Practical Tips For Maintaining Your French-Language Fluency Level
On our blog, we’ve published many articles focusing on how to learn French where we outline tons of resources for French learners. While these are a good source of information for anyone, they are most useful for people that are trying to make large strides in their French-learning journey – but, what about the French learners who already speak the language and would like to maintain their fluency level? This article is for you!
While maintaining an advanced French level involves learning, the two concepts are rather different. Learning is an active process that requires paying close attention to new concepts, vocabulary, grammar, and syntax. On the other hand, maintaining is a more passive way to not only learn new things, but to keep the language skills you’ve already mastered sharp and ready for use.
As C2-level speakers of French, Maria and I have to work to maintain the level that we have reached. Since not everyone has the opportunity to live in a country where their target language is spoken, we’d like to list a few ways to maintain your skills from anywhere.
Read, Read, Read
This includes reading in both your target language and in your native language! Reading articles, magazines, books, or any other material of your choice is a great way to steadily increase your vocabulary while reminding yourself of old concepts that you’ve already learned. You might ask why you should read in your native language as well – and the answer is that learning a second language is heavily informed by the languages that you already speak. Having an advanced vocabulary and understanding fundamental language concepts in your native language will help you to better understand these same ideas in your target language.
Consume Media for Native-Speakers
When trying to maintain a high French level, do as the French do. The Francophone world watches TV shows, consumes stand-up comedy, listens to music, watches tutorials, and, well, you get the point. Move on from French content that is geared toward specifically learning the language, and begin to entertain yourself with real, native-destined shows, music, and videos. Doing so will help you to make French a part of your daily life and maintain the level that you have acquired.
Talk to Yourself
It’s safe to say that a lot of people talk to themselves when they are alone! This can be a helpful tool in maintaining your language level, especially if you don’t have someone with which to converse in your target language daily. Whether it’s listing off things that you have to do later, imagining how you would respond to interview questions, or just getting your thoughts out, self-talk is a great way to practice without the added pressure of making mistakes in front of people. This will keep your syntax and pronunciation sharp while allowing you to assess your speech in real time.
Maintaining an advanced language level is a never-ending pursuit. However, it does not have to be stressful or as time consuming as actively studying a language. In our native languages, we often comprehend just about everything we hear and read, making it quite easy to target and commit to memory particular words and concepts that are new to us – it feels almost effortless. The same can be true for your target language. At an advanced level, you are familiar with the sounds, construction, and rhythm of the language. Maintenance is a lower-effort and less-active process that has just as many benefits as actively studying!
We hope that you’ve enjoyed reading this article about what you can do to maintain your fluency level. Whether or not you’re surrounded by your target language, these tips will ensure that you don’t lose what you’ve worked so hard to achieve! Make sure to leave us a comment down below describing how you maintain your language level!
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