The Easiest Way to Learn French—And You’ll Never Guess What It Involves!

Are you considering moving to France but are put off because you’re not sure you’ll be able to learn French? If so, you’re not alone. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been asked how easy it is to speak French.

The short answer is it’s hard. I’ve struggled to learn the conventional way, and trust me, I’ve tried everything. From conversational French with the neighbors to online lessons involving verbs and homework, none of them helped, and I still wasn’t fluent.

Drastic times call for drastic measures, and a chance meeting at a garden center helped me start mastering the French language.

French Lessons VS Conversational French

So I’ll level with you. I’ve lived in France for seven years. I did try taking lessons a few years ago, but they didn’t really work out because it felt like being back at school. Long lists of verbs and copious amounts of homework didn’t really help.

Plus, I just found it so dull. I felt like 12-year-old Kylie again, gazing out the window during class and daydreaming about more exciting things.

Clearly, that wasn’t working, so I needed to find another way.

I then did conversational French with one of my neighbor’s girlfriends. I was going OK, but then they fell out, and the girlfriend was shown the door.

I was back to square one. 

I knew I didn’t want lessons, and no one else had the time to sit and “chat French” with me. I needed to think of other ways to immerse myself in the language without feeling like it was hard work.

Time went by, and I was still no further forward. I blamed it on work, not enough time, not having the ability, etc., until finally, it hit me just how much I was missing out on. 

Why you need to learn French when you move to France

Living in France and not speaking French stops you from being able to fully embrace the culture and the social aspect of life here. And, of course, it makes everyday tasks and admin a bit of a nightmare. Not to mention, it is rather rude to expect the French to speak English to you in their own country. I mean, why should they?

And don’t get me started on just how important the word “Bonjour” is in France.

It was a chance visit to a garden center down the road that gave me the solution to my French-speaking problem. I was having one of my little gardening episodes, where I get all enthusiastic about the garden and go plant mad.

They never last very long, and usually, my enthusiasm has waned or completely died within a week. Anyway, this little episode was all about herbs and vegetables. I decided I wanted an herb garden and to grow my own veggies.

The Best Way to Learn French

So, I dutifully went to the garden center to purchase what I needed. I was thoroughly confused by the variety of tomato plants. How on earth was I going to negotiate asking for help in French?

As I was whipping out my phone to use my Translate App, Deepl, I heard an English voice. Looking up, I saw that it was coming from one of the assistants. Oh, thank God. I could ask for what I needed without the drama of actually having to attempt to speak French.

Which, by the way, is a total cop-out on my behalf.

Anyway, as we chatted, I asked her if she could speak French. She told me that when she got the job at the garden center, she didn’t speak a word of French. But now, two years later, she was fluent. 

I asked her how she managed to become fluent in such a relatively short time, and she dropped this little nugget.

“The only way to really learn a language is to put yourself in a situation where you have no choice.”

She told me that at the garden center, they’d employed her to speak to all their English customers. But of course, she’d also needed to talk to the French customers. And that’s how she’d learned, out of necessity and unable to hide or avoid it.

The penny dropped. That’s what I needed to do. I needed to put myself out there where I had no choice but to speak French. I didn’t want to work in a garden center; I already had a job as a travel journalist, so what could I do?

And that’s when the idea of line dancing came to me. A couple of months earlier, I’d been to see a friend of mine in a line dancing exhibition in Ruffec, a medieval town about 20 minutes away, and I’d been absolutely fascinated. 

The Quickest Way to Learn French And Have Fun

Did you know that line dancing is HUGE in France, bigger than in America, and there are groups everywhere?

I read somewhere that 4 million French people enjoy line dancing as a hobby. I kid you not.

Anyway, she told me she was the only English person in the group and the whole thing was in French. It was genius. That’s what I needed to do to learn French, start line dancing.

My next challenge was to find a class for beginners, or as they say in France, débutant. It wasn’t hard and after a little bit of Googling I found a class in Fouqueure, a little village just past Mansle about 20 minutes away from me. 

I emailed the instructor, who, it turned out, was also English, and asked if I could join. She explained that they were halfway through the year, but I was welcome to come and try it out.

She also told me everything was in French, precisely as I’d hoped.

I’ll admit I was really nervous walking into class on my first night, but I forced myself to do it. Looking back, it’s no wonder I was nervous. I mean, I wasn’t just learning French; I was also learning to dance.

And I was walking into a room full of French people I couldn’t communicate with.

A Gauche ou à Droite

All’s well that ends well, though, because I absolutely fell in love with line dancing. You get a funny kind of buzz once you master the steps of a dance and find yourself moving as one with everyone else in a giant square formation.

But it certainly hasn’t been plain sailing, and I didn’t take it like a duck to water. Remembering my right from my left is a challenge at the best of times, but in a different language, it takes it to a whole other level.

Then, of course, there are the steps. They have all sorts of interesting names, such as:

• Rocking Chair
• Grapevine
• Step Touch
• Hip Bump
• Lock Step

And there’ve been a few dodgy moments where I’ve been going in the completely opposite direction to everyone else.

Not to mention Julien, who stands behind me and has danced professionally, salsa, not line dancing, who loves embellishing each dance. So, of course, when we face the other way, as there are lots of direction changes in line dancing, and he’s directly in front of me, I have to remember his love of adding extra steps, twirls, and spins.

This can be more than a little off-putting when you start off, not to mention the cause of a few near disasters. 

The bottom line, though, is that it’s working. I’m definitely not fluent, but I can now understand a lot of what Coxie, my instructor, says without needing my Translate App.

The bonus is that I’m absolutely loving it. I’m going into my third year now, and I’ve moved up into the Novice Group. I’ve made plenty of friends, and the French are so good at helping me when I get it wrong.

It’s built my confidence to no end, and I’ve learned just to give it a go, even if I’m not sure I’m saying it correctly. I even cracked a joke in French with the girl at the Leclerc checkout last week, which I never thought I’d do.

Who knew so much fun could be found in the Salle de Fete (village hall) in Fouqueure, somewhere in the Charente, on a Wednesday night between 7.15 pm and 9.15 pm?

Want to know more? Fancy joining me on a Wednesday night? Here’s the link to ADANC, the association that hosts my line dancing classes.

À bientôt et bonne chance!