"Why can’t I understand spoken French?”

“Why can’t I understand spoken French??” - every French learner ever

I hear this question ALL THE TIME from my private French students!

I know it can be very frustrating, so here are a few ways to improve your comprehension skills:

Just remember this will take a lot of practice to get good at, but with the right techniques it should make listening to French more much easier and more enjoyable!

1. Try to understand the general sense of what is being said as opposed to every little thing.

It’s much easier to get 60% of what’s being said and “enjoy the activity” of listening to French as opposed to beating yourself up because you didn’t understand every single word the person said.

You have to be okay with not understanding everything, otherwise learning French will just drive you crazy!

2. Listen for key words, look at gestures, tones, and context.

Just a few key words and some context could actually help a ton when trying to understand what someone is saying!

Is the person happy or sad? What’s going on in the video? Etc.

3. Don’t practice comprehension with French movies & TV shows, watch vlogs & documentaries instead!

They rework the sound in film & TV making it MUCH MORE DIFFICULT to understand.

Vlogs, TikTok and instagram videos, the news, or even documentaries can be much easier.

Again it takes a lot of practice though, so don’t be discouraged if you still find it difficult.