There are 4 Reasons Why You Must Admit French is Not a Difficult Language to Learn

There are 4 Reasons Why You Must Admit French is Not a Difficult Language to Learn

Speaking French can transform your life and open you up to an entire new culture, and lots of wonderful friendships. So I can completely understand why you’d to find out the way to speak French.

However, I’ve heard from tons of readers who are battling learning French. Shouldn’t they only hand over completely or address their attention to at least one that seems far easier?

Don’t be silly! Why learn a language that seems more useful, when during a matter of weeks you’ll be having your first conversation during a language which will open you up to over 75 million speakers in over 50 countries?

French isn’t hard to find out , especially in comparison to English!

That’s right. Learning French isn’t getting to be as difficult as you think that . In fact, it’s a language that’s much easier to realize fluency in than you’d have ever expected.

Don’t believe me? Well, a minimum of give me an opportunity to elucidate myself! Read on to seek out out why.

1. You’re Not ranging from Scratch
English and French share a standard alphabet and an outsized portion of vocabulary. In fact, English has more in common lexically with French than the other Romance (which include the likes of Spanish, Portuguese and Italian).

However, we largely have William the Conqueror, the primary Norman King of England to thank for the abundance of French words within English language. William spoke no English when he ascended the throne and although he tried to find out Old English , he did not master this foreign tongue. French was instead spoken within England’s courts for hundreds of years after, which completely transformed the language to what we all know it as today.

French rapidly became fashionable to find out amongst the social classes. it had been spoken in schools and universities and within the court of law. Modern English words within the fields of drugs , economics, law and politics, which have a robust basis in Latin, bear a similarity to French.

English, a Germanic that had previously had much resemblance to other Nordic languages, German and Dutch, began to require on words of Anglo-Norman and Anglo-French origin, which influenced the vocabulary permanently. you’d be surprised at a number of the words you almost certainly use in everyday language that actually had French origins, like pork, blue and administration.

So if you’re fluent in English, you’ll have already got a start in French vocabulary. You’ll be conversant in the spelling, pronunciation and meanings of words like café, debut, encore and petite, amongst many others. This makes French one among the simplest languages for native English speakers to start speaking from day one.

Bennys Top french resources

2. French is easier to Pronounce than English
Consider this.

If tomb in English is pronounced toom and womb is pronounced woom, then shouldn’t bomb be pronounced boom?

I’ve got another one for you.

Enough, rough, tough and then… slough!

How about those homographs! These are words that are spelt an equivalent but have a special meaning. Examples include:

“I lead the dog to the water bowl that’s made out of lead.”

“She wound the bandage round the wound.”

…What?!

English isn’t consistent when it involves pronunciation. If you’re like me and you grew up speaking this language, rules like this may come naturally to you. You learnt them over time, through trial and error.

However, this will be extremely confusing for brand spanking new learners. All languages have many rules. the matter is, English has about as many exceptions, as there are rules themselves!

French pronunciation can seem difficult initially . Like English, there are tons of silent letters. Nouns are often pronounced differently counting on whether or not they are masculine or feminine.

Similarly, there are several rules for French pronunciation which will drive English speakers mad. Indeed, it’s going to seem that French initially glance, is as tricky, complicated and inconsistent as English. I do however, have some extent to argue against this case.

French may be a language that English speakers inherit contact with on a daily basis. it’s deeply ingrained in our culture! France is hop, skip and a jump faraway from the uk and Ireland. an honest chunk of Canada is French speaking. It’s a well-liked option in Australia, where it’s mandatory to spend one year at college studying a second language. and that i know if you were to ask many Americans what their dream destination was, Paris would be at the highest of the many people’s lists. I don’t blame them – I even proposed to my partner there!

When you start learning French, you’ll already know what you’re getting to have difficulties with. You’ll remember that you’ll have issues pronouncing that guttural ‘r’ initially . You’ll know that a lot of words endways silent letters, like within the case of comment ça va? You’ll be mindful of the very fact that contractions are mandatory within the French language, like within the case of “j’adore”.

This is knowledge that you’ll are subconsciously building upon your entire life, will little question are available handy as you start to wrap your head round the French language.

3. Gendered Words aren’t as Confusing as they appear
While gendered nouns are prevalent in many European languages, they will be a source of continual frustration for English native speakers. English nouns do have gender – but the gender is tied on to the biological sex of the noun, with inanimate objects remaining neutral.

As a result, gender rules can seem confusing and pointless to English speakers, who are left scratching their heads on how on earth it had been decided that the sun (le Soleil) is masculine while a car (une voiture) is feminine.

However, there’s no discounting the very fact that the knowledge of genders in French is vital . Gender has influence on pronouns, endings of adjectives and verbs and therefore the article placed before the noun. (Le, la, un, une then on, so forth)

Luckily in French, there are several rules you’ll follow to work out the gender of an object. Here are some to consider:

Certain nouns pertaining to animals which will only be male of the species are going to be masculine, like le taureau (bull). this is often an equivalent for feminine nouns, like la jument (mare / female horse).
There are generic terms, which may ask either a male or female of a species. Le mouton for instance , are often a sheep of either gender.

Knowledge of genders may be a requisite in learning many languages. We all know that Spanish, Italian or even Portuguese all use two genders, while German and Russian use even three. If you’re already fluent or have some knowledge of the other of the amount of languages that use gendered nouns, you’ll end up at a plus in learning to talk French. for instance , a Portuguese speaker would have less trouble learning French during this regard, than they might in English.

If your goal is to find out more languages and you’re starting with French as a native English speaker, breathe easy! The more you learn, the more genders will add up to you and therefore the easier it’ll be once you move onto your next language.

4. French are Happy to assist You Learn French
I hate stereotypes! Although I found it extraordinarily difficult to urge along side Parisians once I first lived in Paris, during the second time around, i used to be determined to stay open minded. I managed to go away with a more positive impression of the French overall after only a couple of hours there.

I realised that I couldn’t just expect for things in Paris to be exactly as they were in Ireland, or the other country I had previously lived in. 

A Parisian said I spoke good French! Dreams do come true!

There are complaints that the French are often incredibly negative. If you’re learning their language and make an error , they’ll look down their noses at you with an air of disdain. Either way, you can’t win!

Upon genuinely understanding the culture more, I didn’t find these to be true in the least . most of the people I’ve met are happy to assist me when I’ve been stuck – you only need to invite it. In fact, I’ve found it’s English speakers that are more likely to ignore you once you make mistakes, out of fear of injuring anyone’s feelings! We’re a sensitive lot, that’s needless to say .