Most people think that in order to speak fluent French, you need to spend hours and hours studying, learning tons of vocabulary, conjugating hundreds of French Verbs…I thought so too, because this is the commonly used method in most schools and training centres everywhere. But after graduating from university and starting to teach French, I discovered that there is a better, more effective, quicker method to learn to Speak Fluent French, and it does not involve any of the laborious methods itemized above.

In fact, when it comes to learning French, or any language for that matter, less really is better!

I have been teaching French for more than four decades and have worked with thousands of students. I have diagnosed the problems experienced by those who just can’t seem to put two words together in French, in spite of years of study in the Canadian school system and adult education organizations across Canada. You are fortunate… it is not too late for you to learn to speak fluent French.

I’m going to show you why conventional methods for learning to speak French do not work and show you step-by-step what you must do if you want to speak fluent French. “Traditional” language teaching methods are not effective, and in some cases are causing more harm than good by teaching bad habits that will be difficult to overcome.

The truth is that many language teachers do not know what it takes to help someone learn French because they have not discovered the technique of the language, one of the fundamental keys to being successful in learning any language. They try this method and that method and hope that eventually one of them will work. The entire Language Training Industry has a vested interest in drawing out the language training process so they can increase revenues for their programs. One language training school that I am aware of, charges over $11,000 for a 6-month program and when students finish the program they still can’t speak fluent French!

Slowly, I began to notice something different about my students when I started changing the way that I taught French. They started showing more confidence in their ability to speak French, they started taking more risks in speaking, even if they made some mistakes, and before I knew it, we were carrying on conversations about a variety of topics, all in fluent French!

I dismissed it as a fluke at first, but then I started to see a pattern emerge. I began to notice that those who were successful in speaking fluent French had some characteristics in common:

1) They did what I asked them to do without questioning the reason behind my methods.

2) They started speaking French during the very first lesson that we had together, even if they had only limited vocabulary and French structures to use.

3) They were not afraid to look silly if they made mistakes when they spoke French – they felt the fear and did it anyway!

I started taking notes about my observations and what I had done that was different when students showed quick progress in their lessons with me.

I asked myself… why?

How did such simple changes in my teaching methods make such a big difference in the results of one of my students in particular, Warren, and the time it took for him to achieve them? Let me explain.

In traditional programs, it takes an average of 360 hours for students to speak French in very simple sentences. If someone is taking courses full-time for an average of 30 hours per week, it will take 10 weeks before they achieve this goal. One of my students, Warren, achieved this level of fluency in only 30 hours by doing the simple things that I asked him to do! I came to realize that I and most other language teachers had been teaching our students bad habits that were actually preventing them from speaking French. I now realized that I had discovered the secret to speaking fluent French!

These are the 3 things that I did that contributed to Warren’s success…

I gave him reference points from his own language.

Traditional language training programs are usually based on a “sink or swim” method. The teacher usually starts the first lesson by speaking to students in the new language that they want to learn, without giving them any explanation about what they are going to learn or how they are going to learn it.

The teacher will try to get students to repeat vocabulary, sentences or grammar structures that they don’t understand, without giving them any frame of reference from their own mother tongue.

I know, because early in my career, I did exactly the same thing! That is how I was taught to teach French as a second language. “Repeat after me,” I would say and when students looked at me with that puzzled gaze, I just asked them again to do the same thing over and over again.

I didn’t know any better! I thought I was doing the right thing, making every effort to help my students learn French. And amazingly, sometimes it worked and my students were able to develop some proficiency in the language.

But we worked hard! It was often a long, laborious process, with students making very slow progress. It usually took months of work before students were able to carry on a decent conversation on a variety of topics in French.

It was different with Warren.

Instead of jumping in and speaking French to Warren, during our first lesson, I decided to explain the differences between French and English, and compared such things as the Rhythm, Intonation and Pronunciation of the two languages.

I also gave him some lessons in English grammar and verb tenses so that he could see how his own language was put together. I thought this might help him to better understand the same elements in French.

I showed him the technique of the French language.

Every language has its own technique.

Let me ask you this: What is the basic technique for speaking English?

Could you name two or three things that are crucial to speaking English well?

It’s amusing when I talk to teachers about the technique because most of them don’t know what the technique is. They tell me that they knew what it was after I tell them, and MOST IMPORTANT, they never think it is important enough to tell students because “it is obvious” (unfortunately, only to them).

To me, the technique is one of the main keys to the language. If you don’t grasp the concept, you will usually experience difficulties and never acquire the speaking habits of a native speaker.

I encouraged Warren to allow himself the freedom to make mistakes and to Speak French at every opportunity even with his limited vocabulary and grammar structures.

I told him that “darn good” was good enough and that he did not have to say things perfectly to be able to speak French.

This gave him the confidence to start speaking from the very first lesson.

You see, as adults, we are afraid of making mistakes. Unlike children, who “just do it” in complete faith, we think that we have to get everything right before attempting to do something new. That applies to many things – taking dance lessons, starting a new hobby…. We get frustrated when we make mistakes. We think we will look foolish so we hesitate to step out and show how much or how little we know.

I realized that this was one of the biggest stumbling blocks for most of my students! They didn’t want to “look silly” when they spoke French. So, I had to give them permission right from the start to make mistakes, try something new, and not feel as if they had to do it perfectly! Amazingly, giving them permission to fail helped them to succeed!

Yes, I as a knowledgeable French language teacher, had contributed to students’ lack of success in Speaking Fluent French… but all of that was about to change.