Is French hard to learn?
Interesting question! And while you may get subjective views, most people state that French is easy to learn, and some say it’s even easier than English to learn.
That’s correct. Learning French will not be as challenging as you believe, and in reality, it’s a language that’s far easier to learn than you might expect.
Below are a few reasons to support our claims.
According to several statistics, French originates 45% of all English terms.
Consider the following terms
- La boutique
- La cage
- La date
- Le fruit
- Le garage
- L’image
- La nature
- La photo
- Le sandwich
- Le train
- Le yoga
- L’alphabet
- Mirage
- Deja vu
Did you recognize every word? There’s a high probability that you did. But keep in mind that the pronunciation in French is considerably different.
How long does it take to learn French?
Depending on the amount of time you have on your hands, you can pick a course, and three months is the minimum time needed. Even while it is enough to learn the basics of French, it is far from adequate to master the language. It takes about 8 to 12 months to master this language effectively.
Why is French easy to learn?
You aren’t starting from scratch
The English and French alphabet are the same, and they share a lot of vocabulary. English shares more linguistic similarities with French than any other Romance language.
So, if you’re fluent in English, you’ll have a good start on French vocabulary. You’ll be acquainted with the pronunciation, spelling, and definitions of terms like café, debut, petite, and more. As a result, French is one of the simplest languages for native English speakers to learn from the start.
French isn’t stuck in the past.
When considering something that happened in the past in English, it’s like opening Pandora’s box of numerous nuances, connotations, and complexities. However, in French, it is much simpler.
I ate, and I have eaten in spoken French is simply J’ai mange.
I used to do, and I was doing, and I would do in French is just Je fais
Sounds simple, doesn’t it?
Gendered words aren’t as perplexing as they seem
While gendered nouns are common in many European languages, they can be a constant source of aggravation for native English speakers. Gender exists in English nouns, but it is directly related to the biological sex of the term, with inanimate objects staying neutral.
As a result, gender rules might appear perplexing and futile to English speakers, who are left wondering how on earth it came to be decided that the sun (le Soleil) is masculine, but a table (une table) is feminine.
Fortunately, you may use various principles in French to identify the gender of an item.
French is all around us
France has a vibrant and significant culture, and we can see signs of it all around us. We are accustomed to eateries with French names or French location names on our maps.
This has provided us with a familiarity with French that we may not have had with many other languages. It might be completely subconscious, but after you learn about those strange-looking accents in French, words will start to look obscure without them.
Bringing it home,
French is not a complex language to learn; in fact, many characteristics of it make it a lot simpler and more rational than English.
So don’t become discouraged or give up. You’ll soon be able to order your favorite pastries and follow the latest French shows.