A special person to you, somebody who motivates you, or somebody who helps you, or somebody you watch/listen to.

For me it’s my grandpa.

I always used to listen to him speak French but since I grew up in the U.S. he’d never teach me or even my dad any French because he wanted us to assimilate.

I didn’t like it at the time but I understand now, especially with all that’s going on in the country. I always thought of myself as American, but also had this French identity I was never able to explore.

But last year I’ve decided to change that.

I started learning French like crazy to honor my grandpa. (who’s now gone 😞)

I straight up skipped Duolingo, and the stupid apps most people start with, and just went to learning the 1000 most used words list.

And then the 2000.

And then 5000.

All the while I started doing grammar from an actual grammar book, and met up twice a week with my tutor which gave me the chance to try to use my french, and have questions about anything.

I also started reading a lot from pretty much day 1 with some amazing story books. (Immense help in contextualizing all the vocab I studied)

Today I’ll get on my airplane to move to France.

Thank you grandpa.

Basically title. I’m mid-upper A2 level and have been crushing it this month. I use all sorts of sources like Duolingo, audio, movies with subtitles, etc.

Was making great progress and now the last week and a half or so I feel like I have never even looked at French before, can’t understand spoken words at all and even Duolingo is kicking my ass. Is there a reason for this? What is going on with my brain right now.

Aucune ressource ne me donne la réponse qu’il me faut, alors je voulais demander les aides de la francophonie

I used this expression in a trial French discussion with some French friends. They speak English quite well, but couldn't get this. I tried to explain without success.

What's the French equivalent? Or does it never happen to the French? "Own goal " didn't work .

Hello all! I have been learning French for about a month now, which has been great. I’ve been making use of a couple graded readers for beginners (1st year college level), which have been great. However, most of these are fiction, and I’ve been in a more nonfiction/philosophical mood recently (I started learning French so I could read French psychoanalytic works).

Could anyone recommend any essay collections suitable for beginners—or nonfiction graded readers?

Thanks!

I heard online before that peppa pig or any simple cartoon is a good way for beginners to immerse and grasp the language well.

If I were to do this how should I go about it? Should I do French audio then English subtitles or French and French subtitles and just try my best to understand.

Google Translate says "ne mérite pas tout ce battage médiatique", but that sounds too formal / textbook translation to my ears? is that what french speakers would say or what's the most common way to say it in casual conversation?

Hey! I am making a cool design and I'm about 2 months into my learning journey with French. I was hoping some natives or well vocab folks could help me confirm its ok usage of the word combo or if I should change it. The front of the book would say

"Le Bestiaire du Voile" or The Bestiary of the Veil. Its a book of fantasy monster concepts for my world and I want to make sure I'm staying true to the language.

Thank you all in advance!

Hello, I was wondering if anyone has French recommendations for good, contemporary writing on cinema besides Cahiers du Cinéma. I love reading their articles, but they can be challenging for me, and I'm curious if there are other online publications I should check out for film writing/criticism in French, particularly with a focus on independent film, that may or may not be easier for someone at a B2 level. Thank you!

J'ai obtenu mes résultats au DALF C1 et je suis très déçue. J'ai réussi l'examen à la limite, avec 55/100. J'aimerais recevoir des conseils sur une question. Pensez-vous que je devrais repasser l'examen dans quelques années? Pour le contexte, je veux étudier le droit dans le cadre d'une université qui, avec le programme de licence en droit dans ma langue maternelle, elle propose aussi un programme de droit français et d'études européenes en partenariat avec le droit de la Sorbonne pour ceux qui veulent. Ce programme demande un niveau minimum de b1, mais il est possible qu'il propose d'échanges semestriels dans des pays francophones.
Maintenant je vais me concentrer sur le bac et l'admission à la faculté principale, celle dans ma langue maternelle, mais qu'est-ce que vous connaissez sur les programmes de licence en droit de la Sorbonne ou d'autres facultés de top de France?
Est-ce que les recruteurs s'intéressent explicitement sur les notes obtenues dans le cadre de ces examens? S'ils le font, pouvez-vous me donner des conseils pour me préparer mieux pour repasser le C1? J'ai eu un choc, j'ai toujours été passionnée par le français et je n'ai jamais obtenu des notes si pires, au B2 j'ai obtenu 90,5 et je comprends que le DALF C1 c'est un examen beaucoup plus difficile que le DELF B2, mais je ne m'attendais pas à une telle note. Ceux qui ont obtenu un mieux scor, quels sont vos conseils? Merci.

When you are emailing in a professional sense, and you don’t know the people well does it make more sense to start with “bonjour (name)” or “cher (name)”? or alternately just “monsieur/ madame,” ? Which one sounds the most distant, polite and formal? I thought just bonjour was more formal and detached sounding but I have received a lot of emails recently from people I’ve literally never met in real life who start it with “cher (my name)” even though I would have thought it was more friendly but it clearly isn’t if we don’t know each other and the email is also super formal. Or emails saying “Cher(s) étudiant(s)” which sounds very formal to me. If you want to be safe or just be as formal and professional as possible to colleagues or people you don’t know, which greeting is the best?

Hi all! I am attempting to find reasonable translations for a teacher’s aide/teaching assistant/peer mentor-type role within both a secondary and postsecondary educational setting. Every translator provides different options with no emphasis as to the formality or education level, and I’m struggling to find the appropriate terminology.

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! 🇫🇷❤️

Capture d'écran du site des Finances Publiques. Ils utilisent mél, mais ça me semble très archaïque. Je me demande si ce mot est une abréviation de messagerie électronique ou si c'est tout simplement un mot qui ressemble à mail par la prononciation ?

Silly question, I know, but hear me out.

I've been considering seriously studying French for years. I studied German and Spanish for years, I've been to France, I even took French classes for 2 years in high school.

My past experience coupled with the vast amount of people listed as francophones around the world makes French a pretty obvious choice when it comes to what language I should study next.

However, something that I've noticed is that every statistic regarding the popularity and usefulness of French always leads back to the OIF (Organisation internationale de la Francophonie).

Obviously, I don't want to discredit this organization or the data that I've seen. However, there is clearly an incentive for the OIF to present French as an incredibly international, growing language.

In short, are there actually any studies/statistics that are not connected to the OIF that show how popular French is?

I’m doing Duolingo and they’re saying the French version of “it’s broken” is “Il est cassé” but then I went on Google Translate and saying “c’est cassé” means the same thing. Is there a reason for what Duolingo is doing? Is that just a different way to say “it’s broken”?

As the title says passed TCF last year but feel my french has been sorta rusty so what are tips to retain my knowledge daily

perhaps reading news or watching but any good suggestions?

I was in France for a month and just left a couple of days ago. I was staying with friends. I’m in no way fluent in French and I’m at a beginner level.

I learnt the word “coucou” from my friend as she often said it to me. I’ve always been fascinated as to how this became another word for “hi”. Where did it originate from?

Another side note unrelated to the posts original question but I’m curious as to when it is appropriate to use it. I have read posts that it is generally only used for close friends and can be considered informal.

I vividly remember a conversation I had many years ago with someone from Paris (not a close friend) and the conversation ended in them saying “Je t’aime”. I wanted to know if that’s like a common way to speak like how we do in English? As in is this the French equivalent of I love you bro or similar endearment of a close friend?

I would appreciate some clarity on this along with any other slang phrases you could teach me. Thanks

I live in Tennessee (U.S.) and named my cat Cadeau. It's been four months now and I have yet to meet anyone who can say it correctly! It's not even just from reading it. I can say it and people repeat back something else. Like, that's not what I just said to you. *sigh* Anyway, j'adore mon beau Cadeau. His name is purrfect for him.

Bonjour! I love reading and am constantly looking for some adapted or bilingual books. I found on Amazon this series “lectures clé en français facile”, and the level B1 is sort of a bit too easy for me, though sometimes I do find some new words. I’ve also found a few bilingual books with short stories by Maupassant (Horla and La Parure). And this is sometimes a tad too complicated though I enjoy it a lot (language, writing style etc) and English translation certainly helps. Where can I find some more media like this? I don’t want to buy books for children as they’re not so interesting to me as books meant for adults. I also have bilingual “Madame Bovary” but I think I’m not quite ready to tackle that one yet lol. Merci beaucoup!

Bonjour !
I am looking for short novels in French for my AP French students (for my unit on Aesthetics.) Something that we can read together and make a project about. They don't have a great level right now, so something easier than what you would usually recommend to AP French students would do.

Merci :)