My French Language Learning Journey - Part 1

I have always wondered how all those polyglots out there in the world learn languages so fast. I always wanted to learn a new language and to be honest one time in 2018 I actually started learning a new language - Spanish. But it didn't go so well, after some time the interest died out. Sure I learned a few words like Buenos Dias, Mucho gusto, Hasta luego, etc. The problem was I chose the hard way to learn a language. I didn't have a solid plan or pathway and didn't even know why I chose Spanish, I just studied it when I felt too, there wasn't any accountability and my Spanish learning went to the grave and the curiosity and the earning of procuring a new language went to the dungeons, that was until now.

A week ago I stumbled upon a video on youtube by Johnny Harris, (who by the way is my favorite journalist from all of the news media.) the video was titled 'The Fastest Way to Learn a New Language: The Video Game Map Theory' and my curiosity and earning right back up from the ashes. I'm not going to explain the entirety of what he conveyed in the video but in a condensed form. If you want to know the full in detail, go check out his video, it's 20+ minutes long but a good investment of time.

The video was on how he learned Italian in a few months during Lockdowns/Quarantine due to our infamous buddy covid. So Harris asserts that learning a new language like we do in schools or colleges is not the most efficient way of learning a new language. He had minored in French in college and he exclaims that he still has not achieved the so-called fluency in French. The major point he makes is, there's a better way. He explains it in a wonderful way comparing language learning to games, their levels, and beating the game. Here it is, in a condensed format.

Level 1                                                                                               Memorise Common Words

Not all words are created equal. Memorize the most important 1000+ or more words in a language. This is actually a proven technique used by some English Linguists who created a stripped-down version of English consisting of the most important 850 words to spread English through the world stating that anyone could learn to speak English. By the way, the English language has over 150,000+ words. You could use different techniques like spaced repetition and others that work for you to memorize easily.

Level 2                                                                                                            Start Speaking Early

Yes, it gonna be painful, and don't care about the grammar yet. Language is not Math, in math if you don't know all the rules and equations you are always going to get the wrong answer but it's not the case with language learning. Learn to make sentences with the words you learned, and try to express yourself. Sure, there will be a lot of mistakes but you will learn through it

Level 3                                                                                                                             Make it fun

Language learning is hard, to keep up you have to innovate new ways to make it interesting and fun, like reading or listening to your favorite books, or watching your favorite movies or tv shows in the new language you are learning. It doesn't have to be the way we learned in school.

Level 4                                                                                                        The Final Big Monster

Yeah, Eventually you have to learn the rules, grammar, and correct pronunciation. You have to learn it and refine it a lot of times. 

So I was convinced, I decided to learn a new language and I decided the language to be French because I loved France as a country, I loved learning about its culture and history and as an icing on the cake I just had finished reading Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" (if you have read the book you will understand the reference). I customized the process a little bit to fit me personally for example I started using Memrise to memorize the common important words. Thus, I started my French Language Learning Journey. 

As of now, after five days of learning French with a streak, at the time of writing this post, I have memorized and mastered 62 common words and phrases in French. Not a huge achievement or anything but I think it's a fair start.

Well, let's see how far it goes, I will keep you all posted on my milestones with continued parts of this post. Also, I think this keeping posted action may add accountability to my learning process.

So then Salut, Bonjour/Bonsoir whenever you are reading this. Merci et au revoir!