Comment parler français intuitivement sans bloquer ? | Français COURANT. Compréhension A2 - B1

What do you need to do to speak French without getting stuck, naturally, and therefore fluently? I'm going to tell you by explaining things to you that others don't explain to you. You will understand how your brain works when you speak you are intermediate: our VIP club.

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It's been a long time since I shared learning tips to help you achieve your goal. My podcast is made for learners who want to speak, write or express themselves in French in a natural, fluent way. So the advice I give is not intended for people who want to take a theoretical exam, since you have no obligation to take an exam to express yourself fluently.

We all have this problem and I have it too. When we want to speak a foreign language, we can't find the words, we're not sure we're using the appropriate vocabulary at the right time, we have to try to conjugate, find the right grammar and all that takes time so it prevents you from speaking the foreign language fluently, from speaking without hesitation and with confidence. And as a result, it stresses us out, it paralyzes us and it can completely block us.

So we absolutely want to avoid these blockages when we express ourselves. I'll tell you how to do it. I've already talked about it sometimes, but the first thing that makes you blocked is stress.

Even when we speak in our mother tongue, if we are in front of strangers, a crowd, an audience, in a very formal or professional situation, it is sometimes stressful to speak. So, it's normal that we are even more stressed when we speak a foreign language and it also depends on our personality. If we are someone who is not afraid of anything, we will dare a little more to take the plunge despite the mistakes.

If we are a perfectionist, shy, introverted or afraid of the unknown, we will be very stressed by nature. So to reduce stress, you have to do like children, not be afraid of the unknown, nor of the eyes of others, nor of making mistakes. For an adult learning a foreign language, it is very frustrating to express oneself in a very simple language because we cannot yet speak at the same level as in our mother tongue, we cannot express ourselves like we would like.

So you have to agree to speak with a basic level of language when you are not yet at an advanced level. And it will be very helpful to practice in a less stressful situation, such as with a language partner, whether a friend or a professional. But, once you have managed to reduce or eliminate stress, what do you need to do to become fluent?

When you speak in your native language, you speak fluently without realizing it because you speak in automatic mode, in auto-pilot mode as they say. This is also something I've talked about before, but what I'm going to say is really really important. Speaking a language is an implicit process.

It means that you don't know how to explain how you speak your own language. You say a string of words almost without thinking. These words come naturally and intuitively from your mouth.

When you speak your native language, you are not thinking about word order, or how to conjugate verbs, or pronunciation. You just have to think of ideas and your brain finds the right words in the right context. He knows how to pronounce them very well, he knows what order to put them in, he knows how to conjugate verbs, he knows how to choose the right prepositions and he knows all the grammar.

But, if someone asks you how you manage to speak like that in your language, it's impossible to explain, it's as if it were innate. Like if you want to explain to someone how to ride a bike, it can't be explained, it happens again. If you are asked what the correct answer is between two choices in your language, you know what the correct answer is, but you don't know why.

You will say: “I know it’s just because they say it like that! ” (unless you know the grammar of your language well because you love it or it's your job). Likewise, if a child makes a mistake, we correct him by saying: “We say it this way, but not like that.

” In fact, it will surprise you, but children correct themselves. Eh yes ! Children correct their mistakes through immersion, not just through parental correction.

So when you practice and get corrected, you only hear the correct version one more time, which is usually not enough to memorize it long term, depending on the mistake. This is how we speak a language, instinctively and intuitively. To learn your mother tongue, your brain has memorized all the vocabulary, all the pronunciation, but also all the possible standard sentences, all the possible structures, all the possible sequences of words and all the logic of grammar.

It created billions of connections between neurons to make all this possible. To memorize this gigantic amount of information , your brain needed tens of thousands of hours of listening. So whatever you know how to express in your native language is only because you already know it by heart.

This is also how spelling checkers work. When you write something, they will search through their millions of examples to see if the word or sequence of words exists. If it doesn't exist, then it will certainly be an error.

But they don't know the grammar of the language. And it's the same for you, if I ask you if we say “with me” or “with me”, you know that the right answer is “with me” because you have never heard “with me”, but you may not know why. The sequence of words “with + I” does not exist in the examples in your memory.

It's the same thing with connections. Do we say “you have” or “you have” of the verb “have”? It’s easy, it’s “You have” because you’ve never heard a French person say “vous avoir”.

Do we say “not yet” or “not yet”? Ah, now you have a doubt, you are not sure of the right answer. Because both are possible, so your brain has memorized both ways of pronouncing it.

If I take the verb “tidy up” and conjugate it like this: “you put away”, is that correct? Hmm, it's weird, isn't it? It sounds weird because your brain has memorized that the conjugation of “you” ends in “EZ”.

So, instinctively, there is a problem. On the other hand, if I say “you tidy up”, does that sound better? Yes, it sounds much better because your brain has associated “you ……ez” If I say: “we walk”, is that good?

No, because you know that the conjugation of “nous” ends with “ONS”. Do we say “the table” or “the table”. “The table” sounds familiar, it sounds good.

But “the table” doesn’t sound good. So your brain memorizes the two words together “the table”. Regarding the order of words, do we say: “I eat an apple” or “I eat an apple.

” ? Easy, it’s “I eat an apple”. You know the answer because your brain remembers this summary pattern: “person + action + thing”.

The same goes for context. If I walk into a store in the morning and say, “Have a nice evening. ” You know it's not the right word in the right context, in this case, we obviously say “hello”.

Your brain knows in what context to use this or that word thanks to everything it has in memory. Do we say “I wanted to eat” or “I would like to eat”. Both are correct, it depends on the tense you want to use, so it depends on the context.

In this case, the brain may mix the two conjugations if it has not yet associated the correct version with the correct context. But, this also applies to errors. People all make the same language mistakes because they hear them all the time.

So if they speak intuitively, the errors seem to them to be the correct version! There you go, it’s the same thing for the whole language! You don't speak your own language from the grammar you learned in school as a child, not at all.

This grammar is your brain which has integrated it and memorized it by heart. Sure, the explicit study of grammar in school helped you speak and write a little better. We have only been studying grammar in books for a few years, although humans have been speaking languages ​​for thousands of years.

Our ancestors who did not go to school knew how to speak and express themselves. On the other hand, grammar is useful theoretical documentation when you want to understand something. So, it takes a lot of time for your brain to memorize French and for it to become natural and intuitive.

But, it won't happen with a grammar book, nor with a game like Duolingo, nor in a few weeks. This will be done gradually by living with the language: by listening, reading, speaking, writing, interacting with people, doing activities in French. This is why they say that the language comes faster when you live in the country.

It's true because we use it all the time. But with the internet, you can easily recreate a social life in a language, so you can still learn if you don't live there. I know some people are in a hurry to become fluent, but it takes time because it's a huge amount of information that your brain has to acquire, connect, compare, associate with ideas and transform into an intuitive skill.

Also know that you cannot assimilate everything at once, it will be progressive. For example, the sequence of words “with me” is easier to make natural than, for example, choosing between the right preposition or the right pronoun or the subjunctive. You will need a lot of rehearsals over several months or several years for certain more complex things.

In addition, your brain assimilates language in a natural order that you cannot control or modify and which is not the same as in grammar books. So, when you hesitate or you have to think consciously when you express things, it means that it is not yet intuitive and that it will gradually become so, later. This is why it is very difficult to speak when you have just started a new language.

Because we haven't had enough time to memorize and make intuitive what we've listened to or read, so we have to think about all the words we're going to say. If we don't have the choice to speak the language from the start, we will, of course. But, personally, I prefer to wait until I have memorized the language for a while before starting to practice.

Children make complex sentences from the age of four (4) or five (5) because their brain needs to record a large amount of information before being able to express itself. So to speak without blocking, you have to speak mainly intuitively and trust your memory. If it sounds good in the right context, it's certainly correct.

But sometimes it sounds good because it sounds like the native language, but it's not correct in French. So you have to practice and you have to have someone tell you when it's not the right way to say, once, twice, five times or several times. You also need to practice as much as possible to memorize better, to strengthen neural connections.

In summary, to speak without blocking, you must listen and read extensively and practice practicing with as little stress as possible. Do this and the words will come naturally and intuitively. A language is a skill that we learn.

This is why I call you learners. Because to speak fluently, you need to learn this skill. But we only study for an exam.

We say “learn to swim”, “learn to ride a bike”, “learn to dance”, but we don’t study swimming, we don’t study cycling and we don’t study dancing to learn either. to do all that. Grammar is an additional tool to understand all the logic a little faster.

If these tips were useful to you, do not hesitate to tell me in the comments, I will be happy to answer you and read your comments. Thanks to everyone for tuning in to this episode. Subscribe to my podcast and my channel so you don't miss the next ones.