As a student learning French in Toronto, I can sympathize with others like me struggling to keep up with their French in an Anglophone majority. I am sadly myself  not a fluent French speaker so I’ve had to find ways to practice my French in an environment not so conducive to doing so.

However there are ways:

1) French Clubs – Most schools or universities have French clubs.  At U of T for instance we have EFUT. This club is amazing and is actually one of the most popular clubs at U of T. They offer French tutoring hours Mon-Fri, 4-5PM @ 21 Sussex Avenue #604. They hold French conversation sessions weekly in varied locations. They also host and plan great events such as trips to Montreal, pub nights, clubbing events etc. For more information you can check them out on Facebook or email them and ask to join (they’re always looking for new members) at [email protected]

2) Practice with a friend – There are plenty of fluent French speakers in Toronto. Be friends with them and trust me you’re bound to meet someone who speaks French in Toronto, perhaps not fluently, but well enough so that you can practice. This is great because it’s informal, fun and you get to talk about subjects you want to talk about.

3) French Movies – I love movies and watching French films have actually helped me improve my French a little bit too. One trick is to have subtitles on as the actors tend to talk quite fast. Another trick is to try and repeat the lines the characters just said. You might look a little crazy when you do it but trust me it helps.

4) Read – It’s obvious that reading helps foster your skills in any language. One trick I use is to circle all the words I don’t know, and then I look them up later. I try reading the whole thing first to get a grasp of what it means. It’s always better to learn vocab in it’s proper context.

5) French Pen Pals – Pen pals are great for practicing written French. It’s also informal and you can talk about whatever you want.  Mistakes are encouraged. The point of having a pen pal is so you can improve your skills by allowing them to correct you at times. Remember though, the point of having a pen pal is not so they can be overly critical of you or vice versa.  You should encourage and praise each other for even attempting to communicate in another language.

6) French Tutor or French schools: This is can be expensive though it can be very effective if you’re willing to put the time and effort into it. French tutors can offer you one on one help that is directly catered to your needs. French Schools such as L’Alliance Française do much the same thing except in a group setting with others at the same level of French as you are at.

7) Learning another language: Now this is a bit of an odd one but I’ve heard it been done before.  For instance, Latin is the root language to all Romance languages so learning Latin may help you improve in French. Of course, this is probably most suitable for serious and hardcore language enthusiasts.

8 ) Travel – Sadly this is one thing you cannot do in Toronto but it is definitely a must. It’s important to immerse yourself in a Francophone community. Quebec is close by and is obviously the largest francophone community in Canada. Language and culture tend to go hand and hand so by going to the birthplace of any language, you’ll get a better understanding of what those subtle nuances in the language mean. Appreciating where a language comes from is important as it helps to close the gap between any cultural differences or problems we may all have.

A few tips on learning a new language:

1) Get rid of anxiety – This is easier said than done of course but remember we’re bound to make mistakes when learning a new language. Mistakes are part of the process of learning. Heck even native speakers make mistakes. If you’re so afraid of making mistakes, you’ll never improve. Another trick is to laugh at your own mistakes. Learning a new language is challenging but it should also be fun. So have fun and laugh.

2) Talk – The more you practice at talking, the better you’ll get a picking up the little subtleties of speech such as tones and accents. Though in the end that doesn’t really matter. The most important thing is being able to communicate effectively without having to stop and think so hard about what you want to say. Everyone has their own accent and way of speaking but yet we tend to all understand each other. Don’t worry so much about saying a particular word or phrase a certain way. We all have our own unique way of saying things.

3) Listen – Really try and concentrate on what the other person is saying. Unlike listening in your native language, listening in a foreign language takes a lot more effort.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 9th, 2010 at 2:28 pm and is filed under Arts, Clubs, General, On Campus. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.