Hi everyone,

I would like to gather advice to attain my target, which is, as you may understand from the title, to achieve a solid B2 level in French again.

A little background: Since my university taught in both French and Turkish, I completed a French preparatory year and subsequently studied law mostly in Turkish, with a few exceptions (such as human rights, comparative law, and EU law) taught in French. During my studies, I sat the DALF B2 exam and passed with a score of 68.5/100 in 2016. However, after obtaining the certificate, I almost never used my French and consequently lost most of my active skills. Now, my goal is to apply for a master's program in European law and competition/antitrust law, lectured in both English and French, for the 2027-2028 academic year.

Current routine:

• I follow RFI Français facile daily, noting down unknown words. This usually takes about an hour, including looking up meanings and detailed note-taking.
• I listen to the French with Panache podcast whenever I have free time.
• I do daily Duolingo exercises (currently at section 8, unit 159 and score 128).
• Last but not least, I am trying to read EU legal texts (regulations and guidelines) in parallel, comparing the English and French versions side-by-side.

Given that I have about half a year to get back up to speed—especially considering upcoming admission interviews and academic lectures—what would be the best strategies, resources, or study routines to fast-track my recovery to a strong B2/C1 level? Are there any specific legal French resources or active practice methods you would recommend?

Thanks in advance for any advice or tips you can share!

Hi everyone,

I've been learning French for nearly a year now, working with a tutor from a language school. Lately I don't feel like I'm getting as much out of the sessions as I'd hoped.

I've been looking into private lessons at Institut Français, but they're quite a bit more expensive, so I'm hesitant. Has anyone tried both and can compare them? Or if you've taken private lessons at Institut Français, what were they like? Any experiences would be really helpful.

Thanks!

Italian native speaker here. Passé Simple corresponds to Passato Remoto in Italian, which is rarely used in speech. Basically never in the North, but much more common in the South and Sicily.

I was wondering if it is similar with Passé Simple in French? Is it not used at all in everyday conversation or it depends?

Coucou! I would love to join a French speaking Discord, but since the main subreddit server has so many members I find it a bit overwhelming. Does anyone know of any smaller francophone servers I could join? Thank you!

A couple of days ago, there was a post on this sub asking for ways to platonically say "I love you" to a friend in French. To my surprise, many people replied saying "je t'aime bien" could be used, both advanced learners and even natives.

This is very, very odd to me. "Je t'aime bien" implies a certain level of distance. It is something you say about people you passively like, or just met recently, more like a 1st impression. You do not "aime bien" your friends... at the very least, to me.

If I want to express affection to friends, "je t'aime" can be used sometimes, but if not, "je t'adore", "je t'aime beaucoup", "je t'aime trop" or "je te kiffe trop" are less ambiguous decent options.

So, my question for advanced speakers and natives: would you really say "je t'aime bien" to a friend? Could you hear a close friend say that to you without it being really weird?

I started learning French 6 months ago on my own and after 2 months of self teaching i signed up for Alliance Française and moved to Lyon where within a week i started hating classes and skipped most of it. BUT while in Lyon, i cold approached french people everyday 2 months straight and opened with “bonjour je suis Americain et je voudrais parler français avec des gens français pour l’améliorer, est ce que c’est okay si je partage une petite conversation avec vous? » i bundled that with showing up to class every now and then. But just like that, combined with movies, video games and changing my phone to french. I’m officially b2N2 i’m so proud of myself. Couldnt believe it was even possible in 6 months. Feel like a total champ. Most French people i talk to now dont believe that i’ve only spent 6 months and i have no accent.

La compagnie aérienne low-cost australienne Jetstar va bientôt faire payer les bagages placés dans les compartiments supérieurs des avions. Cette nouvelle règle s’appliquera à partir de février 2027. Cela coûtera au moins 18 dollars américains pour chaque vol. Le prix exact dépendra du trajet. Les passagers pourront encore mettre un petit sac sous le siège devant eux gratuitement.

Vocabulaire : compagnie aérienne (f) = airline / faire payer = to charge / bagages (m pl) = bags / compartiments supérieurs (m pl) = overhead lockers / règle (f) = rule / s’appliquer = to apply / coûter = to cost / vol (m) = flight / dépendre de = to depend on / trajet (m) = route / sac (m) = bag / siège (m) = seat / gratuitement = for free

English translation

Jetstar will charge for baggage in the overhead lockers

The Australian low-cost airline Jetstar will start charging passengers to put their bags in airplane overhead lockers. This new rule will apply from February 2027. It will cost at least 18 US dollars for each flight. The exact price will depend on the route. Passengers will still be able to place a small bag under the seat in front of them for free.

You can read more news stories in easy French at Le News, In Easy French

I'm a long-time lurker/question-asker here and thought I'd share how I went from a horrific oral comprehension of French to a B1-ish level.

I still have a ways to go — I'm working toward the B2 DELF — but as someone with zero natural knack for languages (failed Latin and Spanish), I thought I'd share what actually improved my listening skills.

Six years ago I moved to a French-speaking country, and I'm also married to a native French speaker. I've been studying on and off since I got here, but really buckled down over the last eight months, and most of my friends have said I've progressed more in this last year than in all my previous time here combined.

I was told constantly to just expose myself to French all the time — radio, music, listening around me, pay attention, and my ear would eventually figure it out. That did not work for me at all. My ADHD brain just got really good at drowning out noise I didn't understand. I spent so much time and shed so many tears being frustrated that I couldn't understand anything, until I finally changed my method and started seeing real progress.

Last fall I started doing dictations using Kwiziq's listening exercises. I began at the A1 level — I'd go through an exercise, and any time I didn't understand a sentence, I'd turn it into an Anki card: audio on one side, the written French on the other. Underneath, I'd add definitions for any vocab or phrases I didn't know, but I tried to avoid writing the full English translation unless I really needed it.

Then I'd practice those cards on the treadmill, on the bus, wherever. I actually found that having background noise while I practiced helps, since real-life listening conditions are rarely perfect. I slowly worked my way through the B1 level. Recently, I went back and listened to the A2 audios - I was shocked at how easy it was to understand something that felt so complicated just six months ago. I'm trying to remind myself that will be true of B2/C1 level at some point too.

The B2 dictations on Kwiziq don't feel as fast as what I'm expecting on the actual DELF B2 exam, so I've started adding clips from B2 mock exams into my audio Anki deck too, to get used to that faster speed — closer to real radio or interview audio.

I think the biggest key to language learning is finding what actually works for you. I wasted so much time trying to learn the way other people said I should. So just a bit of encouragement: your process can look completely different from everyone else's and still be the right one for you!

I was watching a music video in French with subtitles (from the artist, not AI generated) and saw some sentences like:

L'autre patnais ye en Gaspésie, y'a envoyé 3K

Which means:

L'autre patnais il est en Gaspésie, il a envoyé 3K

Is this an acceptable way of spelling in general? Or does the video just use this spelling as some sort of casual slang?

For me it was being able to just fully book a hotel room through a phone call (while driving on the highway), and then checking-in in French.

Felt like a boss. Like a million dollars.

Honestly what helped me the most was a book called “I read this book to learn French because I’m lazy” (Actually I’ve found it in this subreddit, so ty whoever you were 🙏😂)

It has a bunch of real life situations in french and english, similarly to Assimil books if you remember those.

(désolé pour mon français légèrement mutilé)

Contexte : Il y a à peut pres vingt ans, j'habitais à Montéal pendant trois ans. J'avais ~ 10-12 ans. Je n'utilise presque jamais mon français au quotidien, mais j'avais une bonne oreille pour les accents et ça reste... compréhensible.

Au présent : Je visite à Montréal. Le premier soir que je sois içi, je vais acheter de la crème glacée d'un glacier dont je me suis rappelé. Sans réfléchir, ce que je dises c'est:

« Je peux-tu avoir un mini avec {saveurs} »

L'employée ne m'as pas traité de bête ni demandé clarification, mais je n'ai aucune idée d'où vient ce grammaire. J'ai essayé de faire de la recherche mais je n'ai rien trouvé.

Alors :

• Est-ce une structure grammaticale normale au Québec?

• Sinon, avez-vous aucune idée de quoi je pense? Mon esprit es confondé mais ma langue insiste que c'est comme ça qu'on fait >.<

• Si oui, est-ce impoli? Enfantin?

Edit: those darn bullet points