French: from scratch, and after English

People take up French for very different reasons: moving abroad, work, a second specialism, family, music, books, and sometimes simply because they like it. The first useful thing is to say your reason out loud. Where you begin depends on it.

Pronunciation is the foundation, not the decoration

In French the link between what is written and what is said works quite unlike English. Words run together, half the letters are silent, and the ones that sound do not sound as you expect.

Skipping this and «sorting it out later» does not work: someone who learns words with the wrong sounds will not recognise them when spoken. A good tutor spends the first weeks on the sounds and does not consider it time lost.

If you already have English

It both helps and hinders — and it is worth knowing exactly where.

It helps with vocabulary: a great deal is recognisable at first sight, because English once borrowed whole layers from French. It hinders with reading and word order: the eye reaches for the English pronunciation and produces something else entirely.

Tell the tutor you have English. They can lean on it where it rescues you and warn you in advance where it misleads.

The living language, or the exam

These are two different preparations. An exam demands format: knowing what each task wants and finishing in the time. Life demands something else — following fast speech without losing your footing.

Ask outright whether the tutor has prepared people for the exam you need. And if there is no exam, say so too — then the time will not go on preparing for something you will never sit.

How to read the reviews here

The reviews here are thank-yous, so look for a match with your own task. «She was speaking within six months» and «he passed the exam» are different work and often different people.

See who is teaching French: French tutors with reviews.