Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to learn French in France…. at least not in the beginning. Like anything else, learning French simply takes an organized approach. Instead of focusing on sounding like an idiot, focus on what’s really important — getting your point across. Here are several ways of achieving this.
SPEAK LIKE A CHILD
Children are a great inspiration for learning how to speak a language. After all, most of them go from zero to fluent within a matter of months even though they may not be able to say words yet, they certainly get people to understand their wants and needs. That doesn’t mean you should cry and wet your pants when you walk into a café on the Champs-Elysées, but you shouldn’t be ashamed to only be able to point to a menu and request ça (this).
Another great thing about children is that they don’t care about their accent. Some speak like robots, others garble their words and still others can’t quite produce the fully formed sounds of an adult. Yet as their mouths become more comfortable with the sounds, the words take shape and they soon become native speakers. Likewise, you must go through these same steps on your way to fluency.
THINK CONVERSATIONALLY
One reason why people can’t learn to speak French is because they think of it as a mathematical formula, when in fact all living languages can flow without too much thought to grammatical construction and complete sentences. So when you’re studying French, keep that in mind. Speaking a language is about conversation. Observe your English conversations. You’ll be surprised how few full sentences you use to get by.
ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE FLAWED
Nobody’s perfect. So don’t expect any different of yourself. You will make mistakes in French just as the French do and just as you do in English. If you make a mistake, roll with it. Some of your best memories may come from your mistakes. Learn to laugh at yourself and just move forward. If speaking a foreign language were so easy, then everybody would do it.
Learning how to speak French is about mindset. If you’ve tried to learn before and failed, then forget everything you were told previously and start here with these suggestions. If you can do these three things, then you will absolutely begin to speak French fluently. Good luck!