Learn to Speak French Like a Native Speaker
What You Won’t Learn in Class
Your French teacher will probably hate me for this — or warn you by saying “Don’t learn bad French!” But I would counter, “Learn the French that is spoken on the streets and in the bars of the 21st century!” And yes, that is sometimes incorrect, annoying, or funny, but it is at least authentic — and will make you sound more like a native speaker than reading Voltaire, Molière, Sartre, and all these other authors I encountered during my French classes in high school.
Take it or leave it — here is my advice after having lived in Belgium (as a child) and France (as a young adult) for several years. If you are planning to spend time in a French-speaking country or have French friends, this might be more useful than years of taking French classes.
Season Your Sentences With Filler Words
My favorite tip, and by far the most important one: Make filler words like building blocks of your everyday sentences — maybe not at work or in your academic essays, but, you know, when talking to your flatmate Pierre or your French friend Amélie.
The top words are probably “du coup” (consequently — often used like well), “en fait” (actually), “enfin” (well) and “genre” (like). You know you’ve succeeded when even…
