If you have ever tried learning another language, you know that it is a time consuming process and something that you have to prioritize in order to make any real progress. It’s a big task and many put off learning a language for years because they feel they don’t have the time. There is an idea that large amounts of one’s day needs to be dedicated towards language learning and I wanted to test this idea. How much of a language can you learn if you study 30 minutes per day? An hour is a lot, but everyone has 30 minutes. So, is it possible to make any progress with only half an hour of study per day with free-to-use content?
I’ve been pushing this out for a while now, learning the French language, that is. Lately it seems that every day I get some sort of sign that I should take on French. Or, maybe it's just that I am more attuned to them. It's like little berets are dancing around in the back of my mind, so every time I hear a French accent or see a baguette (for goodness sake), I think it's a divine message. Alas, here we are and I have decided to see what would happen if I studied a language every single day for 30 minutes. After all, not everyone has a spare hour to study. Everything I am doing will be completely free and I will only use free content I find on the internet. Let’s get started with French language and learning tips.
I will be keeping a journal of what I study each day and how much progress I make along the way followed by a final result, which surprised me. This will be my fourth language, so bear in mind that language learning gets easier the more languages you speak. Right now, I know zero French, maybe a few words like “Je m’appelle Chara,” (my name is Chara) and “Oui.”
The first day, I knew if I started I would have to continue for thirty days so I sat in front of my computer asking myself if I really wanted to get this show on the road. Here’s a tip, the answer is always now.
Here’s my first journal entry:
“In order to give an accurate result of my French skills, I will attempt a quiz at the end to see how much progress I've made.”
“I took a French vocabulary test and got 5/15, all of which I guessed based on word similarity to the English version. The funniest one was “une poubelle,” which I guessed to be “a pebble.” It means trash can, apparently.”
You may be asking, Chara, where do you start if you want to learn a language? Youtube University, my friend. We live in a day and age where so much information is free, right at our fingertips and waiting to be used. Why not take advantage?
Normally, I prefer learning languages with a book or by reading words, but because I cannot read French yet, I’ve decided to do them simultaneously. It is important to hear the sound of the language which is why listening to the vocabulary and hearing pronunciation in action via sentences is very important. So, I first learned some pronunciation, such as which letters are silent and when we link words to other words. Then, I was able to understand examples of this when I learned the vocabulary as well as get more acquainted with the sound of the language.
STEP ONE:
Choose a language - I have a whole article on how to choose the language best for you. There are different difficulty levels when it comes to languages. Latin languages are the easiest which include French, Spanish, Italian, etc.
Language Learning Tip: The more common the language is, the more free resources available.
STEP TWO:
Set up a habit tracker to make sure you are putting in the effort. My tracker has a timer and it goes off when the 30 minutes are up.
STEP THREE:
Find sources for introductory courses to the language you choose.
Days 1-3: French pronunciation & Basic Vocabulary
On day one, I signed up for a free profile on FrenchPod101 for vocabulary review and I followed the teacher from the first video on Instagram (IG: theperfectfrenchwithdylane) so I could get as much exposure to French as possible. For each of the 3 days I started with review & watched 2 short pronunciation videos by “The perfect French with Dylane” followed by a vocabulary video by FrenchPod101
Resources: French Pronunciation Course
Journal Entry: “I don’t feel intimidated quite yet, but it’s too early to tell. I remember I almost closed my Turkish learning guide before making it through the first page. So, this is good. I do find it a bit hard to stop because I feel like I’ve barely gotten a taste, but this is the experiment…”
“...still feeling pretty confident as I was able to remember most of the vocabulary from the previous day; just forgot some pronunciation… In French, they don’t pronounce half of the word…odd, but okay.”
In the example below, you only pronounce the green letters:
De temps en temps
“I still see very strong lexical similarities in many words making them much easier to remember. Of course there are words with no resemblance at all but even if 25% bear similarity, it makes it that much easier… I’m feeling good about pronunciation so I may skip pronunciation tomorrow and do a grammar piece instead just to get a grasp of pronouns, word order, tenses, etc to see how sentences are formed…”
Language Learning TIP: As you can see, I’ve chosen different sources. This is because it is important to find a teacher that you jive with, otherwise it can make the learning process more tedious.
Language Learning TIP: Move on when you feel comfortable and focus on what you are going to use.
Day 4: Basic Sentence Structure
I was really itching to get into some grammar so I could form some of my own sentences, or try to, at least. I felt very uncomfortable not knowing sentence order like where the subject or verb goes, so I watched the video below to give me some insight. This video also taught me about articles (a, an, the) in French and how to use them.
Resources: The Basics Of French Grammar
Journal Entry: “The only difference it seems is that the ending of verbs change depending on the subject and there are genders, which must be memorized.”
“I spent the last 15 minutes of my studies making small sentences using the words I’ve already learned like “Chara fait un gâteau”(Chara makes a cake) and “J’aime le vin blanc”, (I like white wine).”
“I feel much better now that I’ve made some of my own sentences and I understand the articles. I think that tomorrow I will work on learning the verb endings for present tense and add to my vocabulary.”
Language Learning TIP: Start with basic sentences in the present simple tense as this is typically the easiest grammar structure to learn.
Day 5-6: Vocabulary Building and “To Be” verbs
"To be” verbs; or am, is, are; are arguably the most common verbs in virtually any language, so you could say that it is important to get them right. In French, the verb “to be” is “être.” For some reason, this changes to unrecognizable forms like “suis,” “est,” and “sommes” etc depending on the subject. I have also found that the endings of verbs change depending on the tense and subject, however they aren’t necessarily pronounced and are mainly used for writing. So, I decided to save that for later and focus on more vocabulary and basic sentence structure.
Resources: To Be and To Have In French
Journal Entry: “ I understand structure, articles, and the present tense which means I can use that to build more sentences.”
“...Not going to lie, it (to be verbs) confused me a little bit, but I have confidence that I will figure it out tomorrow.”
“It’s a cold winter’s night and all I want is to lay on my couch and binge watch true crime. The trick to get around this no matter what you’re trying to get done is to set a timer and tell yourself you only have to do it for 30 minutes…”
“I feel much better after figuring that out…the pieces are coming together, seemingly. A mistake I have made so far is not writing down the genders with each word…”
Language Learning TIP: Setting a timer and a habit tracker can hold you accountable and act as huge motivators.
Language Learning TIP: Use grammar lessons to learn vocabulary at the same time. If you’re learning a language with genders, remember to make note of whether nouns are feminine or masculine.
Day 7-10: Reviewing Vocabulary & Learning Countable vs Uncountable Nouns (De, de la, des & C’est)
During this time, I was struggling to continue with this challenge. I focused on using the vocabulary I already had to form sentences and learned the use of articles like is vs are as well as how to use an article for uncountable nouns.
Journal Entry: “The shine is definitely wearing off and I was very tempted to skip today. The only thing keeping me going is my snickerdoodle scented candle and my streak. In reality, they mean nothing but they are unbelievably powerful motivators…”
“Despite everything, about 5 minutes in I was already in flow and I felt really good learning the grammar concept of uncountable nouns i.e some. Il a des fleurs pour elle. ‘He has (some) flowers for her.’”
“I’ve also decided that I’m not a big fan of the FrenchPod videos…I feel like I better understand after watching the French with Dylane videos…Sometimes you just don’t absorb what a certain teacher says.”
Language Learning TIP: Make your environment comfortable and add things that you like to make the activity more satisfying.
Language Learning Tip: Throughout the day, I try to remember what I’ve learned. For example, I try to name the body parts I’ve learned along with their genders or try to make small sentences like “I eat vegetables/bread/cheese/ etc.” I think mentally recalling vocabulary is very important because it helps you to think in the language you are trying to learn.
Day 11: This, That, These, Those (Ce, cette, ces) and Possessive Adjectives (mon, ma, mes, ton, ta, tes, etc.)
In French, even words like “this” and “that” have genders which should match the noun. Possessive adjectives in French also have genders, which means that there are a lot more than in English.
Journal Entry: “The trickiest part is that the possessive adjectives have genders (mon, ma, mes) and change depending on the gender of the object rather than a person. For example, I’m female, but I would use the male form of “my” which is “mon” to say “My arm hurts” - “Mon bras fait mal.”
“After all of that tough talk, something happened yesterday and I had to skip. However, I doubled up today and I really liked having a whole hour to study. It allowed me enough time to do some grammar exercises, which I had never done before. Great stuff and excited for tomorrow.”
Habit Building TIP: Don’t miss two days. If something happens, make up for it.
Day 12-14: French Numbers
French numbers are infamous for being difficult and I had heard through the grapevine that you had to do literal math to say them. Needless to say I was trying to push this out as long as possible.
Journal: “I learned numbers 1-100 and, I have to say, I didn’t find it as complicated as it was made out to be. There is at least a pattern which can be memorized and it makes sense.”
“I am trudging to this computer right now. It’s my day off and we spent the day deep cleaning - I mean moving the beds, the couches, wiping out cabinets, you name it. I am in no mood to learn more French numbers and all I want to do is get back to my crochet project. Let’s get this over with as quickly as possible.”
“That went by so fast…I then followed that with the rest of the numbers all the way to a billion as well as ordinal numbers (first, second, third) which are much easier, I think, than English ordinal numbers.”
“I am almost halfway through this challenge and I started my review by challenging myself to write out 19,694,879 from memory - dix-neuf million six cent quatre-vingt-quatorze mille huit cent soixante-dix-neuf. If you speak French, let me know how I did.”
Day 15-16: Negation (negative sentences)
Learning negation is essential in any language and, similarly to English, negation in French is not that complicated. I used the first day to learn negative words like “not,” “never,” and “nobody.”
Day 17: Most Common Verbs in French
You can’t build a sentence without a verb. You also can’t build a sentence without knowing which verb form to use. In French, I was unamused to learn, verb endings changed based on the subject. Tedious, I know.
Journal Entry: “I can say that the thing I don’t like about French are the changes in spelling without a change in pronunciation. For example, you add an -e to the end of a verb if the subject pronoun is “I”, but you don’t pronounce it. It’s like show letters. They are there just for fun.”
Days 18-20: Aller (to go) and prepositions - à (to) & de (from, of, about)
Similarly to the verb “to be” or “être,” the verb “to go” changes dramatically depending on the subject. So it’s crucial to get this right.
Resource: The Preposition À In French - How And When To Use It // French Grammar Course // Lesson 14 🇫🇷
Journal Entry: “Im ⅔ of the way and in a moment of extreme tiredness, I thought about throwing in the towel. My candle is lit, my hair is up, and I’m ready to learn some French.”
“I really enjoyed today and I never regret putting the work in. In fact, I’m always very proud of myself when I do… it motivates me to do other things afterwards like clean or read a book. An object in motion stays in motion. Today I focused mainly on making my own sentences with more than one verb e.g “I want to go to France.” “Je veux aller en France.”
Day 21-23: Review What You’ve Learned
When you are new to something, it’s very easy to forget. That being said, review is extremely important. I used this time to go through my notebook and go over everything I had learned thus far.
Journal Entry: "I need to take a breather from grammar...Can't absorb any more rules."
Language Learning TIP: Taking in too much information at once can be discouraging. Take time to use what you have learned to build confidence and solidify it into memory.
Day 24: Prepositions of Place
Prepositions are like the glue of a sentence and, without them, nothing would make much sense.
Day 25: Past Simple
Verb tenses add a lot of meaning to sentences without changing the vocabulary. I wanted to learn at least one more tense in my thirty days so I could essentially double what I was able to already say.
Journal Entry: “It was easier than I had expected.”
Day 26-28: Interrogative Questions (where, when, who, what, why, etc.)
The importance of being able to ask questions need not be explained and I think it’s an important skill to have in the first 30 days of learning a language. I also used ChatGPT to create exercises for me in which I could translate English questions into French as well as turn French statements into questions.
Journal Entry: “Today I learned how to ask questions in French and I feel very confident with my ability to understand. I feel that I’ve seen a lot of these structures before and now I will be able to recognize them. I have four days left and I can say that I really vibe with French. It’s important to find a language that vibes with you.”
“There are so many words similar to English words, in addition there are many words similar to Turkish words as well as Spanish words. I used to speak a little bit of Spanish and I know some basic stuff so I can recognize things like “Porque?” in Spanish and “Pourquoi?” in French - they both mean ‘Why?’”
“Right now I am doing victory punches... I am absolutely ecstatic...I practiced asking questions by asking Chat-GPT to provide me with some exercises and I am so proud to say that I was able to translate each of these sentences into French and understand all of the examples…”
Language Learning Tip: Use technology to your advantage.
Language Learning Tip: One of the biggest problems learners have is to use language when speaking. “I know the words but I can’t think of them.” Translate sentences from your native language into the language you are trying to learn. This forces you to think in your new language which will help you in conversation later on.
Day 29: Negative Questions & Which/Which One
We can say that this wasn’t the most important thing to learn, but I saw the video and it piqued my interest. Sue me.
Resource: How To Use QUEL (what-which) And LEQUEL (which one) // French Grammar Course // Lesson 26 🇫🇷
“I learned how to ask negative questions like “Elle n’est pas belle, si?” meaning “Isn’t she beautiful?” or “Ce n’est pas délicieux, si?” meaning “Isn’t it delicious?” “Le Français n’est pas difficile à apprendre, si?” French isn’t difficult to learn, is it?’”
Day 30: Prepositions Following Verbs
Unlike the previous day, knowing which prepositions follow which verbs is very important because it can greatly change the meaning. For example, we say “think about” but in French they say “think to.”
Resource: French Verbs With Different Prepositions (and meanings) // French Grammar Course // Lesson 22 🇫🇷
The Final Result:
I remember starting this challenge worried that it may all be for naught. I thought that I might not be able to make any progress and that my results would be too embarrassing to share.
To end my 30 days, I retook the French grammar test that I was completely unable to take at the beginning and actually clicked out of after 2 questions. I got over 50% correct and it told me that my French grammar level was approximately a2-b1 which is intermediate. Do I think I am at an intermediate level? More like an upper beginner.
Nevertheless, I am unbelievably happy with my progress and, by creating a system of learning for myself I can use it in other areas of my life. I ended this challenge with victory punches. What more could you ask for?
So, can you learn a language by studying for only 30 minutes per day? Yes. Just keep in mind what fluency means to you.
Do I recommend studying every day?
That is largely subjective. Perhaps in the beginning to build the habit and familiarize yourself with the language. I think this is especially important if you are starting at ground zero and are completely unfamiliar with the language. As for myself, I will continue studying French and I have changed my learning schedule to Mondays & Tuesdays, Thursdays & Fridays for thirty minutes at a time.
Final Words:
Remember that the language you decide to learn can have a great impact on your progress. Turkish was so difficult that it took me 2 years to have a conversation. This may have been due to the fact that I was so overwhelmed with moving to Turkey that I was unable to absorb more information. Regardless, don’t get discouraged. Work at your own pace.
Vous pensez beaucoup trop positif pour moi :)) Vous auriez dû entendre parler de faux diplôme accrochés aux murs juste pour impressionner les gens autour.