Do not dwell on individual words... learn through passive listening

There are broadly three kinds of listening: passive, active and interactive. By far the easiest is the first. This is when you have the radio or TV on. It is not vital you understand what is being said – not like an interview with your bank manager. Getting the gist is often enough.

I would encourage anyone learning French to spend as much time listening to the media as possible. Alone with a sound source, there is no stress or other emotional entanglement to deal with.

I am not crazy about using simplified educational recordings, because they can give you a false idea of reality. Thee actors do not speak with conviction and the language is artificially structured.

They can be a useful way to start but move on to the real thing as quickly as you can.

Watching French series with subtitles in English is okay, but it is easy to zone out. The best form of practice is listening to the radio or podcasts. Put on one of the talk radio stations – France Inter or France Culture – while you are cooking, tidying or doing DIY. Leave it on all day if you can.

You will not get much at first, but don’t be hard on yourself. Your first task is just to connect with the basics.

What is the programme about? How many people are there and who are they? What is the tone of the programme – serious, or light and jokey? Relax and let the words wash over you.

Alternatively, you can browse the schedules online and choose something that takes your fancy.

Podcasts are excellent because they tend to be short and you can play them over as many times as you like. If you choose one on a subject you know, you will be able to figure out a lot of what is being said.

News bulletins can be good – I explained some of the terminology used in them in a previous article. The international stories, at least, will give the same details as on the English-language news.

Also useful are adverts and film trailers on YouTube, as they use pithy phrases that are generally clearly articulated.

While you are listening, don’t dwell too much on individual words because French has a tendency to run them together and you are rarely going to hear eau by itself – it will more likely be de l’eau. Instead, pick out phrases that are the components of most conversations. Note how people really say them, not as your language teacher has told you they should be said.

As you listen, choose a phrase you like the sound of and repeat it during the day. This will commit it to memory and help both spoken French and aural comprehension.

At the same time, you should know that French has its own ‘music’ that needs to be imitated.

A chief cause of not being understood when you speak is failing to catch the rhythm and intonation.

Stick with the process, listening ‘passively’ each day and, gradually, chunks of the language will become familiar to you. You will learn to understand them instinctively, leaving you free to concentrate on interpreting the words and phrases you still don’t know.

You will undoubtedly become aware by this stage that French is full of traps for the unwary foreign listener, and I will cover these in a future article.