Is French hard to learn? What it takes for English speakers

Is French hard to learn? For an English speaker, the one official grouping we found puts French with the languages it calls close to English, but it does not say French is easy, and it does not speak for every learner. This page shows what that grouping is and is not, then lists, as plain observations, what tends to help and what tends to slow English speakers down. For the timing detail, read How long does it take to learn French. For what each level means, read French levels explained. For how to use your study hours well, see How to learn French fast. For the past tenses that often trip learners up, see Imparfait vs passé composé.

Is French hard to learn for English speakers?

The US Department of State is the one official body we found that sorts French by difficulty for English speakers. Its Foreign Language Training page lists French in Category I, which it describes as “languages close to English” [1]. The page has four categories in all, and Category I is the first of them [1]. French sits there with languages such as Spanish, Italian and Portuguese [1]. German is in Category II, and the categories after that carry the labels “hard languages” and “super-hard languages” [1].

So, on this one source, French is not placed among the languages the school treats as hard for English speakers. It is also not described as easy. The page does not use that word for any language [1].

What does “close to English” mean, and what does it not mean?

It is a grouping made by a language school for its own students, and it is based on that school’s experience. The section that holds the categories is headed “NFATC’s Experience with Language Learning”, and the school trains US government employees who have job-related language needs [1]. That is a specific group, with a full-time load and a specific goal.

Three limits follow from what the page itself says.

• It measures one target. The school’s timelines refer to reaching an integrated score of 3 (speaking plus listening) on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale [1]. The page does not map it to the CEFR or the Canadian Language Benchmarks [1].
• It assumes a full-time load. The page describes a typical week as 23 hours in class and 17 hours of self-study [1]. A learner who studies in the evening around a job is in a different position.
• It varies by person. The page says the actual time can vary with the learner’s natural ability, prior language-learning experience and time spent in the classroom [1].

For the school’s timing figures and what they describe, see How long does it take to learn French.

Is French easy to learn?

French is not easy in every part, though the school groups it with languages it calls close to English [1]. The school puts other languages in later categories, which it labels “hard” and “super-hard” for English speakers [1]. The second half is a general observation, and so is everything else in this section. These points come from how the two languages are built and from what learners commonly say, not from a named study, and this page puts no numbers on them.

• Shared vocabulary. English and French share many words with a common origin, so a lot of written French looks familiar to an English reader on the first day. This can speed up reading.
• No new alphabet. French uses the Latin letters English speakers already know, with a few accents to learn. Nothing needs to be learned from scratch to start reading.
• Familiar sentence order in simple sentences. A plain French statement often follows a subject, verb, object order like English.

None of these points mean a word that looks the same has the same meaning. Some look-alike words differ in meaning, which can mislead a learner who trusts them.

Is learning French difficult?

Learning French is difficult in places, and learners often report the same few areas (the question “is French difficult to learn” and the question “is French a hard language to learn” have the same answer: it depends on which part). The list below is a set of general observations, not findings.

None of these is unique to French, and none stops a motivated learner. They explain why a language that looks familiar on paper can still feel slow when you try to speak and listen. Reading often feels ahead of listening, and listening ahead of speaking, for many learners.

How hard is it to learn French? It depends on the level and the skills

How hard it is to learn French depends first on what you want to do with it. The Council of Europe’s CEFR global scale describes six levels, A1 to C2, by what a user can do [2]. At the first level a user handles familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases, and at the independent level B2 a user can interact with native speakers without strain on either side [2]. Those are very different targets, and “hard” means something different for each.

Two choices change the answer most.

• The target level. Reading a short message and following a meeting are different tasks. Decide the level first using French levels explained. If you are aiming for the upper independent level, B2 French shows what it looks like.
• The skills you need. Speaking, listening, reading and writing do not move at the same pace. A goal that needs all four asks more than one that needs reading alone. Most learners find one skill ahead of another.

This is why one learner says French is easy and another says it is hard. They are often talking about different levels and different skills.

Common mistakes

• Reading “close to English” as “easy”. It is a grouping by a school for its own students [1]. It does not say French is easy.
• Treating look-alike words as safe. Some words look like English words and mean something different. Check before you rely on one.
• Judging difficulty from reading alone. Written French can look familiar while spoken French is hard to follow.
• Comparing yourself with the school’s students. They study on a full-time weekly load for a job-related goal [1].
• Choosing a target without naming the skills. “Learn French” can mean reading a menu or arguing a point in writing. See French levels explained.
• Relying on a difficulty ranking from a blog, including this one. The official pages change. Check each page’s own date against the date at the top of this one.

See also: how adults learn a language.

Sources