Becoming fluent in a language later in life

[ClydeBank]

I'm looking for inspiration.

I have been learning French on and off since school (I'm in my 50s now). I've never really nailed it. I can get by when I'm in France but I would love to get totally fluent.

Can you inspire me? Have you been at a bit of a 'meh' level for years and then gone for it and become fluent in a language? Please boast as much as you like.

How long did it take you? What shifted? Did you try a different way of learning?

Merci in advance 😁

How are you learning? Do you go to classes, or internet, or self-study with 'method' or books?

For me, there is only one way of jumping over that plateau- at any age, but even more over 50- is full immersion for as long as you can. And go for communication rather than perfection. The way languages are taught is far too complicated and nit picky. Go for it- make mistakes- have a gsoh about it and voilà!

I've had a bit of a pick and mix approach. It probably hasn't helped that I've got a french friend who only ever wants to speak in english and she has made some disparaging comments about my french (which is a bit cheeky because her english is not top notch). I think that has affected my confidence.

I think you're right - immersion is where it's at. I think I'll make a list of as many different ways I can expose myself to french in the course of a week and just go for it. Good tip on not aiming for perfection - I think that's one of the problems with how I have been approaching it.

I teach a few languages, including French. It's very difficult to get from competent to fluent without being immersed in the language by spending a significant length of time in the country or at least with native speakers.

I learned Spanish as an adult (which was no doubt easier for me as I'm a lifelong linguist and already spoke French fluently) and the thing that worked best was just doing loads and loads of listening. Podcasts and audiobooks were best. Pick ones that challenge your current level but aren't totally beyond you. You can try listening to audiobooks that are French translations of English books you already know well (I started with Harry Potter ). If you have Audible you can slow the audio down as much as you like. The great thing about listening is that it improves your vocab, grammar, pronunciation, sentence structure, comprehension and fluency. Everything except your spelling, basically!

I've always found that I learn best through immersion or intensive courses, plus practice in between. In your own time, try to make a habit of practicing all 4 skills i.e. reading & listening (receptive), speaking & writing (productive). Even just writing a shopping list or a couple of sentences about your day can help get you in the right frame of mind for producing language. Try to build it into your routine.

There are so many options for intensive courses or conversation partners now that there are lots of online providers.

That's a great tip about audible and listening to a book I already know in english - I'm off to download something now. And the immersion thing makes sense as to why I've felt v stuck. Now I'm going to have to suggest to my family that we all move to Provence for a year 😂

Cross post!

There are loads of language learning podcasts on Spotify too if you're interested.

And check if your local library has a subscription to an online newspaper/magazine app called PressReader - publications in loads of languages are available through it.

Lol, or 'mdr' ;) be very careful where you go for full immersion. Avoid touristy areas and those areas with so many expats, like parts of Dordogne(shire) where English has become the lingua franca!

Can you select French language versions of films to watch- am sure there must be lots out there - and make it a regular feature of your screen time

For me, I’ve learned a great deal of German by doing the following: 1) watching German TV shows with English subtitles and then with German subtitles; 2) listening to a learn German podcast; 3) spending time in Germany in a small town where people don’t speak English; 4) doing online learning which includes listening, reading and writing.
It takes so much time but it’s definitely possible to get close to fluent!

Thanks for all those suggestions- I’m just sitting down to watch Astrid: Murder in Paris. Feeling encouraged by the various ideas. I think I’ll look for cheap flights for a short break in France in may and do tonnes of prep in the run up to this. à bientôt 😀 🇫🇷

Salut OP, like you I was proficient after A level etc for years but wanted to get better. What made the difference was joining a French conversation group, a taught class through the local Uni’s lifelong learning for adults unit. It was all in French and taught by native speakers so it was 2 hours every week of immersion and, importantly, I had to make the effort to speak, even to give presentations in French. It helped that everyone was very nice and we were all in the same boat so you get over your nerves quickly and just get on with it. In fact a young chap studying at post grad level joined the group for more speaking practice because he said everyone his age in his classes was too worried about making mistakes to speak!
Now I’m still not as fluent as I’d like to be but I have noticed when we go to France that I’m much more confident and the marker for me was that I can have a conversation about anything, not just the menu. It took me beyond holiday French to proper conversations.
Besides that I second watching and listening a lot. Try Dix Pour Cent (call my agent) and Au Service de la France on Netflix; Duolingo has a podcast; and RFI has daily 10m French news bulletins.

That’s great to hear how the conversation class helped you. Thank you 😀

I really think you have to live there for a bit, unfortunately!

I speak German reasonably well (B1/2 boundary, definitely not fluent!) and I really notice an improvement when I am in the country for more than a week or so. I start thinking in German, and can speak much more fluently. I lose it again when I come home.

I do Duolingo which at least encourages me to have daily exposure, and watch German kids tv with my son a couple of times a week. I am very slowly dragging myself through a German novel (a Shardlake mystery - I had not realised quite how many superfluous fucking adjectives he uses). I watch some German tv on occasion. I’m not having lessons currently, but will restart those when DS is old enough to amuse himself for an hour.

I have wondered about taking an extended break in France. My husband can work from home so not inconceivable but there r rules in his workplace on cybersecurity and logging in from abroad may be problematic.I’m freelancing so cd take a break.

I’m just imagining a conversation i cd be having in a year’s time where someone asks me how I became fluent in French and I reply that I moved to a remote French town with no English speakers for 6 months after posting on mumsnet 😆😊

I’ve got to B2 Spanish as an adult and concur with everyone that the only way is immersion. I have Spanish friends who don’t speak English. I will work to get to a higher level when time through study and immersion. It’s magic speaking another language, isn’t it.

Do it!!!

I’m going to look into it. It’s not impossible. It wd mean entrusting the house to our teenagers but we’ve got cctv so wd at least know what’s going on in the garden 😬😃 courage! As they say in France

All these great tips- thank you!! ❤️

Get a French boyfriend 😜

Listen to a French radio station. The radio garden site is brilliant for finding what you vaguely like. Having the equivalent of a BBC local station burbling along in the background gives you a bit more passive learning and your ears get attuned to the rhythm of speech as well as picking up vocab/phrases

Now that’s a suggestion I hadn’t considered 😆

The arte TV app has lots of programmes in French and you can slow down the audio. I'm looking to do the same in French as you are, OP.

Thanks - I hadn’t heard of that so will check it out. Good luck with your efforts too 😀

I recently did an immersion and I’m almost 40. I went to Bordeaux for a month in November and studied at alliance francaise. I had a degree in French but had graduated almost 20 years prior. I cannot recommend the immersion enough. It was classes from 9-1 daily, mixed nationalities and everyone only spoke French to each other in and out of class.
for podcasts - I recommend listening to French news podcasts. There are tons of Europe1 that are around 3-5 minutes, so manageable length. They’re not language learning podcasts but they will really help with you’re learning.
rhis immersion helped bring me back to c2 level French