The overlying process is simple: you have to read, write, listen, and speak, and I’ll explain why. These are the 4 mediums of acquisition.
The French Objective operates from the principle of brain plasticity. You have cells in your brain that rearrange themselves depending on how you stimulate them, i.e. dribbling a basketball or learning order of operations.
The 4 mediums of acquisition maximize this rearrangement and help you improve in the fastest way possible. With dedication, you will create these neural pathways.
Reading: Outside of francophonia, reading language is the cornerstone to your progress.
Until you attain a comparable level in listening, reading will be the only way to gain more vocabulary, syntax, and sensitivity to French’s unique logical idea construction.
Writing: The ability to write out thoughts in French will build your memory and feel for the language. Writing should take up just as much of your time as reading!
Listening: Many language teachers argue that listening is the most important part of language acquisition. I agree.
Your best strategy is, of course, to go to a francophone country! But when that’s not possible, you can use youtube channels, movies, songs, and online material to make it work.
Speaking: This is perhaps the most rewarding study method. Speaking French out loud is a wonderful and gratifying feat. The best part is you can start from day one.
Grammar: I put grammar in a category of its own because proper French grammar is really quite difficult. You could spend years studying it and not fully grasp the nooks and crannies.
The good part? Neither can French people. I estimate that upwards of 90% of native French speakers do not use proper grammar even in professional settings. Here’s a secret: that’s OK, good even. You don’t need to master the grammar to succeed.
I know what you’re thinking. “Okay, Noah, that seems pretty reasonable. But I wouldn’t even know where to start!” That’s okay. We’ll get there.
So where does this leave you? Well, it leaves you in a good spot. You now know how to maximize your study time. Each study session should include a mix of the four mediums of acquisition, with an emphasis on listening.
I like to call the use of these four methods the balanced strategy. It is vastly underestimated in traditional learning environments.
In addition to the balanced strategy, traditional learning often misses an essential part of language acquisition: the key.