How I actually learned French in 6 months

Here are my actual results, expectations and how I did it, and what you can roughly expect too.

Let me start by saying that every language is different and the results will vary on your background, time, and experience level. For example, if you’re a native English speaker, some people say German is likely going to be easier than learning Spanish or Romance languages as German is closer to English grammatically than Spanish. Truly, it doesn’t depend on that but on the passion behind the language you’re learning. Anyway, to be fair, I grew up bilingual. My first language is English but I grew up hearing Spanish all my life. I understand 97% of Spanish when spoken to, but talking it is sometimes a struggle with a lot of pauses and still “Como se dices” (how do you say…) since I don’t actively use it.

That being said, I fell in love with French in high school. It’s similar to both English and Spanish, but still unique enough to be neither. However, although I learned some vocabulary and could remember a couple of phrases; I didn’t understand the grammar, could not make my own sentences, and worse, I couldn’t understand it when spoken too! I felt I failed and could never get past that level. I took two semesters, with two different teachers because I moving at the time. Before I even had classes, I used a bit of Duolingo to be ahead of the class, which did help with vocabulary. But alas, I could write a bit in French but my two semesters didn’t extend to actual French in practice.

I recall that a French guy offered to help me online, to tutor me without qualifications, and I couldn’t understand barely a thing. This discouraged me. But the real halt came after I had visited a friend who had a friend who spoke genuine French. I could say my three phrases I remembered, “What do you like to do?” “How old are you?” and of course “What is your name?” and that was it. I couldn’t speak and worse, when he spoke to me I couldn’t understand a word let alone answer back… My motivation zapped from me. This was in 2018. Since then, I dropped French cold turkey. I had completely forgotten most everything about French and moved on to other pursuits, dabbling a little in Portuguese, German, and ASL, and eventually canceling to learn most languages. Fast forward, it’s been four years since I truly studied French.

One day I was sitting down and thought, if I could do anything, what would I do? And learning French was on my list. Not just learning it, but truly understanding it and “getting it.” Although afraid of the same result and failure, I was determined to find a way to truly make it stick this time. This time I tried something new… No teachers, just apps. Could someone really learn a language through their phones?

Sorting and trying the bazillion apps off the App Store that all claim to get you fluent, from Fluent Forever, Babbel, Rosetta Stone (very established but not as updated), Pimsleur, etc — I was overwhelmed at what to choose. Some offered only audio which was a bummer for me as I wanted to know how to write it as well. Some offered no speech exercises. I wanted an app that was structured but still flexible, fun, immersive, and had a bit of everything.

After my search, which came at the cost of a couple of days and my sanity, I was swept away with Speakly after just one day of using it. Speakly used methods rooted in linguists and memory, such as spaced repetition with common sentences, relevant highly-used words, and lots of vocal and listening exercises. Not to mention, a bonus section of easy grammar and music suggestions in your target language.

I used two apps (Duolingo and Speakly, an app I never used before). I made my own goals within them. In Speakly, I would learn ten new words a day. That’s it. Sometimes doing the listening exercises when tired or needing a break from learning new words and sometimes the speaking exercises. With Duolingo, I’d do one or two lessons a day. Each two to three months, I wrote out what I had achieved. Here are my results.

In one week, I was able to recover a lot of the lost vocab I had forgotten. In my placement test on Speakly, I was a beginner but level two but for once, I felt a confidence I hadn’t felt before. With Duolingo, they started me from the beginner level, which was fine as I needed to re-remember a lot of vocab. With the combination of the two, I felt much more comfortable with the language.

I started listening to French music that was recommended on Speakly, one artist being Angele. I absolutely adored her music such as “La Thune” (the money/dough) “Balance ton Quoi” and “Demons.” I’d look up the lyrics since I had no idea what she was saying. She became my go-to music in my car rides and my favorite artist, of all time ♡ even replacing my favorite American artists! She still is my favorite.

During this time, just three days in, I started downloading other apps to see if they were just as good but I still stuck it out with Duolingo and Speakly. I found Chatterbug which had live video lessons in French and other languages. They were both fun to listen to and watch, seeing real French people explain concepts. If I had surplus energy, I’d look at one or two videos a month. Not consistently as my two other apps took roughly 20–30 minutes together.

Let’s just say I got obsessed. Three days after starting Speakly and Duolingo, I found Speaky (not to be confused with Speakly). Speaky connects you with real foreigners in your target language. It’s free to use but can be filled with a lot of perverts and people wanting to hit on you (other females complained about this on the app too). You can get bombarded with hundreds of messages in less than ten minutes, that are foreigners that are thirsty to speak English but aren’t in your target language, and there’s no way to filter them. However on the plus side, there are a lot of great people who are genuinely wanting to learn your language, you just have to choose correctly.

I started speaking to a girl called Thais, from France. I’d speak to her in English and French, and she’d do the same. We would send each other voice messages through Instagram, so we’d have buffers of time to listen and respond given the six-hour time difference between us.

What I realized was, is this was way more advanced than I anticipated being beginner level 2. And a lot more draining given how we had to translate what we said in both languages. If I’m being honest, I often used Google Translate’s “transcribe” feature with my iPad to translate directly what she was saying. My brain lit up anytime I’d get a message from her. It was enthralling. It was more than fun, but very challenging and exhausting. I’d hear about her hobbies, things she wanted to do, her history, etc. After a week or two, we both burnt out majorly and she ghosted, which was okay and expected. It was too much to maintain long-term. I continued to learn with my apps. I continued to find some short-lasting friendships but they eventually fizzled out too. I felt constrained by the lack of words I knew versus the ones I wanted to communicate with and the constant need to translate so many moving parts.

Throughout the months, I continued to talk to at least one or two French people a month. And for once in my life, I was able to think in the language, not just make copy and paste phrases. I would think of sentences in the shower, try translating short sentences in my head, and the language would surprise visit me in my dreams!

At four months, I reached intermediate level and started to listen to stories from Beelinguapp, but only a few as learning with two main apps would consume most of my time. I also wanted to avoid language burnout which is a real thing and can hinder your studies.

At six months, I was in intermediate but tier two. I was able to watch Osmosis, a 2019 show that is originally from France without subtitles, which had me beaming with joy. (The show is about AI finding your soulmate, if you’re interested). I would also hear Duolingo podcasts which are more tailored to intermediate level and focused on culture which is neat (like Belgium chocolate and the “La Bise” the formal cheek kiss greeting, not French kissing with tongue!) While going on Speaky again (not Speakly, but the other app), I was finally able to hear a French person without needing parts transcribed to me, nor having them explain what they had said or a word, which, was huge to me. Sometimes learning is so gradual that you don’t know it hits you, until it does.

The takeaway?

Although I had learned a little French before, how and what you use for language learning matters a lot more than you think. A little bit goes a long way, like compound interest, and a variety of language-learning diet will keep you coming back for more. Before I had the right motivation, just not the right teachers or way of learning.

Although high school is hell-bent on grammar and vocabulary lists (which are important but can get overwhelming if too much), listening exercises and speaking are more essential than grammar and writing, which come more naturally later. The love for the language, whether the history, the sound of it, connecting with natives, the thrill, knowledge, and culture will be the foundation that will keep you going, not grades, streaks, or an ego boost. It’s also important to set goals for yourself like after reaching a certain level or levels, you’ll cook a croissant or write an article about your experience… As for me, I plan to read more French stories that make me smile, travel to France next year, and who knows, maybe make a YouTube on languages :)

P.s Speakly, Beelinguapp, Speaky, Duolingo, and other apps mentioned on this article are not sponsored by me, but should be ;) This was just me genuine experience.

— A Year Update —

Time flies! It has been a year since I started my French language journey. A quick update, out of all the apps I had used during these months… Speakly is still by far my favorite. From day one it was, and even after a year it’s still the app I love the most that keeps me engaged, keeps me coming back, and helps me learning the best. I use it everyday, and it offers a whole bunch of variety that no other app matches quite as well. Meanwhile, after about six months of Duolingo, I started getting bored with the exercises and dreading it. I even had a premium subscription with them! The over emphasis on “streaks” and scores became extremely obnoxious, not to mention, I could barley remember what I had learned after my lessons! With Speakly that wasn’t a problem.

Thanks for reading my article! I hope it inspired you and if you have any questions or comments please leave comments below. Follow for more, if you’re interested in languages, business, and more!

#Speaklyapp Ott from Speakly Shoutout to Speakly!