How Long Does It Take To Learn French Fluently?

So you have decided to learn the language to love – French! It’s maybe because you plan to visit France next year or are curious about French cuisine and culture. But to master French and be fluent in it is going to be an uphill task. You may even have to get some French tutoring while you are at it. Let’s us understand how long it will realistically take a person to master it.

What do we mean by fluency?

Well, when we start learning any new language, it takes time to speak it as a native would. So how can a learner know how long it would take him/her to learn it? The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) has broken down language fluency into different levels:

1. Beginner (A1-A2): Can use simple words and talk about themselves.
2. Intermediate (B1-B2): Can express themselves or their viewpoint, even understand abstract topics with some amount of fluency.
3. Expert (C1-C2): Can almost speak like a native fluently and use it in academic or social settings.

As mentioned in our previous article about how to learn French, for beginners, initially, your focus must be to learn simple phrases and greetings. Fluency will follow naturally as you learn deeper!

How long will it take you to become fluent in French?

You now understand where you stand after checking out the various fluency levels. If you are based in Canada, you can even hire a private French tutor in Toronto after knowing your fluency level. Let’s see how long it takes to go from being a beginner to talking like an expert.

What do experts say?

• The Foreign Service Institute: According to the FSI, English speakers would find it easy to learn French faster.

• • This is because they are closely related, most English words have their origin in French.
  • It would take an English speaker around 23 – 24 weeks (575 – 600 hours) hours of study to become fluent in French.

• Alliance Française: According to them, it will take an average of 30 weeks to achieve proficiency only practiced for 2 or 3 hours per week.

• • To go from A1 to B1, it would take around 360 hours of learning and then further to B2 level, an additional 560 hours.
  • However, they could not gauge how long it would take to reach the C1-C2 levels.

So for those looking for a shortcut to learning French, it’s better to drop the idea. You certainly won’t master it in three months.

What are the other factors involved?

French is one of the official languages in Canada. Many of you reading this piece may be eager to get fluent in it! For those based in Montreal or Toronto, hiring a French tutor in Toronto or finding a French teacher in Montreal would be easy. Hiring someone to teach you a language always speeds up the learning process. Let’s us look at the other factors that can get your fluent faster!

·       Do you speak any of the Romance languages?

Romance languages are those derived from Latin. Some major ones spoken today are Spanish, Italian and French. Learning French gets easier if you are fluent in any of these. Like, Spanish speakers would find many cognate words between the two languages, i.e., words that sound similar.

• You have learned another language.

Studies found that those bilinguals found it easier to learn a new language. This is because they have already gone through the process of learning how sentence structuring works. Their basic grasp of grammar and syntax is also stronger. Even during your private French lessons, your teacher will insist you strengthen your grammar first.

• Amount of time you are willing to spend studying

This simply amounts to the basic rule of learning anything new. The more time you spend over it, the sooner you see results.

• A little bit of revision before your French tutor in Toronto arrives can work wonders.
• Working two hours a day over grammar and sentence formation will go a long way.
• Go beyond the textbook! Think of ways you would have conversations or respond to someone in French.
• During your French tutoring, you can ask your French tutor to have conversations with you only in French during the session.

Other minor factors

• Age: Children under 18 tend to grasp concepts of language easily compared to adults. This is because they are passive learners.

• • Kids don’t dive deep into the intricacies of the language initially, like accents or culture.
  • On the other hand, having already been exposed to such aspects, adults are active learners.
  • They look at the overall picture while learning like culture, colloquial accents, slang, etc.

• Purpose or learning: Depending on whether you learn for fun, school, or work, the hours dedicated or speed may vary.

• • Those learning in school will be on a fixed number of pre-defined hours and will take a year or so.
  • People learning basic conversation French for work can manage to learn it in a few months or faster with a French tutor’s help.
  • Learning French for leisure means that you set your own pace and can determine how fast you achieve that fluency.
• Method of learning: Some methods, like live interactions, can help you learn faster as compared to rote learning from a book or online courses.
• Individual learning or group: It’s found that learning in a group or classroom helps grasp the language more easily than learning alone.

• • We tend to correct each other easily and learn from others while learning in a classroom.
  • It is also fun and interesting to learn in a group. We remain more focused when everyone is involved in the same activity. So enroll yourself in a class and get taught by a French teacher today!

How do I learn French faster?

Got a new job in Canada and have to master French before you leave? You just have 3-4 months and are in a daze about what to do? Don’t worry, we have your back! You can simply apply the below pointers to help you speak French fluently by the time you touch Canadian soil.

• Learning games!: Instead of reading from the same old books, learning French can be made into a fun activity by using apps like Clozemaster, Duolingo or Memrise

• • The app Clozemaster uses cloze tests to make learning an engaging experience for the user. A cloze test is where a person is given a passage in the language he/she is learning but with some words missing. The person then has to guess these words.
  • Duolingo has many lessons which the user has to clear as he passes simple tests while learning. The lessons are for 2-5 minutes followed by a small test.
  • Memrise is a fun app to strengthen your basic phrases and vocabulary.

• Online French courses: For those who want more structured learning, courses are the way to go.

• • You can search and go through the brochures before picking a course of your liking.
  • Also, remember to check the reviews of each course before finalizing one.
  • But, online courses can be expensive and won’t be feasible for those on a budget.
  • They are also time-consuming.

• Practice with French conversation: What better way to improve your French speaking than speaking to native French speakers! There are many sites online that will help you find partners to have a conversation in French.

• • Online places like Couchsurfing and Meetup can help you find other French enthusiasts, native speakers, or learners like you.
  • French Together is another great site to look for conversation partners who know French as well as or better than you.

So strike up a conversation and improve your French today! Who knows, you may even make a good friend in the process.

• Great Translation game: This is a unique and fun way t hone your French writing skills. Since you can use your text to match and verify your writing skills, it’s great for beginners. It’s played as follows:

• • You upload or select any French text that you like.
  • Then you read through the content and understand the automatically translated text in English.
  • Once you understand it, you try and re-translate it back to French on your own.
  • This game gives instant feedback about your mistakes and common grammar errors in your French translation.

Final thoughts

It doesn’t matter how fast or slow your French learning is going. As long as you learn whatever little you know perfectly. An average person can learn French in one year. That is provided he or she practices speaking and writing for an hour or two daily.

Hiring a private French tutor is probably one of the easiest and most useful ways to improve your fluency. Nevertheless, you can always browse the above options to improve your learning and master fluency in French.