How long will it take a person with almost-0 level French to learn basic conversation, while living in Paris?

Question

Surrounded by English speakers from 9AM-6PM. Smattering of French here and there, probably. But will hear English for most of the day. How much free time should I devote to it? I want to be fluent by the end of one year. Basic conversation in 3 months.

Answer 1

Get some familiar children's books in French.  Read those and you will learn some French.  Also watch cartoons in French especially those for pre-school aged.  Books also for young children, toddlers or pre-schoolers.

Answer 2

You won't learn anything surrounded by english speakers for 9 hours. You need to get out and speak to actual french speakers. If possible, ask the english speakers to speak to you  in french. You need to immerse yourself, so I would suggest spending a few hours outside of the english speaking experience every day and mingle among the french and just learn. You definitely will not be fluent by the end of a year though, you need to be speaking and learning french all day long and speaking english for 9 hours won't help you at all.

Answer 3

You should devote all your time to it.  You need to be totally immersed or what's the point in being in Paris.  My friend had three years of French and spent the summer in Paris and the French were not at all impressed with her.  It's really hard especially to get the accent just right.  She lived with a host family and heard French all the time.  She learned more common expressions than she would in school but it was still hard at times to understand people.  Try to study as much as possible before you even get there so that you can start to understand some basic words.  Otherwise it's just going to sound like jibberish.  Good luck!

Answer 4

You should definetly be able to do that.