Have you ever tried to learn French but then fell off the wagon? Maybe more than once?

If you have, you are certainly not alone. Difficulty sticking to your study is one of the most common issues that French learners face.

In this article, I will share with you my six best tips to overcome this challenge. These are things that I use everyday with my clients to help them stick to their study and become fluent this year.

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#0 Motivation is key

Before we get into the actual tips, here is a reminder that motivation is the biggest factor. You need to know why you’re learning French and have a strong motivation. Here’s an article that explains how important this is and why.

Now let’s dive into today’s topic: how to stay consistent in your French study.

#1 Have a realistic plan

When you start learning French, you might be super motivated and want to study as much as possible. You might think things like “I’m going to study two hours every day and I’ll get fluent in no time”.

As a French learning coach having worked with thousands of students, I need to tell you this:

Planning to study for 2 hours a day, if you’ve never done it before, is setting yourself up for failure.

At the beginning you’ll find the 2 hours daily, because you’re super motivated. But, after a while you’ll get back to watching Netflix because it’s less boring than French (it’s hard to compete with Netflix right?). Or your friends will want to go for a beer, and you skip the study for that day. Or something will show up at work, you’ll have to skip your study time again.

Here’s some good news though.

In order to make good progress, you only need:

• 10 minutes a day to review your vocabulary + a one hour session every week, for example on the week-end.

It’s better if you add a daily French bath in the mix, by listening to French content while you are doing something else, like commuting or cooking. This should take you no extra time.

Just find those 10 minutes, for example 5 minutes when you get up, and 5 minutes before bed + some time when you can passively listen to some French. It’s easier if you make it a habit, by tying it to something you already do.

It’s also helpful to have a realistic plan that is tailored to what you actually need to learn - make sure that you don’t learn irrelevant stuff.

#2 Study everyday

Studying 10 minutes a day is enough, and it is far more efficient than studying three hours in one chunk and then not at all for a week.

➡️Just make the amount of effort necessary to achieve good results (5 mins twice a day does not a lot of effort)

➡️Make it a habit so it requires less willpower to study everyday.

#3 Keep your plan flexible

We live in a busy world. Things happen all the time, and your schedule will get upset more often than you’d like.

You want to make sure your French study isn’t getting canceled just because your boss - or your client - got a special request again.

• My secret trick is to schedule your French study in the morning. Here’s why:

1- it’s more likely to happen if you do it before you meet with other people and get caught up in the day.

2- if it doesn’t happen, you have time to do it later during the day instead.

If your days change a lot, it’s good to think of several possible time slots in advance.

#4 Don’t beat yourself up if you slip or fall off.

If your study does get cancelled for a day: don’t beat yourself up.

Failing to study once won’t have a big impact on your final results, but beating yourself up will (this leads to lower self-esteem and increases the chances that you’ll slip again).

So, just say “oh well”, and pick it up the next day.

Even if you slip several days in a row, say “oh well” and pick up your practice as soon as you notice you fell off.

#5 Track & evaluate

I recommend reviewing your plan and reevaluating your level once a month. When you see the results, you’ll want to keep going.

You can also track your study habits with a habit tracker. A habit tracker is a very basic calendar where you put a tick everyday after completing your habit. You can have several lines for several habits.

Just seeing a streak of how well you’ve stuck to your study will encourage you to keep the streak up. Especially if you stick it on the fridge or somewhere where you can see it often.

#6 Keep your motivation high

As we said at the very beginning: the most important thing is your motivation.

Here are some tips to help keep your motivation high:

✅Remember why you started

You can make lists of

✅all the reasons why you are learning French

✅all the amazing things you can do once you speak French well.
Is it traveling to France? Other French speaking countries? Will you get a better job? More international business? Have a stronger connection with a loved one? Be able to volunteer with French speaking organizations such as Médecins sans frontières? Or even just impress your friends?

Put these lists where you can see them often. How about on the fridge next to your study tracker?

Make sure you also track your progress and celebrate your wins.

When you have reached a milestone, reward yourself with a glass of French wine, a macaron, a good book or whatever you’d like. The point is to acknowledge and celebrate that you’re on track. It’ll keep you going.

If you would like personal help with your French study, you can work with me one-on-one and/or join my group program the French Fluency Accelerator.

You can also get started right now for free with this starter kit:

Your next steps

If you like this way of learning French, you will love to learn with me as a student or client. Please check out:

• My 1-1 coaching program, The French Transformation, if you need to improve your French fast.
• My group program, The French Fluency Accelerator, if you’d like to join a community of students from all over the world. We have weekly practice calls together and the best online video library to learn French.

Pro tip: you don’t need to choose!

All my 1-1 clients are invited to join the French Accelerator free of charge.

Feel free to book a call with me now to discuss options.

If you liked this, here's some more:

How to learn French fast and become fluent

How to make French sentences easily

About the Author

Angel Pretot is a French learning coach. He helps English speakers from all over the world learn French fast and become fluent. You can work with him one-on-one (online via zoom or a similar software) or join a global community of French learners in his group program the French Fluency Accelerator.