacher speaks too much English so i need more practice in oral french
Quelle bonne idee! Merci mille fois. Bonne ete a tous.
I also cannot find the words when needed. A French teacher advised me to speak simply like a child. But with an adult mind that proves difficult. My sentences in English are complex in my mind and I don’t know the vocabulary for the more complex thoughts.
Je n’ai pas personne qui peut practiquer avec moi.
Could you please add more criteria to the survey, like age and gender?
My biggest problem is thinking quickly enough to respond «au pif» and remembering all the vocab that I know but in my panic I just forget.
I have just recently taken up learning French and one of the biggest issue that I’m having is that I don’t have anyone to converse in French with. Also, I’m finding that I’m a lot better at writing and reading French compared to listening and speaking it.
All of the above! I get frustrated as I can’t always find the words that I need – they are they rolling around in my head but when I open my mouth they often elude me and come out in a muddle(not always but fairly often)! I have been in France for 2 years now and am much more confident and likely to have a go at speaking to someone but often finish up kicking myself as I walk away and realise what I should have said. I think I’m fairly intelligent and eloquent but speaking French reduces me to a jibbering heap :-)!
IMHO, the problem with partnering people of the same level is that often your big mistakes aren’t picked up and corrected. I had a lot of success recently doing a “language exchange” on SKYPE with a French student who wanted to improve his (v good) English. I’d mainly talk 30 mins (bad) French, with him making appropriate corrections & suggestions, then we’d switch and do 30 mins in English with me playing teacher this time.
What a great method…where did you find this resource for exchange with french students?
thanks
My main problem is that I don’t go for it and actually speak .. Because I get too nervous and the words sort of stuck in my throat :/ ans then I start to studder and make tons of mistakes even though I make good sentences in my head X’D
My biggest problem is working on fluency. I lived in France for two years a decade ago and now I don’t have the same ease with the language as I used to. I live in the rural US and I don’t get the opportunities to speak that I would like.
Salut Jéraldine,
My wife, Chris, and I don’t have sufficient opportunities to speak with native French speakers. I volunteer at Incredible Farm, Walsden (check its Facebook page) and each year we have a French student for 6 weeks on their “stages en entreprise”, but, wonderful as they are, they want to improve their English, not my French!
We go to Fance twice a year in our camping car for about 3 weeks and again it’s difficult to persuade French people who can, not to speak to us in English. Hence, most of the French conversation we engage with is at markets and about fruit, veg, cheese, pâté … prête à repartir!
Regards, Johnny
I learned French when I was in school, over 40 years ago, and haven’t had much chance to use it since. I’ve forgotten a lot of words and have trouble remembering vocabulary. I’m unsure of when to use passé composé and when to use imperatif, and can’t remember how to form imperatif most of the time. Also, those pesky noun genders trip me up.
You sound the same as me! My vocabulary is good however, but my verb tenses and noun genders always get confused in my head. And at my age, it becomes more and more difficult to memorize things. I put intermediate as my level, but I’m really between a level A2 -and B-1, so am not sure how this will work for me!
I’m the same as Barbara and Lois! (and also the same as so many other people who have posted). I took French in school (in Canada) nearly 40 years ago. I have a reasonable grasp on written French and my vocabulary is also still fairly good. But to learn new things now is difficult, and I get totally flustered when I try to speak to someone: the verb tenses and the pronunciation trip me up, and even basic vocabulary flies out of my mind. Also, because the area of France that we go to is Provence, the French accent is so different than what I learned in Canada. (And, of course, they speak so fast!)
Bonjour, Géraldine! Thanks for mentioning WeSpeke. We look forward to welcoming your readers to WeSpeke so they can begin a language exchange. It’s free, fun, and effective. À bientôt!
I haven’t used French in a long time, so finding the right words is difficult. I also don’t have many opportunities to practice, and when I do I am too uncomfortable to take them!
I like the penpal proposal. I am alittle shy, and i think my accent Is Too english.
Mon problème est que je n’ai pas assez d’occasions de parler le français. Quand je parle à une personne d’habitude je comprends ce qu’elle dit mais quand j’écoute le journal télévisé ou un film je ne comprends pas beaucoup.
OhLaLa!!! Ça c’est une bonne idée!!! Je suis anxieuse de commencer parler avec quelqu’un nouveau!!! Merci!!
…and Oh yes! since I learn best in immersion, is it possible to have a native french speaking pen pal who would like to improve their English? We could help each other. We could converse, for example, one paragraph in each language. I currently attend a conversation group once/week and I am in the highest level (expert!) but I described myself here as intermediate (issue of self confidence again;)?!
Using verbs in tenses beyond present and passé compose in conversation (quickly and naturally!) is a challenge for me to get to my next level. I speak best when I am with no one who speaks English at all (total immersion). Then the focus becomes my need to communicate and I am less self conscious. I try to force my desire to speak french better to overcome my lack of confidence.
Great idea, however just one thing – I think I would describe my level as being between beginner & intermediate (improver?) so what should I choose on the form? I would hate to be a drag on someone who was a high intermediate level if they were partnered with me!
I’m not sure I undersand what means “your NUMBER ONE issue with speaking French” (my english is just basic). I’d love to have not another learner like me, but a true french speaker as a penpal. Could that be possible??? Thanks!!!
I get by when it’s ‘one-to-one’ but struggle when there is a group of people. Like others here, I think of a reply to what the people are talking about – but by that time, they’ve moved on in the conversation!
My mind goes blank when I need it to work a timely response, though I’m likely to understand what has been spoken to me. I was told I am just a perfectionist who didn’t want to speak a word unless I knew it was correct, but actually, I’d be grateful for an incorrect word with someone knowledgeable to correct me straight away.
Isabelle, that is my challenge as well!
I think my biggest problem these days is continuity of conversation. That moment when the conversation has to stop because I’m want to participate and have to find my words. (i.e. at a party of 5 or so people, conversation is flowing freely I’m paying attention and understanding and finally feel good enough that I know what’s going on that I can contribute, so I start to make a sound then suddenly 10 eyes are on me waiting–kindly–but still. Finally I get out what I want to say, usually with help, then I’m about exhausted for the rest of the conversation.)
I have such difficulty figuring out what to say.
I am the same. I can understand most of the coversation but very hard for me to jump into the conversation. I speak slow as I need think the vocabs, then the people would not wait and turn to say something else. I feel upset and tired after some time, perhaps, just an hour following the conversation. I don’t have confidence to talk, but if there is just one person to talk to me, then, it’s OK. But not a group.
First, I have been away from practicing it ( college and other courses), so memory is one piece. But when I was practicing more, I found that writing it or reading it was somewhat ok, but hearing it spoken to me would really mess me up! What I believe a phrase should sound like, and how it genuinely sounds spoken were sometimes different! Hope this makes sense!
Absolutely – but then we run words together in spoken English as well – how many English speaking French people would understand anegg to mean an egg?
Like some of the other comments, once I have managed to make myself understood, I often have trouble understanding the response and often have to use my stock-phrase: pouvez-vous répéter plus lentement, s’il vous plaît!
My main issue is that my passive knowledge of French is much better than my active knowledge so my comprehension of written and spoken French is quite good but I find it difficult to formulate a response.
My problem is really with knowing my tenses and grammar and being able to use them both written and in speaking. Also comprehension can sometimes be tricky for me, especially when it’s spoken at a million miles an hour!!
I read and write to a good level with a range of vocabulary but become very nervous and tongued tied when speaking French and struggle with pronunciation.
I get nervous too >.< and when I try to reply my mind goes blank .. :/
My problem is that when someone is talking with me I understand most of these words (if it is simple conversation)but I can’t find the words in my head to response. When the conversation is over I looking for the words wchich I could use in my head or dictionary and it turns out that I know them.
Marta! This is my exact issue! I understand what is being said but seem mute when it comes to formulating a response.
I have this exact same problem, and when I find myself stuck in response to a question I understand, but cannot respond to – I have a lifeguard statement I use “Je ne sais pas le dire – Je comprends plus que je peux parler”. I have that little statement tucked away and use it all the time. The person will then tell me what my response could have been and I find that I could have well responded. I’ll get there. I have a goal to be “fluent” by the end of the year. That helps fuel my passion to learn more. I should probably not permit myself to use that statement any more. 🙂
Marta,
You describe exactly my problem!
same… I understand well, but finding the right words to answer is another thing. I’d say my perfectionism gets in my way too.
#1 is confidence. I am very hard on myself if I don’t say something right.
Same here! I get so much anxiety when speaking, especially when it comes to tenses :/
Actually now that I think about it the MOST anxiety-ridden situation is when someone hears that I can speak French and they reply in French and I am not expecting it!
My number 1 problem is that after I have managed to formulate a sentence in french & plucked up the courage to say it, I am then totally confused by the french response I receive – I have no idea what they are saying & my heart sinks sickly to my stomach 🙁
lol – you are so not alone in that!! 😎
Though my mother was born in France, I do not speak fluently.
Pour quoi vous demandez? It is because I have always been super shy to speak. I took 10 day course (In Provence!!) this year,, and now am taking 2 hours tutoring each week.
Geraldine is helping me break my shell!!!
Merci !