Let's Relearn French

I have found an amazing job that I am very well qualified for. There is only one catch - I would need to be C1 in French.

At my best, I was a low C1, so this isn’t entirely out of the realm of my qualifications. But it has been years since I have studied French or bothered to immerse myself for longer than it takes to watch a movie. So, while I was once C1, I would guess I am currently a low B1. Not good. Not good at all.

But I’m going to throw in my hat anyway.

The job list closes in two weeks, and the company normally takes 6-8 weeks to reply. That gives me two to two and a half months to get my French back up to snuff.

Thankfully, relearning is MUCH easier than learning for the first time. I also have all the resources from learning French in the past. I have loads of books, music, TV shows, and movies that should help me immerse myself and trigger my brain into remembering what I have already learned.

So here is the overall plan -

1) Start with vocabulary - basic grammar can be bolstered by a larger vocabulary, and studies have shown that you’re more likely to learn through immersion the more of the language you already know. The easiest way to do this is to learn vocabulary that will be in the content. For this, I will be using the app Language Drops.

2) Speed-Run Duolingo and Busuu - I should be able to work my way through these really quickly since it’s stuff I’ve already learned. My goal is to go as far as my life will let me every day. This should help prompt my brain to remember. Once I get my vocab closer to where I want it, I will be focusing more on these apps to see if I can get myself back up to at least B2 on both apps.

3) Immerse myself as much as possible - My understanding has been my strong point in the past. So it’s almost immediately fun for me to watch TV while my brain is trained to understand the language at speed.

Wish me luck!