How to improve my french(calling all bilinguals)?

Question

i take french at school, buts its really strictly copying down notes on grammar and form, and then doing lots of work sheets. i know how to speak english and polish. with both languages, i am able to kindof "transform" by brain and accent into realy KNOWING what i am saying, and it feels very natural. with french, even a simple sentence like "le chat est brun"(the cat is brown) it just doesnt feel like i realy carry on a conversation or trully KNOW what im saying.

how can i make my french more natural and get a frech accent when im speacking it so i dont sound so....amateur?

Answer 1

Read.  A lot.  And watch French movies.  When I went to school, I would read about 3-4 novels every week.  That caused grammar and spelling to come very naturally to me.  It wasn't so much that I knew the "rules", but any error just looked glaringly wrong because of how much reading I had done.

Lis.  Beaucoup.  Et regarde des films en français.  Lorsque j'allais á l'école, je lisais environ 3-4 romans par semaine.  Le résultat était que la grammaire et l'orthographe me venaient tout naturellement.  Ce n'était pas tellement que je connaissait les règles, mais plutôt que les erreurs me sautaient aux yeux dû à la quantité de lecture que je faisais.

Answer 2

One of the languages I speak is French and a good thing to do is read magazines, books, any literature in French...and read it outloud.

Practise the accents and fluency.

Watch french TV programs or movies, listen to radio programs, etc. so that your ear will get used to the language. When you immerse yourself like this, it will help your brain to easily recognize the language and grammar...then it will be embedded in your brain. You'll be able to pick it up quicker.

Also, if you have an opportunity to immerse yourself in the culture by going to a french-speaking country or province for a couple of months, you'll be forced to hear it all the time and find it necessary to speak the language.

But first, just try to read magazines, etc (outloud) in French, do crossword puzzles, etc....it'll help you.

And speak with your classmates only in French. Make a pact with each other that you try to speak French ONLY. It works! My friends used to do that a lot.

Ask your teacher to request that only french be spoken in class.

My language teachers used to do that and we were never allowed to speak english...it worked so well!

Answer 3

Speaking is the most important by far. Memorizing vocabulary lists, conjugation, and grammar lessons are all important, but the key is to find French-speakers- preferably people who speak it as their first language- to practice with. Granted, for many people this is easier said than done. I don't know where you live, but you might consider checking Meetup.com. That's what I did in order to brush up. You could also check, and even post on Craigslist, but I should warn you- though some cool people use that site, lots of jerks do as well, so proceed with caution. Aside from that, things like listening to the radio in French (plenty of options online no matter where you are), reading French newspaper and magazine articles (the paper version or online) can be helpful as well. I hope that helps. Best of luck to you!

Answer 4

Well I'm french and I have a strong cockney accent cause when I was 13/14 I used to listen to radio 1.I reckon listening to french radio stations or watching french movies(Chabrol, Godard, Rohmer, truffault) might help you get the accent you'd like to have.

cheers