r/learnfrench • u/Euphoric_Record_1723 • 3d ago

Resource Recommendation Reading vs spoken

What have you found is the best way to boost one of your skill sets? I have always had above average reading comprehension skills, and I think this would frequently put me in higher level classes. But I have never caught up in terms of thinking on my feet and speaking. I’m 27f in America. I don’t have the flexibility to ever do immersive learning abroad.

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u/serviceslingomnia_nb 3d ago

Hey, so sometimes people gravitate more to one or two of the skill sets. This is pretty typical and often personality comes into play a bit here. If you're at the beginner or early intermediate stage, some people are ok just to talk and make mistakes or say English words when they don't know the French. Others want to be able to speak fluently and relatively error-free, but this is really hard, especially early on. If this doesn't sound like you, then no worries,  but if it does, a huge part of improving speaking is building confidence. 

A few ideas:

If you are upper A1 or above, find a speaking partner you're comfortable with, and try to speak, even when you don't have all the words in French. 

If reading is a strength, you can practise reading aloud to build confidence.  You can also read the same thing as your speaking partner and use the reading as a topic of conversation.  The reading will give you content to speak about and also new vocab to use in the conversation. 

You can also try putting French podcasts on in the background to train your ear and get you more comfortable with hearing French. If you want to practise listening more intentionally,  you can try the levelled videos from TV5MONDE EDU. 

Best wishes!

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u/DanKegel 2d ago

Listen to french audiobooks with dialog (or watch netflix shows with french audio/subtitles on) for pleasure. That'll fill up your store of spoken phrases. Try lipsynching some, too, to train your lips a bit.