Why Flashcards Don’t Work

I sometimes get asked about using flash cards for language learning.

They could definitely help (and if you like them that’s great! Keep doing that!), but I don’t recommend them to my private students because it’s hard to learn new words / expressions with no context.

And learning French is NOT about memorizing every French word & expression ever!

It’s really about:

  1. Learning vocabulary that’s relevant to your life

  2. Learning how to string together sentences

  3. Practicing conversation regularly

And we’re much better at remembering things in a story anyway.

So a better strategy would be to learn new vocabulary in context & full phrases!

For example, instead of learning a random word like ordinateur, learn it in a phrase that is relavant to your life:

Je dois acheter un nouvel ordinateur - I have to buy a new computer

Then practice that with your language partners (you can find francophone friends on apps like Tandem & HelloTalk)

And if you need help getting basic conversations going, I teach you how in my FREE e-Course.

Charles Whitesides