How I Got Fluent in French FAST — My Daily Routine

I struggled to speak French for a year until I started using these six key strategies. [music] Within a year, I

strategies. [music] Within a year, I became fluent before ever going to France. In this video, I'll share the

France. In this video, I'll share the exact methods I used every day to improve reading, listening, grammar, and [music] speaking all right from home.

While this video focuses on French, these techniques work for learning any language. Let's get started. First up,

language. Let's get started. First up,

we're going to work on pronunciation by shadowing native speakers. Shadowing is

a technique when you repeat what a native speaker says in real time, copying their sounds, rhythm, and intonation as closely as possible. It's

one of the best ways to improve accent and intonation, internalize natural speech patterns, and train your mouth to produce new sounds. This is the main technique that helped me reduce my American accent in French. I still have

an accent, but it's much more subtle now. You can use YouTube videos,

now. You can use YouTube videos, podcasts, or TV shows. Basically, any

content with a native speaker whose accent you want to imitate. Personally,

I regularly watch Ugo Deep because he posts news recaps almost every day. His

videos are usually around 10 minutes, which is perfect for shadowing, but really anything over 5 minutes works well. I recommend picking content at

well. I recommend picking content at full natural speed rather than slow down learner content. My rule of thumb is to

learner content. My rule of thumb is to pick the most advanced content you can handle without getting discouraged. The

more you challenge yourself, the faster you'll improve, as long as it still feels doable enough to keep going. At

this stage, don't worry about understanding everything. That will come

understanding everything. That will come later. The goal is simply to get used to

later. The goal is simply to get used to how the language sounds. Copy the rhythm and flow of the sentences. Keep up the best you can and don't stress if you miss words. It's going to feel really

miss words. It's going to feel really weird at first when you're making random noises at your computer screen, but trust the process. You won't be able to keep up with every word right away, but over time you'll notice yourself

matching more and more. A tip here is to try turning off subtitles. Often times

when you read along, you will subconsciously pronounce words based on the letters in your native language.

Without subtitles, you focus purely on the sounds. Even letters that look the

the sounds. Even letters that look the same are often pronounced differently.

For example, the French P is softer than the English P, as in bi versus Paris.

Also, French spelling has a lot of silent letters, which can throw off your pronunciation. I like starting with this

pronunciation. I like starting with this exercise because it primes my mouth to speak French in the rest of my routine.

If your mouth feels a little tired afterward, that's a good sign. It means

you're building muscle memory for the new mouth positioning your target language requires. The next exercise is

language requires. The next exercise is recording yourself reading aloud. One of

the best ways to improve both reading and pronunciation. This is a reason why

and pronunciation. This is a reason why I can now read French quickly and fluently. Start by picking any reading

fluently. Start by picking any reading material that interests you. A book,

short stories, or articles. Personally,

I use news articles from Lum. I like

them because there's always fresh material every day. The language is standard, and you pick up a lot of useful vocabulary based on the topic.

The news can feel advanced at first, but again, my general philosophy is to go as advanced as you can handle, as long as it doesn't discourage you. Once you have your article, break it down into small sections, usually a paragraph at a time

with three to five sentences. Then read

it out loud sentence by sentence. If you

don't know how to pronounce something, look it up. For me, I usually use Google Translate voice. I just type it into

Translate voice. I just type it into Google Translate and then hit the speaker icon. It's not perfect, but it's

speaker icon. It's not perfect, but it's good enough to copy. The accuracy really depends on the language, but for French, I found it to be pretty reliable. You

also want to look up words and grammar patterns that you don't know. I

recommend word reference because it gives contextbased translations. And for

grammar, I normally just use Google.

You're going to keep rereading the same sentence or paragraph until you can speak it smoothly without stuttering.

Once you're comfortable, record yourself reading the whole paragraph. I normally

just use the voice memos app on my phone. Then listen back to the

phone. Then listen back to the recording. This will feel uncomfortable

recording. This will feel uncomfortable at first, especially if you hate hearing your own voice and even more so in a language that you're not fluent in yet, but the discomfort is part of learning.

In fact, if you listen back and think, "Wow, this is really bad." That's

actually great because it shows you exactly what you need to fix. Pay

attention to where you don't sound natural. Maybe it's a specific word,

natural. Maybe it's a specific word, your intonation, or your overall flow.

Over time, you'll also start to notice pronunciation patterns. For example, all

pronunciation patterns. For example, all these on the screen are all pronounced O in French. Once you've adjusted,

in French. Once you've adjusted, re-record until you're satisfied for that session. Then repeat with the next

that session. Then repeat with the next paragraph until you finish the article.

By recording and listening back, you'll not only improve your pronunciation and flow, but you'll also train yourself to read French more confidently and naturally over time. This brings us to grammar, and my approach is simple. Do

one lesson a day. Should you study grammar or not? That's the age-old debate. As someone who loves grammar, I

debate. As someone who loves grammar, I may be biased, but my opinion is that you should at least a little, unless it completely discourages you from learning the language. If your goal is simply to

the language. If your goal is simply to be conversational, then grammar may not be as important. But if you want to speak fluently and precisely, especially around the C1 level, having a good grammar foundation is essential. Some

people argue that you'll pick up grammar naturally through listening and practice, and that's true to an extent, but with a rule heavy language like French, you'll struggle to sound natural without years of immersion. Studying

grammar alongside your practice speeds up the process and helps you notice patterns much earlier. Here's how I approach it. First, get yourself a

approach it. First, get yourself a comprehensive grammar book that contains all the grammar foundations you need.

Personally, I use all the explanations are in French, but that worked for me. Choose a book that matches your level, explains clearly, and most importantly, includes practice exercises with an answer key. Without

answers, you won't know if you're getting things right. Make sure to read explanations carefully. Take notes if

explanations carefully. Take notes if needed, and look up alternate explanations online if something doesn't make sense. Also, pay attention to

make sense. Also, pay attention to sentence examples. This shows how the

sentence examples. This shows how the rule is actually used in real life.

Don't stress if you don't get it immediately. Sometimes it takes repeated

immediately. Sometimes it takes repeated exposure before a grammar rule clicks.

The key is simply knowing the rule exists so you'll recognize it when you see or hear it later. And finally,

practice with translation exercises.

These were my favorite because they force you to produce full sentences from scratch, not just fill in the blanks.

Often the sentences mix multiple grammar rules, which gives you double the practice. Then check your work against

practice. Then check your work against the answer key to see what sounds most natural. Even if grammar isn't your

natural. Even if grammar isn't your favorite, I'd still recommend incorporating it. Just at a pace that

incorporating it. Just at a pace that feels manageable. You can lean more

feels manageable. You can lean more heavily on other methods you enjoy, but having at least some grammar in your routine will make a big difference in the long run. The next step is listening, specifically by watching native content. If you're just starting

native content. If you're just starting out, it's fine to use beginner friendly listening materials. But personally, I

listening materials. But personally, I had go straight into content made by natives for natives. For me, YouTube was the best resource. It's free, always has fresh content, and unlike French TV shows or movies, which were limited,

there were countless French YouTubers uploading every day. Subscribe if you want me to make a more in-depth video on how to use YouTube for language learning. Whenever possible, choose

learning. Whenever possible, choose videos with accurate subtitles in the target language. Netflix is usually

target language. Netflix is usually reliable for this, while YouTube can be hit or miss unless it's content specifically made for language learners.

Autogenerated subtitles are okay, but fully accurate subs are ideal. That

said, some YouTubers consistently provide accurate subtitles, so their content is a great place to start.

Subtitles in your native language, in my case, English, can help, but are not necessary because the goal of this activity is to decode the language yourself. What I did was pretty intense.

yourself. What I did was pretty intense.

I literally looked up every word I didn't know in word reference until I fully understood what was being said.

This is where knowing some grammar really helps. Understanding

really helps. Understanding conjugations, for example, makes it easier to recognize verb stems across tenses and look them up faster. While

watching, take note of grammar patterns you recognize and observe how they appear naturally in speech. You'll also

start to notice small grammatical particles that don't carry meaning on their own, but are essential to the sentence structure. The more you listen,

sentence structure. The more you listen, the less you'll need to look things up until one day you realize you can understand almost everything, which is exactly what happened to me. It's

definitely a time-consuming process. In

the beginning, it would take me over an hour to finish a 10-minute video. But I

trained your ear to break down the language piece by piece. Instead of

hearing a blur of sounds when someone speaks quickly, you'll start to pick out individual words. That said, you don't

individual words. That said, you don't need to go as extreme as I did. You

might prefer to only look up a handful of frequently repeated words so you can enjoy the video without too many interruptions. Both approaches work. The

interruptions. Both approaches work. The

important thing is consistency. After

finishing a video, I'd quickly review my word reference history to reinforce new vocabulary. You don't need to memorize

vocabulary. You don't need to memorize every single word right away. Over time,

as you repeatedly hear the same words, they'll naturally become part of your vocabulary. Memorization can speed

vocabulary. Memorization can speed things up, but if you're in it for the long run, exposure will do the job. Now

that you've practiced pronunciation and listening, it's time to start producing your own sentences. Of course, the best practice is speaking with native speakers, but if you don't have that option, talking to yourself is the next best thing. At first, it might feel

best thing. At first, it might feel awkward or even a little silly, but remember, if you're the only one in the room, the awkwardness is just in your head. Once you push past that, you'll

head. Once you push past that, you'll realize how effective this exercise is.

The idea is simple. Narrate your

thoughts or your day out loud in your target language. You can also use

target language. You can also use prompts you find online or recap a video or article you just watched or read. I

personally like talking about my day because it was something new yet consistent to practice every time. For

example, if I was doing the exercise today, I would say something like something like that. I would do this for around 10 to 20 minutes every day or until I ran out of things to say. The

big advantage of speaking by yourself is having enough time to think about what you want to say. Unlike in a real conversation where you have to keep up with the other person, here you can pause, think, and even look up words or

grammar without pressure. This helps you experiment with vocabulary, check your accuracy, and build confidence in forming sentences. Of course, nothing

forming sentences. Of course, nothing replaces a real conversation with a native, but talking to yourself is a powerful way to bridge the gap and prepare for those moments. Finally, one

of the most effective ways to practice speaking is by talking directly with native speakers. Since they're masters

native speakers. Since they're masters of their own language, they can immediately catch mistakes you wouldn't have noticed and help you use the language in real time. If you don't have access to native speakers in person, you still have plenty of options. You can

either talk to yourself like we just discussed or connect with natives online. Personally, I use italki the

online. Personally, I use italki the most. It's a platform where you can look

most. It's a platform where you can look for language teachers, filter by price and qualifications, and book lessons online. Some teachers focus on grammar,

online. Some teachers focus on grammar, while others are there for casual conversation. Since I could study

conversation. Since I could study grammar on my own, I usually chose more affordable teachers just for conversation practice, around $10 for an hour once a week. You can also try out different teachers until you find the

one that best fits your learning style.

The benefit of paying for a tutor is consistency and focus. You get a whole hour with someone who is used to working with learners at all different levels and whose only goal is to help you improve. Talking with friends can be

improve. Talking with friends can be great, too, but it's not always practical. They might not be the best

practical. They might not be the best teachers and you don't want to feel like you're taking up too much of their time.

If you don't want to pay for a teacher, you can also practice for free through language exchanges. This is where you

language exchanges. This is where you spend part of your language speaking in your target language and part of it helping the other person in your native language. It's free and a fun way to

language. It's free and a fun way to meet new people. Popular platforms

include Tandem, Hello Talk, or even Meetup, Facebook, and Reddit for in-person exchanges. The only downside

in-person exchanges. The only downside is consistency. you'll only get about

is consistency. you'll only get about half the time practicing your target language and the other person isn't obligated to keep it up. Still, whether

paid or free, speaking with natives is an invaluable must. It not only strengthens your language skills, but it also get you cultural insight and confidence that no other method can replace. My last tip is to stay

replace. My last tip is to stay consistent. Repeat these steps every day

consistent. Repeat these steps every day and you'll see real progress. This

routine used to take me 3 hours or more every day and I did it while I was a full-time student. It didn't matter how

full-time student. It didn't matter how busy I was. I would find the time to practice French because I just loved doing it. These days, I don't follow

doing it. These days, I don't follow this routine exactly. I just read or listen to something in French every few days to maintain my level. But back

then, it was this daily consistency that allowed me to become fluent so quickly.

But that doesn't mean you need to follow my exact routine if it doesn't work for you. Start small and build up. The most

you. Start small and build up. The most

important thing is finding activities you genuinely enjoy because those are the ones you'll stick with long term.

You could have the most perfect study plan in the world, but if you can't keep it up, it won't matter. On the other hand, even if your routine is less efficient, the consistency of showing up every day will take you further.

Language learning takes time, and it takes at least a couple of weeks for new habits to stick. Once practicing becomes part of your routine, it stops feeling like a chore and becomes something you just do. The truth is, there's no

just do. The truth is, there's no shortcut. You need to put in the hours.

shortcut. You need to put in the hours.

The only way to learn faster is to practice more each day. Even if you just commit to one exercise from this routine every day, you'll still make noticeable progress over time. Thanks so much for watching. This routine is just what

watching. This routine is just what worked for me. And while it might not be for everyone, I hope it gave you some inspiration for building your own language learning journey. If you want to hear the whole story of how I learned French, check out my last video entirely

in French. Let me know in the comments

in French. Let me know in the comments what are your favorite language learning techniques. Don't forget to like,

techniques. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell for more Gracefully Smart content.