Tip of the Week #376: How I Taught Myself French
I recently came across this video: I Try the 1950’s Nature Method to Learn French
The video explores a French textbook called Le Français par la Méthode Nature, written by Arthur M. Jensen. I’ve been using this book for years in my French classes. It’s how I taught myself French.
Here’s what makes it interesting:
The entire book is in French. No English translations.
It starts incredibly simply and uses pictures, context, repetition, and words you can figure out to help you understand what you’re reading.
Then, little by little, the French gets harder.
You’re not constantly translating French into English. You’re learning to understand French in French.
As the story continues, new vocabulary and grammar are introduced naturally. Eventually, you’re reading increasingly complicated French without ever making the jump from “French textbook” to “real French.”
This is essentially the same idea behind my favorite Latin book: Lingua Latina per se Illustrata.
That’s the famous Latin book that teaches Latin entirely through Latin.
I’ve used this approach myself, and I like it so much that Le Français par la Méthode Nature is the textbook we use in my new Visual French course. French 1 is done, and Compass Classroom and I are three chapters away from finishing French 2.
So this week’s tip is simple:
When learning a language, read things you can mostly understand.
You don’t need to understand every word.
Keep reading.
Use the pictures.
Use the context.
Let repetition do some of the work.
You may be surprised by how much your brain figures out on its own.
You can also read a free version of the book online right here: https://archive.org/details/jensen-arthur-le-francais-par-la-methode-nature/page/4/mode/2up. And if you’d like me to walk you through the book, chapter by chapter, that’s exactly what I do in Visual French.
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Almost every Saturday, I send out a Tip of the Week. The tip of the week is usually something I have picked up along the way that may make your life a little easier.
If you would like to hear from me (almost) every Saturday, just go to the home page of my site and plug in your name and email. You will also get a free digital copy of my book on learning Latin (and almost anything else). Just go here: https://dwanethomas.com/ and enter your name and email.
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If you are interested in learning Latin, you can go through the classes on my site 24/7. I recommend the book Lingua Latina by Hans Ørberg.
If you tackle the book and find yourself bogged down, you may find the classes on my site helpful. To join, just click here: https://dwanethomas.com/join/
If you want a more professionally filmed Latin learning experience, check out the best-selling DVD series: Visual Latin.
Or, if you want to skip Latin, and just jump right into learning English words from Latin and Greek roots, you may enjoy the series Word Up! Warning. Word Up! is a bit wacky. You will learn a lot… but, you may find yourself rolling your eyes, too.
I teach other languages on my site, too. The current schedule is here: https://dwanethomas.com/schedule/
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