Once you have made a decision to learn French, your next step is to decide how to go about it. How much time you have available and how much you can afford will have an impact in your decision. However, before you decide, you should look at all the different ways to learn French.
French Language Schools
The most obvious way is to enrol in a French language school. You can find many schools that will teach French but the problem is that they may be too far away from where you live. Travelling long distances can add to the cost of lessons and is not for those on a limited budget.
If you are no longer at school, you might be able to find adult classes to learn French at a local college or even an evening class at a local school. The teachers might even be the same ones that teach French to the local schoolchildren, or maybe retired teachers who like to continue teaching. They can even be someone who has no formal qualifications but who has great fluency in both French and English and a knack for teaching a foreign language.
Some colleges have dropped their foreign language courses as the emphasis is moving away from language learning – which is a great shame. Even if your school has done this, you might still find a French language course locally. If you’re going to college, there’s every chance there is a course on how to learn French – and these classes often include conversational classes.
Language schools can be found in many towns and cities, meeting the demand for low-cost post-secondary education. These private schools can offer classes for those who want to learn French for personal improvement or for career reasons. They are much cheaper than a university, but they can still provide quality language teaching.
In some of the larger cities, you will usually find schools aimed at teaching business people who are interested in learning to speak French. Most of these schools focus on conversation before they get into grammar and written French. The schools primary clients are the businessman or businesswoman who need to learn French in order to converse with their french-speaking contacts.
Private French Tuition
Finding someone locally to tutor you is a good way to learn French, although it may be expensive. On the plus side, a private tutor will give you more personal attention than you will get in a class, and one-to-one contact with a tutor means you can tailor the teaching to meet your specific needs.
Learn Abroad
Of course, the perfect place to learn French is in a French speaking country, i.e., by so-called immersion learning. This is an extremely good way to learn French quickly as you are surrounding yourself with native French speakers and find yourself in situations where you are forced to talk with people who only speak French.
If you do move to a French speaking country, you will learn French even faster if you enrol in a school that teaches French to foreigners. These classes are taught by residents of the country so you will learn from a native speaker.
Learn French At Home
If you can’t afford private lessons, or the money or time to go abroad to learn French you could always learn French at home through distance learning. You can take correspondence courses, or you can find a number of French courses on the internet. It’s not the best choice for everyone, but these courses can be highly effective and many have learnt French with their help.
As you can see, there are many ways you can learn French and it all comes down to how much time, effort, and money you are willing to expend. If you really want to learn French it’s up to you to now.
