How hard is it to learn French, really?

Whether you’re well on your way to learning French or you’ve just booked your first trip to Paris, the question of “is French hard to learn?” has likely crossed your mind at some point.

For many, the immediate answer that jumps to mind is “it’s very hard!” So many elements of learning French seem scary: the new vocabulary, the pronunciation, how fast native speakers seem to talk, and don’t even mention French grammar! Sometimes, learning French can seem insurmountably difficult.

But while at times it can seem daunting, learning French doesn’t need to be all that scary. In fact, French is actually one of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers! In this post, we’ll take a look at the factors that can determine how hard you might find it to learn French, before exploring some of the things native English speakers often find particularly tricky.

So, is French hard to learn? Let’s find out!

How hard is it to learn French? A few factors to consider

Your age

It might seem surprising, but your age can be a key indicator for answering “how hard is it to learn French?” Unfortunately, being older doesn’t equal being wiser when it comes to learning another language: children routinely pick up languages much faster than adults. Their brains are more elastic, they’re less afraid to make mistakes, and they find it easier to master pronunciation as they’re already learning a whole new host of sounds. So when it comes to considering how hard you might find it to learn French, on some level, it’s likely to be easier the younger you are.

Is this bad news for adult learners, then? Not at all! While children may absorb languages faster, the rewards for learning a language in adulthood are nothing to be sniffed at. Learning a second language later in life is effectively one big mental workout, helping your brain form new connections and strengthening its nervous system links. In fact, it’s been found that learning a new language as an adult decreases the likelihood of developing dementia while improving your concentration and memory. So while being older may be an influencing factor in how hard you’ll find it to learn French, it also means you’ll reap greater rewards!

The languages you already speak

Some individuals seem to have a knack for learning languages: they’re able to speak multiple languages with ease, and have no problem with learning a new one at the drop of a hat. It might surprise you, but knowing more than one language already will give you a headstart on learning French, even if they’re completely unrelated languages!

Why? Well, when you learn to speak a second language, you learn a host of transferable skills. You gain an understanding of grammar structures and intricacies such as the difference between masculine and feminine nouns, verb tenses, and even less-identifiable skills such as knowing which learning style suits you best. No matter whether it’s Spanish or Chinese, if you’ve learned a second language, you’ll likely find it easier to learn French thanks to the knowledge you gained along the way.

If you only speak English at the moment, don’t worry: native English speakers have the perfect base from which to begin learning French. Because of the close similarities between English and French, English speakers will find French much easier to learn than, say, native Japanese speakers. As a result, the languages you already speak will have a direct influence on how you answer the question: “is French hard to learn for English speakers?”

Most importantly: your passion

Realistically, there’s not a lot that you can do to change your age or how many languages you already speak. However, one of the biggest influencing factors as to whether you’ll find French easy or difficult to learn is something over which you have complete control: how passionate you are about learning it.

When you’re forced to learn French through a textbook at school, it’s easy to think of the language learning journey as a never-ending trudge of long vocabulary lists and complex grammar rules. While it’s certainly true that learning another language, including French, takes time and dedication, the journey becomes much easier and much more enjoyable when it’s something you’re passionate about. As the saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun!

Whether you’re learning French for a love of the language, to speak to your in-laws, or because you’re planning a life move, having a powerful motivation to learn French makes the journey feel easier. Often, this passion means that you’ll find yourself looking forward to traditionally arduous tasks such as memorizing vocabulary. Otherwise, at least it gives you a concrete reason to power through!

As a result, being passionate about learning French means you’re much more likely to stick with it and reach fluency faster, regardless of how old you are or what languages you already speak.

The hardest parts of learning French

Having taken a look at some of the factors that influence how difficult you’ll find it to learn French and worked out your “starting difficulty,” it’s now time to explore the language itself. Which bits of learning French are commonly considered the most difficult for English speakers?

How hard is it to learn French grammar?

Let’s start off with the most notorious one. French grammar would top the list for many English speakers asked to describe the most difficult aspect of learning French. Even once you’ve wrapped your head around the difference between masculine nouns and feminine nouns, there’s still a multitude of other grammatical elements to contend with: object pronouns, tenses, syntax, verb conjugations (so many verb conjugations!)… The list is endless.

There’s no doubt that French grammar can feel daunting, particularly if you didn’t learn English grammar as a subject at school. What comes naturally in your native language is something you might have to really think about in French. Far from being second nature, French grammar can feel alien, confusing, and filled with exceptions to the rule.

The key to overcoming the challenge of French grammar is the quality of the resources you’re using. Getting your hands on resources that break complex grammatical concepts down into understandable terms is one of the easiest ways to take the sting out of French grammar and fast-track your journey to fluency. If you’re looking for light-hearted grammatical explanations that are easy to follow, check out some of the many grammar lessons on our blog to help you feel confident to overcome even the stickiest grammar situations!

A whole new vocabulary

Is French hard to learn? It can certainly seem that way when you think about learning a whole new word for everything! With the Oxford English dictionary estimating that there are about 600,000 words in the English language alone, it’s easy to feel as though memorizing a translation for every single one of them is an impossible task.

However, it’s not as insurmountable as you think. Of those 600,000 words, only a fraction are used in daily speech. In fact, it’s estimated that you only need to be able to actively utilize between 1,000 and 5,000 words to get by in everyday speech.

Does this still feel like a lot? Luckily for English speakers, almost 45% of English words have a French origin, meaning you probably already know a lot of them! Thanks to England and France borrowing words from each other over the past few thousand years and sharing a Latin root, both languages share a lot of cognates: words that have the same roots in both languages (“café,” for example, is directly lifted from French, while “the fruit” and “le fruit” are obviously similar even if their pronunciation differs). As a result, when it comes to vocabulary, French is actually one of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers.

If you’re struggling to memorize long vocabulary lists, it can help to prioritize learning words that you’re most likely to use in your daily life, by theme, or by groups of synonyms for the same word or expression (for example, learning all the different ways to say of course in French). To really make them stick, it also helps to understand any context or fun facts surrounding them. Whether you want to learn all the different vocabulary for animals in French or the essential expressions for navigating happy hour in France, we have a fun variety of French vocab posts here on the LingoCulture blog!

Getting to grips with pronunciation

While you might be able to recognize many cognates in their written form, it becomes a lot harder to understand them in spoken French. That’s because even though French and English share an alphabet, French words are pronounced very differently to how an English speaker might expect. In fact, sometimes they can seem downright incomprehensible, especially when many letters are left unpronounced, such as the letter H or the endings to many verb conjugations.

To make matters even more challenging, there are a lot of entirely new vocal sounds to contend with. The nasal sounds that are so common in French, for example, can be difficult for English speakers to master.

As a result, it can be difficult to truly sound like a French native. That’s why many English speakers learning French find pronunciation one of the most challenging aspects of learning the language. Luckily, there is a solution: the more time that you can spend speaking French, the more you can listen to the pronunciation of your conversation partner, grow familiar with it, and eventually, mimic it flawlessly. With enough practice, you’ll hit every nasal sound in “un bon vin blanc” and sound as if you grew up in France!

Speaking in tongues

The final piece to the puzzle of “is French hard to learn?” is the challenge of speaking it. Pronunciation aside, speaking French strikes fear into the heart of many French learners: when you’re learning a new language, it can be extremely difficult to formulate a thought in your target language, let alone verbalize it! Throw in translating what’s being said to you, thinking on the spot, and remembering your grammar, and you’ve got a recipe for freezing up and stuttering.

Often, the hardest part about speaking is a fear of embarrassment. It’s one of the reasons children learn second languages faster than adults – they’re not scared of making mistakes!

Regularly holding conversations with supportive teachers is key to overcoming these nerves. In fact, although our teachers at LingoCulture all speak French at native-level fluency, many of them have experienced the exact same learning curve of going from beginner French to fluent. As a result, they’re not only supportive and patient, but know first-hand the tips and tricks to help you get comfortable holding French conversations, no matter your level of experience.

Our ethos in helping students learn French is to give learners a supportive and relaxed environment to practice speaking with native-level French speakers as much as possible. While many find speaking in French the hardest part of learning the language, regular conversation practice with friendly speakers is the best way to overcome the challenge. Soon, you’ll be so confident speaking in French that you’ll forget why people ever thought it was hard in the first place!

Conclusion

The truth is, when we think of the question, “is French hard to learn?,” there are as many different answers as there are French learners out there. What’s true for one person is certainly not true for all, along the same lines as asking how long it takes to learn French. You may be able to gauge an estimate of how difficult you’ll find it using the factors we listed above, but it will remain personal to you and depend on how much commitment and passion you can put into your language-learning journey.

While French remains one of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers, there’s no denying that along the way you’ll likely encounter some elements of it you find particularly tricky, be it grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, or speaking. However, with access to the right resources and learning environment, even these challenges are no match for those with a real interest in learning French.

Learning any language takes time and dedication, and is, at certain points, difficult. However, don’t forget – you’ve already done it once with your native language, so you can certainly do it again!