Is French hard to learn?

Difficulty depends on how different a language is from your own. For a native English speaker, French falls in the closest to English band, which follows the US Foreign Service Institute's groupings of 24-30, 36, 44 and 88 weeks of full-time class. Languages the Institute does not rank are placed beside their closest relatives, so treat this as an estimate.

Reading comes faster than speaking. Silent letters, linked words and the French r take time, so most of your effort should go into listening and saying sentences aloud.

Languages in the same band include Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch.

• French uses the Latin alphabet, so you can read and sound out words from day one.
• Motivation. A trip, a partner, a job or a show you love will carry you further than a small difference in difficulty.
• Speaking from day one. Sentences you say out loud stick far better than words you only read.
• Short daily practice. Consistency beats intensity.

French drops or links many letters when words meet, and it has nasal vowels English does not use. Reading a sentence silently teaches you little about how it sounds. Hearing it, typing it and then saying it is the quickest fix.

Go deeper with most common French words, useful French phrases, and French verb conjugations.