In my journey of learning French as a beginner, I have gained some fundamental knowledge in alphabets and numbers aiding in my vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. With the help of resources such as FrenchPod101, Learn French with Alexa, and Duolingo, I have been exposed to important lessons which are friendly for beginners. These resources are gradually shaping me in my learning of French journey.
Concerning vocabulary and phrases, I have been able to build on some of the everyday vocabularies such as greetings and common objects. Here are some of the everyday vocabularies learnt. Bonjour (Hello, good morning/ good afternoon), Merci (Thank you), Au revoir (Goodbye), Bonsoir (good evening), une fille ( a girl) un garcon (a boy) and many more. With numbers, I have learnt up to 10. Un (1), Deux (2), Trois (3), Quatre (4), cinq (5), six (6), sept (7), huit (8) neuf (9) dix (10).
With the grammar aspect, trust me French grammar is very challenging, but I am beginning to understand the basics and the fundamentals rules particularly with the gendered nouns where I am still getting to know the masculine and feminine of nouns notwithstanding verb conjugations. For example, le livre means the book while la maison means the house. Example of verb conjugation: je suis means I am and tu es means you are.
With French pronunciation, this is very tricky but I love it because of the silent letters and unique sounds. Resources like the coffee break French really focus on this and I am enjoying the language. It enables me to mimic the words just as a French would say it. My understanding on the sounds is not still clear to me but with repeated practice of listening and speaking, I would improve gradually.
My comprehension is gradually developing but sometimes get confused with some of the sounds. I am getting my self familiar with the most commonly used words and phrases by repeating them. Watching of piece of French content on YouTube is helping me to get the rhythms of the sound. Speaking of French at this stage still feels daunting, but I am not discouraged, I believe in the practice makes perfection concept.
In my early journey of learning the French language, some of the challenges I have encountered are memorizing vocabulary particularly with gendered nouns, accent, and conjugation of verbs which makes it very tiring when learning. I mix up words and struggles with listening to a fast content or an advanced conversation.
Watch out for more updates because the journey just began!!
Merci.
I love that you are doing a language, I was thinking about doing that as well but it seemed overwhelming to me as a literacy consultant constantly thinking and breathing literacy, it would have however been interesting to know some more of the morphemes of the English language and which words derive from french, and other languages like greek or latin. Good for you for tackling this task that seems monumental to me! It sounds like you will be speaking full sentences in no time!
Awww Shasta, maybe you can try another time, and trust me it is interesting!