You Speak French With Your Whole Body
A common problem I see in my private clients is speaking without emotion.
I’ve read that about 80% of our communication is nonverbal.
So if you say something like “I’m so happy to see you” but that’s not what your face / body language is communicating, people aren’t very likely to believe you!
When speaking a language, you use your whole body to communicate.
Tone, gestures, facial expressions - these are all so important when speaking French!
And if you look like you’re in pain when you speak French, natives are more likely to switch to English!
But if you look relaxed and like you’re enjoying yourself, even if you make mistakes people are more likely to keep speaking to you in French.
So when speaking, remember to:
Try to stay relaxed, don’t panic! (This comes with practice!)
Focus on communication - understanding what the other person is saying & getting your point across, as opposed to trying to get everything “perfect”. Tone, gestures, facial expressions are all as important as the words you are saying (try imitating native speakers, again this comes with a lot of practice)
Practice conversation regularly - you really can’t learn how to converse in a book / classroom / worksheet / app (though all of those have their place), you learn to converse in French by actually holding conversations in the language.
If you don’t know where to start, try my free e-Course. I’ll show you the basics of holding a conversation in French & how to find friends to practice the language with.