{"id":3019,"date":"2021-12-12T18:33:59","date_gmt":"2021-12-12T18:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/?p=3019"},"modified":"2021-12-12T18:34:00","modified_gmt":"2021-12-12T18:34:00","slug":"is-french-hard-to-learn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/is-french-hard-to-learn\/","title":{"rendered":"Is French Hard To Learn? Probably Not As Much As You Might Think!"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>#kt-info-box_a44360-bd .kt-blocks-info-box-link-wrap{padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom:40px;}#kt-info-box_a44360-bd .kadence-info-box-image-inner-intrisic-container{max-width:1200px;}#kt-info-box_a44360-bd .kadence-info-box-image-inner-intrisic-container .kadence-info-box-image-intrisic{padding-bottom:52.3333%;width:1200px;height:0px;max-width:100%;}#kt-info-box_a44360-bd .kadence-info-box-icon-container .kt-info-svg-icon, #kt-info-box_a44360-bd .kt-info-svg-icon-flip, #kt-info-box_a44360-bd .kt-blocks-info-box-number{font-size:50px;}#kt-info-box_a44360-bd .kt-blocks-info-box-media{color:#444444;background:transparent;border-color:var(--global-palette9, #ffffff);border-top-width:0px;border-right-width:0px;border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;}#kt-info-box_a44360-bd .kt-blocks-info-box-link-wrap:hover .kt-blocks-info-box-media{color:#444444;background:transparent;border-color:#444444;}#kt-info-box_a44360-bd .kt-blocks-info-box-learnmore{background:transparent;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;padding-top:4px;padding-right:8px;padding-bottom:4px;padding-left:8px;margin:10px 0px 10px 0px;}#kt-info-box_a44360-bd .kt-blocks-info-box-link-wrap{box-shadow:0px 0px 6px 1px var(--global-palette6, #718096);}#kt-info-box_a44360-bd .kt-blocks-info-box-link-wrap:hover{box-shadow:0px 0px 6px 1px var(--global-palette6, #718096);}<\/style>\n<div id=\"kt-info-box_a44360-bd\" class=\"wp-block-kadence-infobox\"><a class=\"kt-blocks-info-box-link-wrap info-box-link kt-blocks-info-box-media-align-left kt-info-halign-center\"><div class=\"kt-blocks-info-box-media-container\"><div class=\"kt-blocks-info-box-media kt-info-media-animate-none\"><div class=\"kadence-info-box-image-inner-intrisic-container\"><div class=\"kadence-info-box-image-intrisic kt-info-animate-none\"><div class=\"kadence-info-box-image-inner-intrisic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/is-french-hard-to-learn.jpg\" alt=\"is-french-hard-to-learn\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" class=\"kt-info-box-image wp-image-3028\" srcset=\"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/is-french-hard-to-learn.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/is-french-hard-to-learn-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/is-french-hard-to-learn-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/is-french-hard-to-learn-150x79.jpg 150w, https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/is-french-hard-to-learn-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"kt-infobox-textcontent\"><\/div><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Are you thinking about picking up French? Did you just start learning French?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then <strong>you&#8217;ve no doubt asked yourself &#8220;Is French hard to learn?&#8221;<\/strong>, which is a valid question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a French coach, <strong>I know that French can be daunting at first. But you shouldn&#8217;t let that stop you<\/strong>, if learning French is really what you want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this article, you&#8217;ll see:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Why is French considered a difficult language to learn<\/li><li>Why French isn&#8217;t as difficult as you think<\/li><li>How you can overcome this myth&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s dive in!<\/p>\n\n\n<style>#kt-layout-id_d9cead-ce > .kt-row-column-wrap{align-content:start;}:where(#kt-layout-id_d9cead-ce > .kt-row-column-wrap) > .wp-block-kadence-column{justify-content:start;}#kt-layout-id_d9cead-ce > .kt-row-column-wrap{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-md, 2rem);row-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-md, 2rem);max-width:var( --global-content-width, 1200px );padding-left:var(--global-content-edge-padding);padding-right:var(--global-content-edge-padding);padding-top:var( --global-kb-row-default-top, 25px );padding-bottom:var( --global-kb-row-default-bottom, 25px 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.kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column_f90944-7e > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column_f90944-7e > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column_f90944-7e > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column_f90944-7e > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column_f90944-7e > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column_f90944-7e{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column_f90944-7e > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.kadence-column_f90944-7e > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column inner-column-1 kadence-column_f90944-7e\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\"><style>.kb-table-of-content-nav.kb-table-of-content-id_bacc5f-de:not(.this-class-is-for-specificity):not(.class-is-for-specificity){margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;}.kb-table-of-content-nav.kb-table-of-content-id_bacc5f-de .kb-table-of-content-wrap{padding-top:20px;padding-right:20px;padding-bottom:20px;padding-left:20px;border-top-width:0px;border-right-width:0px;border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;box-shadow:0px 0px 14px 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);max-width:669px;}.kb-table-of-content-nav.kb-table-of-content-id_bacc5f-de .kb-table-of-contents-title-wrap{padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;border-top-width:0px;border-right-width:0px;border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;}.kb-table-of-content-nav.kb-table-of-content-id_bacc5f-de .kb-table-of-contents-title-wrap{color:var(--global-palette2, #2B6CB0);}.kb-table-of-content-nav.kb-table-of-content-id_bacc5f-de .kb-table-of-contents-title{color:var(--global-palette2, #2B6CB0);font-size:18px;line-height:5px;letter-spacing:0px;font-weight:regular;font-style:normal;text-transform:none;}.kb-table-of-content-nav.kb-table-of-content-id_bacc5f-de .kb-table-of-content-wrap .kb-table-of-content-list{color:var(--global-palette2, #2B6CB0);font-size:18px;font-weight:regular;font-style:normal;text-transform:none;margin-top:20px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;}.kb-table-of-content-nav.kb-table-of-content-id_bacc5f-de .kb-table-of-content-list li{margin-bottom:1px;}.kb-table-of-content-nav.kb-table-of-content-id_bacc5f-de .kb-table-of-content-list li .kb-table-of-contents-list-sub{margin-top:1px;}<\/style><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why is French hard to learn?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Learning any language is filled with various difficulties, whether or not you already have experience with foreign languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s see the several reasons why most people consider French hard to learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Irregular Verbs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There are 3 verb groups in French:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Group 1: Verbs ending in <em>-er<\/em><\/li><li>Group 2: Verbs ending in <em>-ir<\/em><\/li><li>Group 3: Irregular verbs that don&#8217;t belong in the first two groups<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Most of the verbs in Group 1 and Group 2 follow specific conjugation rules for every tense.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You&#8217;ll just need to learn which endings to use with which pronouns to conjugate your verb correctly.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, if you take a verb ending in <em>-er<\/em>, the rule is to remove the <em>-er<\/em> and to replace it with the following endings for the present tense. Let&#8217;s take the verb <em>chanter<\/em> (to sing).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table aligncenter\"><table><tbody><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><em>Je chant<\/em><strong><em>e<\/em><\/strong><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">I sing<\/td><\/tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><em>Tu chant<\/em><strong><em>es<\/em><\/strong><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">You sing<\/td><\/tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><em>Il\/Elle chant<\/em><strong><em>e<\/em><\/strong><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">He\/She sings<\/td><\/tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><em>Nous chant<\/em><strong><em>ons<\/em><\/strong><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">We sing<\/td><\/tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><em>Vous chant<\/em><strong><em>ez<\/em><\/strong><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">You sing<\/td><\/tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><em>Ils\/Elles chant<\/em><strong><em>ent<\/em><\/strong><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">They sing<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Such verbs are easy to handle, once you know the rules that go with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, <strong>the tricky part of French is that many verbs don&#8217;t end in <\/strong><strong><em>-er<\/em><\/strong><strong> or <\/strong><strong><em>-ir<\/em><\/strong><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Therefore, <strong>you have no choice but to learn their conjugated forms by heart, because there&#8217;s no specific pattern to follow.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, as if it wasn&#8217;t enough, you&#8217;ll also find a few irregular verbs in Group 1 and Group 2!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So keep this in mind throughout your learning journey: <strong>The French language does love irregular verbs and exceptions to the rules.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just because you learned the general rule doesn&#8217;t mean it will apply to every case, you&#8217;ll come across a lot of exceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Learning how to deal with those exceptions will only come with time and experience, so be prepared.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Difficult pronunciation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>French pronunciation is also considered to be a difficult aspect of the language.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Some sounds might simply not be present in your mother tongue, making them difficult to reproduce.<\/strong> For example, many English speakers struggle with the &#8220;U&#8221; sound, because it doesn&#8217;t exist in English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Other sounds might exist in your language but they are pronounced differently, so you end up pronouncing them the way you&#8217;re used to.<\/strong> For example, many learners have a hard time with the &#8220;R&#8221; sound in French.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On top of these challenges, there&#8217;s another one: When speaking, words tend to merge into a single speech stream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So <strong>you need to learn to distinguish individual words in a sentence<\/strong>. To do that, there&#8217;s no secret: You&#8217;ll have to <strong>practice your listening skills<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Fast speech<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Understanding spoken French can admittedly be difficult. That&#8217;s because natives speak fluently, as in fast, which sometimes makes it hard to catch what they are saying.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Immersion in the French language (with audio, videos or lively conversations) will help you overcome this challenge.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Spelling<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>French spelling can also be complicated to grasp. That&#8217;s because <strong>French is rarely spoken the way it&#8217;s written.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you see a French word for the first time, you&#8217;ll try to say it a certain way by pronouncing the sounds associated with the letters you&#8217;re seeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chances are, if you&#8217;ve never heard that word before, you won&#8217;t be pronouncing it correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, try to pronounce the word <em>oiseau<\/em> (bird) in French. Go ahead, just give it a try for the next 30 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, listen to the pronunciation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wordreference.com\/fren\/oiseau\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a> (click on the little sound icon next to the word).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You see, none of the letters are pronounced the way you thought! It&#8217;s <em>wa-zo<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s why <strong>you should practice reading and listening in French at the same time, to be able to associate the right pronunciation with the word you&#8217;re reading.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">False friends<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>False friends are common among the languages using the Latin alphabet (the letters you&#8217;re reading now).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>They are words that confuse you, because they look similar, but they have a different meaning.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, the French word <em>actuellement <\/em>doesn&#8217;t mean &#8220;actually&#8221;, it means &#8220;currently&#8221;. It&#8217;s just one of the many false friends that confuse native English speakers who learn French.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Gender and agreement<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>While some languages, like English, are genderless, it&#8217;s not the case of French.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A French noun is either masculine or feminine. <\/strong>This applies to all French nouns, without exception!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Knowing the appropriate gender helps you determine the correct article to use before the noun.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s also <strong>crucial if you want to build a grammatically correct sentence in French.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why? Because <strong>gender has an impact on the pronouns, the adjectives and the verbs you&#8217;ll need to use.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To learn how to master this very important part of French grammar, check out my guide on <a href=\"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/french-noun-gender\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">French noun gender<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why French isn&#8217;t as hard to learn as you think<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Objectively, <strong>French is not more difficult to learn than any other Western European languages.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we compare French with English, we can say that in terms of complexity of study, they are approximately equal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>If you&#8217;re a native English speaker or if you already know English well, French is even one of the easiest languages to learn for you.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To know more, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/how-long-does-it-take-to-learn-french\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">how long it takes to learn French<\/a>. You&#8217;ll discover it doesn&#8217;t take that long!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to deal with the myth &#8220;Is French hard to learn&#8221;?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One great way to overcome this myth is what I call the &#8220;child method&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When a child learns to speak, they babble and mimic, without thinking about pronunciation or verb conjugations, or anything else really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>At the beginning, be like a child! Soak up the language by listening to a lot of French content and mimic what you hear as best as you can.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This mimic approach is quite powerful because it helps <strong>you understand unconsciously the way the French language is built.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>After a while, you often start making connections on your own and figure things out for yourself.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And to make your learning easier and faster, check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/best-ways-to-learn-french\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">best ways to learn French<\/a> to get better every day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The bottom line<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Now you have the answer to the question &#8220;Is French hard to learn?&#8221;.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The clich\u00e9 that French is a difficult language comes from its many rules and exceptions, as well as its pronounciation, spelling and grammar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But every language possesses its own challenges and requires a lot of effort to master.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Overcoming the difficult aspects of French is no different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So learn the basics, discover the many exceptions, practice your French skills, and you&#8217;ll soon find that learning French isn&#8217;t as hard as you&#8217;ve been told.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>French can be daunting at first. So let&#8217;s answer the valid question &#8220;Is French hard to learn?&#8221; once and for all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"table_tags":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/is-french-hard-to-learn-featured.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Joanna","author_link":"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/author\/joanna\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3019"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3019"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3029,"href":"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3019\/revisions\/3029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3019"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchscope.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=3019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}