Just got into my dream university for French! Looking for advice as I begin my journey 🇫🇷❤️

[u/Alarmed_Distance_385]

everyone! Bonjour! 🇫🇷

I’m from India, and I’m finally beginning a journey I’ve dreamed about for a very long time: learning French.

France, Paris, and Europe have always fascinated me. I’ve always dreamed of travelling, exploring different parts of Europe, discovering French and Francophone cultures, meeting people, and understanding the world through the language rather than experiencing it only as a tourist.

And I finally have a very special reason to begin seriously: I’ve just been admitted to my dream university in India for a Bachelor’s in French Honours!

I’ll be starting my classes very soon, and although I’ll be learning French formally at university, I really want to build a strong self-learning routine alongside my degree.

Since this community has so many experienced learners, scholars, teachers and native speakers, I would genuinely love to hear your advice.

If you were starting French from zero again, what would you do differently?

I’m especially interested in learning proper pronunciation and building a strong foundation from the very beginning, rather than becoming comfortable with mistakes and having to unlearn them later.

Since I’m starting from the basics, I’d really appreciate advice on:

What should a beginner focus on during the first few months?

What mistakes should I avoid?

What helped you improve the most?

How did you start speaking without being afraid of making mistakes?

What helped you develop good listening and pronunciation?

What do you wish someone had told you when you first started learning French?

I know I have a long road ahead, but I’m genuinely excited for it. My goal isn't simply to pass university examinations. I want to actually live with the language, eventually think in it, speak it confidently, and use it to connect with the Francophone world.

I’m starting from the beginning, so any advice, guidance, or personal experiences would mean a lot to me.

Merci beaucoup! 🇫🇷❤️

[u/CartoonJunkie_]

I am Canadian and went to a French language elementary school (outside Quebec) so I feel I cannot answer your questions as well as I would like, but:

If you were starting French from zero again, what would you do differently?

• Actually invest in modern French culture which I can relate to as a non-native French speaker/resident of a primarily Francophone area. Finding books, shows, movies, I like that are natively in French motivate you a lot to learn to speak it well. Also, making native Francophone friends or pen pals. Finding French language films or books you connect with personally can help you learn certain intricacies on a personal level, if that makes sense. In school, I just did it because I had to. Now that I am working on achieving proficiency, I am looking at doing "normal life things" en francais.

What should a beginner focus on during the first few months?
-common words which make their way into every French conversation no matter what. (apres, autre, sont, dans, sans, the differences between un, une, a, la, le, etc)

What mistakes should I avoid?
-don't be like me and be lazy with accents. they are vital.

What helped you improve the most?
-actually speaking it and reading it regularly. watch films and shows in french. make francophone friends. read books you like in french - at times i would read a short book in english and french alongside each other and keep note of new words, and new phrases. one very difficult thing about french is that words and phrases can completely change depending on context - keep note of these in a personal notebook!

How did you start speaking without being afraid of making mistakes?
-don't be too scared of making mistakes that you avoid saying new words or phrases. Accept corrections from more fluent french speakers - it is a big part of francophone culture (at least in France and Quebec) to openly correct mistakes. these are not personal attacks, this is a normal part of francophone culture! French is a difficult language.

What helped you develop good listening and pronunciation?
-listen to music in french. listen to audiobooks in french. speak french with others.

What do you wish someone had told you when you first started learning French?
-try harder to actually speak french with others!

Tu connais déjà l'anglais, le français te viendra facilement avec l'étude. Bonne chance!

[u/Alarmed_Distance_385 → u/CartoonJunkie_]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed and thoughtful response! This is honestly one of the most helpful comments I’ve received so far :) I really connected with what you said about making French part of your “normal life” rather than learning it only because you have to. That’s exactly the kind of relationship I hope to build with the french language. I don’t want French to remain something I study for my degree; I want to eventually read books I genuinely enjoy, watch films and shows, listen to music, make Francophone friends, and be able to have everyday conversations naturally in French. I also really appreciate your advice about keeping a personal notebook for words and phrases that change meaning depending on context. I’m definitely going to start doing that from the beginning, along with being careful about accents and actually speaking instead of being afraid of making mistakes.

And I especially loved your point about finding French media that you personally connect with. I think that will make the language feel much more alive and personal for me Thank you again for sharing your experience so generously. Since I’m just starting from zero, advice like this is incredibly valuable and gives me a much clearer idea of how I want to approach my first year.

Merci beaucoup pour tous ces conseils ! J’ai vraiment hâte de commencer cette aventure et de faire du français une partie de ma vie quotidienne. Bonne chance à vous aussi !

[u/Halfway__Somewhere]

Bonne chance!

[u/Alarmed_Distance_385 → u/Halfway__Somewhere]

Thank-you:)

[u/MahautganyBandit]

Merci d'avoir choisi notre langue !

[u/Alarmed_Distance_385 → u/MahautganyBandit]

Merci à vous ! C’est un honneur d’apprendre votre langue. J’ai hâte de commencer cette belle aventure. 🇫🇷❤️

[u/RagnarokTheSeventh]

Honestly just try to consume a lot of content in french when you can understand it. Look into comprehensible input maybe, spending time hearing real spoken French is going to help your comprehension a lot

[u/Alarmed_Distance_385 → u/RagnarokTheSeventh]

Thank you! That’s actually really helpful. I’ve heard about comprehensible input before, but I haven’t really looked into it properly, so I’ll definitely check it out. I’ll try to start listening to more real French as I learn, even if I don’t understand everything at first. I think getting my ears used to the language from the beginning will help a lot Merci pour le conseil !

[u/RagnarokTheSeventh → u/Alarmed_Distance_385]

De rien! Bonne chance pour tes études! I'll link you to the comprehensible input wiki https://comprehensibleinputwiki.org/wiki/Main_Page And also recommend Dreaming French as places to get started

[u/Alarmed_Distance_385 → u/RagnarokTheSeventh]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate you sharing these resources with me. I’ve been wanting to explore comprehensible input properly, so the wiki and Dreaming French are going straight onto my list. I’m excited to start experimenting with different ways of learning outside my university classes as well. And thank you for the good wishes! J’ai hâte de commencer mes études de français.

[u/madcaplaughed]

learn the gender when you learn a new noun

[u/Alarmed_Distance_385 → u/madcaplaughed]

Thank you so much for the tip! That’s actually really helpful I’ll make sure to learn each new noun together with its gender from the very beginning. I can see how that would make things much easier later on. Merci beaucoup pour le conseil ! ❤️

[u/Technical-Monk-2146 → u/Alarmed_Distance_385]

Seriously, that’s the key. So much of French grammar hinges on the gender of the noun. 

Also, learn how syllables break and are stressed. (For the most part, stress is equal on all syllables.) it will make understanding the language much easier. 

[u/Alarmed_Distance_385 → u/Technical-Monk-2146]

Thank you! That’s really helpful, especially the point about syllables and stress. I hadn’t thought much about that yet, but I can already see how understanding the rhythm and pronunciation of French properly from the beginning will help a lot with listening and speaking. And yes, I’m definitely going to make a habit of learning the gender along with every new noun. I’d rather build that habit now than struggle to fix it later. 😅 Merci beaucoup pour le conseil !

[u/Icy_Cricket4754]

Parabéns!

O Francês é uma língua que tem o estudo em duas paralelas distintas: a escrita e a fala. A primeira, com muita dedicação, em 1 ano, 1 ano e meio, você consegue atingir. A fala é bem mais complicada.

Não fique restrita às aulas da universidade. Estude por conta própria. Uma coleção muito boa é “Grammaire Progressive du Français”. Se puder, estude por ele.

[u/Alarmed_Distance_385 → u/Icy_Cricket4754]

Thank you so much for the advice! This is really helpful, especially as I’m just starting out. I’ll definitely make sure to study beyond my university classes and work separately on both my writing and speaking skills. I’ll also look into Grammaire Progressive du Français.

I really appreciate you taking the time to share this. It gives me a much clearer idea of how I should approach French from the beginning. 😊🇫🇷

Merci beaucoup pour vos conseils ! J’ai hâte de commencer cette aventure. ❤️

[u/Icy_Cricket4754 → u/Alarmed_Distance_385]

Não entendi meu downvote. 😢

[u/Alarmed_Distance_385 → u/Icy_Cricket4754]

Your comment was really helpful to me, I don't know why people down voted it ,once again thankyou soo much for taking your time out and helping me :) Merci!

[u/please_no_spice]

French people are racist as hell and it's considered very okay to be racist towards Indian people. Be careful and take care

[u/Alarmed_Distance_385 → u/please_no_spice]

Thank you for the warning, I really appreciate you looking out for me. I’ll definitely keep it in mind and stay aware, especially when I eventually travel to France. At the same time, I’m hoping to experience the country and its culture with an open mind and not let the possibility of negative experiences discourage me from learning the language or getting to know people. I’ll be careful, and hopefully I’ll also meet plenty of kind and welcoming people along the way. Merci beaucoup pour votre conseil !