as a lot of you probably know, I’ve been learning French intensively for about a year now. I always had a fascination with languages and wanted to learn a second one, and over the past year I’ve started getting a bunch of questions about my favorite language learning methods.

today i’m sharing my favorite language learning resources and tools, plus the biggest tips and tricks that have worked for me and helped me stick with learning French over the past year!

Accept That You Will Mess Up. A Lot.

if you read my recent post about overcoming perfectionism, you can probably guess that this part was extremely hard for me. in fact, it still is! learning a new language can be a VERY long process, and it’s super easy in our culture of instant gratification to get frustrated fast.

the BEST thing you can do to set yourself up for success when learning a new language is to get very comfortable with the fact that you will mess up. A TON. over the past year, i have embarrassed myself countless times saying some pretty hilarious and ridiculous stuff in French by accident. to name a few, I told one tutor that my cousins were married to the same man right after I essentially said that all my fans were sexually excited about my next tour. so yeah.

even though it’s tempting to cringe and quit the moment it happens every time, something Tim Ferris shared in this post about language learning really helped me - he says, “I actually view part of my role as that of comedian or court jester – to make native speakers chuckle at my Tarzan speak. If you make people smile, it will make you popular, which will make you enthusiastic to continue.” Love this mindset shift!

Play The Long Game, But Celebrate Little Victories

language learning is undoubtedly a long term thing, but there are millions of important milestones along the way. and the great news is, you get to define what they are!

one of my main goals when we lived in Paris last year was for someone to ask me a question on the street in French and to be able to understand and respond without freezing like a deer in headlights. during one of our last months there, I was waiting in line for Sézane (a very dreamy store well worth waiting in line for IMO) when a French girl asked me if the line was always this long. I was SO happy because not only did I understand the question, but I was able to tell her that I’d never been before so I wasn’t sure.

now, that might seem like kind of a meaningless interaction, but to me it was a HUGE deal. every time I had been asked a question by someone random before that I would freeze up and get nervous that I didn’t understand correctly or that I’d mess up the reply. I learned that setting small goals like this and celebrating them every time really helped motivate me to keep going on super tough days.

Create A Study Routine And Stick To It

routines are super hard for me, because my schedule is always in flux and crazy. but this is a really crucial part of learning a new language, because you really have to work at exposing yourself to it every day.

try out different times of the day to go through your study routine - whether you prefer to use apps, books, or podcasts (my favorite resources are at the bottom of this post) - and see what works best. a 2016 study conducted by Duolingo found that people who studied every night before bedtime retained the most of what they learned, but the real key is practicing on a daily basis whenever you know you’re most likely to do it.

my current routine is to review my digital flash cards (more on that in the resources at the end of the post) in the morning while I have my coffee, and practice speaking on Skype once a week. I also try to pepper in podcasts and TV shows a couple times a week.

Find Your Language Where You Already Hang Out

speaking of podcasts and TV shows, they are absolute GOLD when it comes to acquiring a new language. there are so many ways to interact with your new language little by little in the ‘places’ you’re already hanging out - be that netflix, podcast apps, or instagram. on instagram alone there are tons of accounts that will teach you a new word or phrase every day, and they’ll be right there in your feed when you’re scrolling.

chances are you also probably already watch TV shows and listen to podcasts, so find a few in your new language that you can start tuning into. at first, you’ll probably feel super frustrated because you won’t understand much, if anything. even after a year of learning I still have a hard time understanding French in most TV shows!

but research shows that even if you don’t understand exactly what you’re hearing, listening to speech in a new language trains your brain to recognize the sounds and sound combinations that make up the language. forcing myself to listen to French podcasts in traffic (even when I don’t understand them) has helped me understand the language SO much better than I did even a couple months ago.

Start Talking In Your Language Before You Feel “Ready”

I am a naturally introverted person, so I know this can sound like a nightmare. but most of us learn new languages so we can connect with people and ultimately speak to them, so ideally you want to start practicing as early as possible.

the most important thing here is to start talking in your language while it is still terrifying. it kind of sucks. but you’ll never actually get to the point where it’s NOT terrifying if you don’t start doing it while it’s still terrifying. does that make sense?

I practice speaking weekly with a teacher on italki, a platform that allows you to video chat with a native speaker of your chosen language. some of the teachers on there have very reasonable rates, and you can sometimes even find language exchange partners who will practice speaking with you for free if you practice English with them too. it’s been a total gamechanger for me.

Find Support In Fellow Learners

when we moved back to LA after living in Paris last year, I was worried that I’d lose so much of what I learned. signing up for local group French classes was a great way to connect with fellow language learners at my level, and it helps keep me accountable to have a support system. if you’re in LA or NYC, Coucou offers fantastic group classes.

though you might have to do a little googling, many cities will even have local meetups and groups for people learning the same language. as someone who is always more motivated to do something when there are other people involved, it’s really helped me to have to stick to a weekly class.

My Favorite Resources:

here are my favorite tools and resources for language learning that have helped me the most over the past year!

LANGUAGE LEARNING IN GENERAL:

BOOKS:

Fluent Forever by Gabriel Wyner is the book that motivated me to seriously commit to learning a language, and it’s the only one worth listing for me. I certainly haven’t tried everything, but in my opinion, his method is the only one that truly works longterm. It’s a lot of work but it freaking WORKS. highly recommend.

APPS:

Anki is a digital flash card program that also has an app, and it’s what I’ve been using to create my own vocabulary and grammar flash cards. (if you read Fluent Forever this app is pretty much the basis of the whole language learning method). I love Anki because I can customize all my flash cards with words and sentences I actually want to learn, instead of having to learn random phrases like ‘that horse is brown’ that you see in other apps.
Fluent Forever just launched an app of its own, though they’re brand new and don’t have many languages yet. (also, this post isn’t sponsored by Fluent Forever, I just use their method and think it’s great!)
Duolingo is great for getting your feet off the ground, but to really dig deep and get to know a language I personally don’t think it’s enough. Also it makes you learn the most RANDOM sentences that you’d never use.
Yabla is amazing for improving listening comprehension. It basically allows you to watch a bunch of video content in your new language and see subtitles at the same time. You can slow down the videos to varying speeds and test your listening skills with quizzes, which is really helpful.
italki is the platform I mentioned that I use to practice speaking over Skype. there are so many teachers on there in so many languages!

SPECIFICALLY FRENCH:

PODCASTS:

Coffee Break French was great when I was starting out. They’re two English speakers who gradually introduce useful new vocabulary and grammar in a way that’s not overwhelming, and they have a fun rapport and cute stories.
Slate Transfert is my current favorite French podcast to listen to in traffic. It’s entirely in French, so I usually only understand about 70-75%, but I’ve really noticed how much listening to it has helped my comprehension. People tell interesting or crazy stories about their lives and as I’ve started to understand better I really enjoy the stories.

TV:

Dix Pour Cent (or Call My Agent, the English title) is a cute comedy about agents for TV and film actors set in Paris, and it’s currently on Netflix in the US. You can watch it with or without the English subtitles.
Le Bureau Des Légendes is kind of like a French version of Homeland, meaning it’s definitely a bit more intense, but SO good. There is an English subtitled version called The Bureau, but I try to watch it without the subtitles since I’ll just end up reading them and not really listening to the French.

INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS:

Talk In French posts daily words and phrases with audio and translations so you can learn little snippets as you scroll

Dans La Bouche D’Une Fille is a French account with short anecdotes that are mostly about women’s rights, sexism, and feminism. It’s a cool way to learn new vocabulary around issues like this.
Le Français Avec Les Machin is another simple account that posts new words daily with example sentences

IN PARIS:

if you happen to be in Paris and are looking for a tutor to work with one-on-one and practice speaking with, I worked with a fantastic teacher named Violaine (you can reach out to her directly here) who was absolutely superb. I would highly highly recommend her to anyone!

keep in mind there are probably TONS of podcasts, TV shows and movies, and IG accounts that are great- these are just some of the ones I’m into at the moment!

hopefully this post was helpful to anyone curious about learning a new language!

I’d love to hear your language learning stories - what are your goals and favorite ways to learn??

How To Learn A New Language (And Stick With It)