How to learn French fast: what the research says, and a weekly routine

How to learn French fast is a fair question with an honest answer: no study method replaces hours. Published figures describe specific learners and are not a promise for you, and no source on this page gives a number of weeks for you. “Fast” here means two things you control, which are making each study hour count and adding hours you can keep up. This page covers the learning research that points to better use of an hour, shows what an intensive load looks like for one government school, and ends with a weekly routine. For how long the published figures say learning takes, read How long does it take to learn French. For what each level means, see French levels explained. For short recall practice in game form, see French learning games, and for why French is close to English in some ways and not others, Is French hard to learn. For drills you can do on this site, try French conjugation practice and French flashcards.

How do I learn French fast?

You learn French fast by making every study hour work harder and by studying more hours than you do now, not by finding a trick. The research below tells you how to make an hour work harder. None of the three abstracts mentions French or French learners. This is general research on learning, so it supports a method and not a result.

Three sources carry the method:

• Recalling beats rereading. In a 2006 study, students read prose passages. Some then took free-recall tests, with no feedback, and others restudied the material the same number of times [1]. On a final test after 5 minutes, restudying gave better recall [1]. On final tests after 2 days and after 1 week, prior testing produced substantially greater retention, even though repeated studying raised students’ confidence in their memory [1]. The authors conclude that testing is a powerful means of improving learning, not just assessing it [1].
• Spacing helps. A 2006 meta-analysis of distributed practice found 839 assessments in 317 experiments located in 184 articles [2]. It reports that the gap between study sessions that gave the best retention grew as the delay before the final test grew [2]. The title says it covers verbal recall tasks, and the abstract does not mention French [2].
• Two techniques rated high. A 2013 review of 10 learning techniques gave practice testing and distributed practice high utility ratings. It says they benefit learners of different ages and abilities and boost performance across many tasks and in educational contexts [3]. It rated rereading and highlighting low and says to use other techniques in their place, for instance practice testing instead of rereading [3].

How can you learn French quickly?

To learn French quickly, put your hours into the activities the research rates highest, and do them often. That means pulling words and sentences out of your memory, coming back to them after a gap, and spending part of every week on listening and speaking, which a word list does not train.

It also means being clear about what a load of hours looks like. The US State Department’s Foreign Language Training page describes its own students, US government employees with job-related language needs [4]. It says a typical week for them is 23 hours in class and 17 hours of self-study [4]. That adds up to 40 hours a week. The page says the time a student needs can vary with natural ability, prior language-learning experience and time spent in the classroom [4].

That is an intensive weekly load for one group. It is not a target for you and not a promise. A learner with a job and a family will study fewer hours a week, and the fair way to go faster is to use those hours well and add the ones you can keep. For the published timeline and what it does and does not measure, see How long does it take to learn French.

What does a weekly routine to learn French fast look like?

This routine is the Lingwell team’s own design, built on the methods above. The sources do not prescribe it, and they give no number of minutes or sessions, so this page gives none either. Set the size of each block to what you can repeat every week.

1. Daily: short recall. Start by trying to bring back the words and sentences from your last sessions without looking, then check yourself. The 2006 study had students recall without feedback [1]; checking your answers afterward is a sensible addition, but it is not what that study tested.
2. Spaced review. Return to older material after a gap and let the gaps grow as the material settles. The meta-analysis found that the best gap depends on how long you need to remember the material [2].
3. Listening each week. Listen to spoken French at a level where you follow the gist, then replay and write down what you missed.
4. Speaking each week. Say sentences aloud, ideally to another person, and note where you got stuck. Those gaps become tomorrow’s recall list.
5. Drop low-value habits. If most of your time goes to rereading notes or highlighting, shift it to recall, as the 2013 review suggests [3].
6. Measure against a level description. Once every few weeks, compare what you can do with the Council of Europe’s description of the level you are aiming at. For B1 it says a user can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters and can produce simple connected text on familiar topics [5]. For B2 it says a user can understand the main ideas of complex text and interact with native speakers without strain on either side [5]. If you cannot yet do a described task, make it next week’s target.

If you are preparing for a Canadian immigration exam, the same method applies, with the exam’s own sections and timings added; see How to prepare for TEF Canada.

What should you expect from a fast approach?

Expect effort that feels harder, not easier. The 2006 study found that repeated studying raised students’ confidence even though recall tests produced better retention after delays [1]. Recall that feels difficult is not a sign that the method is failing; being comfortable with rereading is not a sign that it works.

Do not expect a date. The CEFR levels describe what a user can do and the page sets no hours for them [5], and the weekly load above describes one school’s own students [4]. Your own pace, measured against the level description, is the only estimate that applies to you.

Common mistakes

• Rereading and highlighting as the main method. The 2013 review rated both low utility and suggests practice testing instead of rereading [3].
• Cramming into one long session. The 2013 review rated distributed practice high utility [3], and the meta-analysis found that the gap giving the best retention grew as the delay before the final test grew [2].
• Trusting how easy study feels. In the 2006 study, repeated studying raised confidence while testing gave better retention after 2 days and 1 week [1].
• Treating the State Department hours as your target. They describe government employees on a full week [4].
• Reading study research as a promise about French. None of the three abstracts mentions French or French learners [1][2][3].
• Skipping speaking and listening. The Council of Europe describes each level by what a user can do, and several of those tasks are spoken [5]. A word list alone does not practise them.
• Trusting a method page, including this one. Research and official pages are updated. Compare the page’s own date with the date at the top of this one.

Sources