How to Get Better at Reading in French

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Last Updated: June 6, 2023

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Do you know what’s one of the most underrated ways to learn French and improve your French Vocabulary?

R-E-A-D-I-N-G.

Perhaps I'm stating the obvious but I found out, amazingly, that most French learners do not spend at least a few minutes per day to read a french article.

Such a shame really, because doing so can help improve your French vocabulary---and subconsciously your grammar---by mimicking the French sentence structure in the text you're reading.

Please don’t tell me “Oh I don’t have any time to spend 5 minutes/day to read French, there is Game of Thrones on TV right now”.  We both know that's just an excuse.

But don’t get me wrong:  don’t take the control freak approach and try to understand every sentence. Just try to understand the gist, and learn something interesting while learning the French language at the same time. It will make reading less of an arduous learning experience and more of an entertaining way to learn something new (Sports, Economy, Culture, any topic you like)---but in French.

Actually you can easily trick yourself into learning a little more French. You will find some words that keep coming up again and again, and you might think “what the hell does était mean?”

Well, here comes your Knight in Shining Armor.

Boost your French reading comprehension with the 200 most frequently used French Words (PDF and audio)

I made a list of the 200 most frequently used words you'll find in written French. Here I’ll be giving you ALL the definitions for each word so that you can be sure to find the right definition according to the context.

Here is an example:

de

1. prep. of (expresses belonging)

2. prep. ‘s (used to express property or association)

3. prep. from (used to indicate origin)

4. prep. of (indicates an amount)

5. prep. used attributively, often translated into English as a compound word

Now don’t go back and forth between your reading material and this list but if there is something that is really bugging you, then you should probably take a quick look.

reading comprehension how to improve it

"How can I access this resource?"

Well, it’s simple. Do you see the banner below? Click on it and insert your email address. Once you confirm your email address you will receive a link telling you to download the French learning package. You'll find the most common words in a PDF format with MP3s you can listen to inside the package.

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This resource is just one of the many materials available in the French Learning Package

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P.S. You would be doing me a HUGE FAVOR  by sharing it via Twitter or Facebook.

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About the author 

Frederic Bibard is the founder of Talk in French, a company that helps french learners to practice and improve their french. Macaron addict. Jacques Audiard fan. You can contact him on Instagram

  • Brilliant! I tell my students this all the time as well and can’t understand why more people haven’t thought of it themselves. Thank you for echoing my thoughts (and practice!)

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