The French Experiment: Life-Changing 50-Days Language Challenge
During the summer, I really wanted to work on my French, so the idea of starting a language challenge had been with me for a long time. In early July, I finally launched my own little, weird-but-surprisingly-effective version of a language experiment. It wasn't about how much French I could learn in 50 days, as I already had a fairly good proficiency level (B1-B2). Rather, it was about how far I could push myself with persistent deliberate practice (3 hours a day).
And, of course, there was also a lot of testing and experimenting with new techniques, all in pursuit of my sacred goal to find the most effective way to learn a language.
The Idea Behind the French Experiment
First and foremost, you might be curious about how I came up with the idea of dedicating 3 hours a day to this challenge.
The answer is simple. In my post t about the 10,000 hours rule, I mentioned a very interesting study conducted by Dr. Ericsson and his research team. They aimed to discover what distinguishes elite performers in any field from those who never achieve better than average results. According to Ericsson, the game changer was something they called "deliberate practice." All elite performers had a habit of intensely practicing their craft for at least 3-3.5 hours every single day.
So, you see where I'm going with this.
The duration of 50 days was chosen as a training ground. Doing the full experiment would require practicing for about ten years to see what happens. Obviously, I wasn't up for that. Moreover, I believe that language learning is different from playing the violin, especially when it comes to the notion of elite performance. Many of us haven't reached that level even with our native tongue, and yet, nothing stops us from using it in everyday life.
Therefore, the idea of practicing for 10,000 hours or 10 years is not something to worry about in this language challenge.
Before and After: The 50-Day Language Challenge
Challenge: Study for 3 hours for 50 days in a row (150 hours total).
Underlying motivation: My main motivation was to upgrade my French level to the point where I could take university courses in the language without any problems. Ideally, it would correspond to something like C1, but York has its own system.
Intro-level: I began this French language challenge shortly after successfully passing DELF B2 and not-quite-successfully handling the proficiency test at my university. York placed me in the B1 course, which made me really aggravated.
50 days after: After immersing myself in French for one and a half months, I took another placement test at my university and essentially achieved my goal: I was placed directly into French courses. So these 50 days helped me skip 2 years of FSL in college.
What did I do during these three hours a day?
Since I wanted to quickly improve my skills in all areas of the language, I decided to divide these three hours into three one-hour blocks of practice. Here's how it worked out:
1 hour: Listening to authentic French speech - audiobooks, podcasts, YouTube.
1 hour: Reading books in French.
1 hour: Studying French grammar.
Initially, I used to study for three consecutive hours first thing in the morning, and it was... a little bit exhausting. To reduce the pressure, I decided to complete the listening block during my commute to work. My bike route took exactly an hour, so I simply turned on my French podcasts or continued with an audiobook. Nevertheless, I still preferred to finish both reading and grammar before starting anything else. If I didn't stick to this rule, I would have failed this language challenge during the second week.
Now, as it appears to me, intensive two-hour study was a challenge on its own. I guess you'd agree with me here: grammar is not the most exciting part of language learning. So instead of diving into the deep waters of French tenses, I started with an easier activity: reading. At least at this point, I had a choice of what to read, while with grammar... with grammar, I had to deal with what was already there. So reading in French helped me warm up and prepare for the upcoming heavy lifting.
And, of course, all study blocks were what is commonly called Deep Work. It means that I cut off all distractions like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Google Search (because my own curiosity is usually the main distraction). By the way, my habit of keeping my phone in "Do not disturb" mode at all times actually began with this language challenge. So if you launch your own, don't forget this small but meaningful detail.
How did I choose resources for my French language challenge?
I believe that each language is a source. Your knowledge of a certain tongue allows you to access any single source of information that uses this language as a means of transferring the message.
What kind of source of information? You tell me. It can be a book, a course, a movie, a person – literally anything you choose to lead you. So when you learn a second language, you double your personal knowledge database. With a third one, you triple it. Not all languages are equal in this case, but each can teach you something new.
So this was my main point when choosing resources. I wanted each of them to teach me something new – and I wanted French to help me access this knowledge.
The Double Advantage Strategy
At the time, I was launching Linguapath, so my main area of interest was blogging, SEO, marketing, finance, and entrepreneurship. So I conducted in-depth research on resources I could use for both learning these things and improving my French. I found a lot of podcasts, some audiobooks, and a couple of YouTube channels on the topic. I searched for books from my reading list that were translated into French and bought them.
And guess what? I immersed myself in all these amazing topics solely in French, with no help from English resources, while still working on my language skills. It was interesting, exciting, and I felt like I was doing something useful at every single moment of my practice. Which wouldn't be the case if I had to read children's stories for second language learners or listen to boring news just because they are in French.
I'll cite all the tools, resources, and books I used during the French Experiment at the end of the post. Make sure to check it out. There's a lot of useful stuff! :)
The Nerd Strategy
Another part of my resources came from my college. I launched this language challenge mainly to prepare myself for the new year when I'd have to study linguistics in French. So I checked the required textbooks for my La linguistique générale en français and Français écrit pour les spécialistes and ordered them in advance.
One of these books was - lucky me - the grammar of modern French. After these 50 days, I have read them, and I felt more than prepared for both the next academic year and for French in general.
However, even while being as picky as ever, I still made a lot of mistakes when it came to choosing learning material.
What were the 5 fatal mistakes I made?
1. Not having all the stuff prepared in advance
This was a major challenge for me throughout the entire 50 days of my French language challenge.
It's often difficult to estimate how much time it will take to read a book, especially in a language you haven't yet mastered. So what happened every single week was that I would finish a book in the 34th minute of my reading hour, and... that was it. I didn't have anything else to read. Instead of studying, I had to desperately look for the next good book that would meet all my requirements.
The same thing happened with audiobooks, podcasts, and videos on YouTube. I wished I had a personal Jinn who could sort through all this stuff while I slept and create long and exciting lists of what to read, listen to, and watch next. After a few weeks, I had to become my own Jinn and create a list called "À regarder en français" on YouTube, put together a decent playlist on Podcast Addict, and spend time sorting out the content of my wishlists on the Kobo store and Thrift books.
2. Choosing boring resorces
Obviously, when a decision is made under pressure, it usually turns out to be the wrong decision.
When I wanted to fill in those 20 minutes of leftover time, I ended up reading all sorts of stuff like RFI news and Canadian legends in French. But the sole purpose of their existence was to kill my motivation. Why?
Because I dislike news to such an extent that articles from BBC and Le Monde can really torture me.
Another motivation killer was Monsieur Jacques LeClerc, but I couldn't avoid him. The reason being his book "Qu'est-ce que la langue," which was a required textbook for my next year's linguistics course. So if you ever decide to use a university textbook as a source for language learning, don't. Or make sure to include some coffee in your preparation list.
Starbucks: the main sponsor of the reading part of my language challenge
3. Going with too complicated texts
After reading my first two books in French, I decided to reread some of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's works. And, nope, "The Little Prince" has never been on my list of favorite books—it was "Citadelle." However, even though I had read it in Russian about five years ago, the original French version made me lose my mind. Apparently, St-Exupéry didn't write his masterpiece for second language learners.
So if you don't want to spend half of your practice time translating every second word (because you completely miss the point if you don't), then avoid reading classics for a while. Another reason to refrain from this type of practice is that the vast majority of new words you learn through this reading will be archaic.
4. Being a Perfectionist
At the beginning of my French experiment, I faced a real challenge. I had three grammar textbooks: one for complete beginners, another for more advanced French grammar with English explanations, and a complete French Grammar book in French. Which one should I use? And should I complete the easiest one first before moving on to the next?
My biggest problem during this language challenge was my attachment to the feeling of completion. Just because of that, I kept using my old advanced grammar textbook, which clearly wasn't challenging enough. That was quite discouraging. As a result, I wasted a lot of time and lost some motivation.
After I overcame my perfectionism and switched to the more difficult textbook, my progress started moving much faster.
5. Neglecting Morning Routine
This is something that requires an introductory course in motivation.
I have read many books on this topic, and apparently, motivation is a limited reservoir that tends to empty with every conscious choice we make. It starts in the morning: whether to get up or keep sleeping for five more minutes, drink water or sweet juice, grab a donut or a banana, watch cats on YouTube or answer an important email, check Facebook or read a book, get lost in Netflix or study French.
When you come home at 6 pm, you usually don't have a drop of motivation left to make the second decision that requires even more effort. I made this mistake a couple of times during my French experiment. It's an amazing way to burn out and fail.
Studying French first thing in the morning is a lot easier than putting off this huge task until the evening.
Bonus: A Missing Piece of the Puzzle
There are four language skills, but I only practiced three. Can you guess which one is missing?
That's right: speaking.
As an introvert, I always find a way to avoid speaking in general. I have to admit that I only had occasional French conversations, and mostly with myself, c'est tout.
Avoiding speaking is the most common but fatal error in language learning. For me, the idea of going out there and actually saying something is more than formidable. You may be terrified of other things, like studying grammar or reading books, but speaking should be included in any language challenge. I promise to fix this one when I tackle Spanish.
How These 150 Hours Changed My Thinking About Language Learning
First of all, probably for the first time in my life, I realized that learning a language seriously is like having a second job.
It doesn't have to be that way; I was fine devoting just 20 minutes a day with Memrise and still learned some basic French. But this strategy can only take you so far. If you're serious and want to learn a language quickly, it will require some heavy lifting.
Note that even the famous FSI research on how many hours it takes to learn different languages was based on the assumption that learners would study for at least 25 hours a week. Can you guess how many hours a day that comes down to? 3.5 hours. So, yes, with this technique, it's more than possible to learn any language in three to six months, but not without making trade-offs.
You have to design your own program.
After just 50 days, I felt really advanced. This feeling was completely unknown to me, even after completing a year-round French course at university.
The problem with uniform language courses is that they never take into account who you are. You don’t interact with the program – you simply follow it. You only study for a certain amount of hours per week. You learn a restricted number of words. Plus, you only practice a certain number of grammatical constructions. And you have to stay in the program even if you advance quicker than your classmates.
When you are studying by yourself, you are on top of the game. You are both a teacher and a student. You have to estimate your level and choose appropriate resources: not too easy, but not too out of reach either. You have to see how long you can study effectively. And most importantly, you are the only person responsible for keeping yourself going as fast as you can.
For example, when I felt that videos by Johan from Francais Authentique were too slow, I accelerated them by x1.25. When I felt that I could catch the meaning at this speed, I switched to French YouTubers who spoke in their normal everyday language. Afterward, I started listening to podcasts that were even more challenging since I couldn't read the lips anymore. Then, I moved on to audiobooks that helped me pick up more high-end vocabulary.
So, be on guard and challenge yourself at every step.
You have to celebrate your achievements.
There aren't too many milestones on the path of language learning. After the first few days of fast progress, you hit a plateau, and it’s very easy to get frustrated at this moment. You need to acknowledge every day of success, note every hour of practice, create your own milestones, and celebrate them to feel that you’re moving in the right direction. I used HabitHub to track my progress even if there was none. I also had a list of mini-challenges, such as:
Watch a French video on YouTube and understand it.
Watch a French TEDx without subtitles and grasp the main point.
Read my first book in French.
Completely understand my first French podcast.
Have a 5-minute chat with a friend from France – all in French.
Sometimes a podcast was too challenging, and I just didn’t understand it. Often, the meaning of French subtitles escaped my mind. Or the book I chose was too difficult for my understanding. And that was fine. Because every day, I challenged myself with the same tasks, over and over again, until the victory came naturally. And it came with confidence.
Here are all the resources I used during my French experiment:
Videos: TV5monde Focus, TV5monde Parlon Francais;
YouTube: Francais Authentique, Olivier Roland, David Laroche, Theophile Eliet
Podcasts: GTD France, Blogueur Pro, Des livres pour changer la vie, RFi en Francais Facile
Books: Haruki Murakami – Au sud de la frontière, à l’ouest du soleil, Olivier Roland – Vivez la vie de vos rêves grâce à votre blog, Olivier Seban – Tout le monde mérite d’être riche, Jacques LeClerc – Qu’est-ce que la langue
Audiobooks: Olivier Roland – Tout le monde n’a pas eu de la chance de rater ses études
Grammar: V.Mazet – Advanced French Grammar, D.Rochat – Contrastes. Grammaire du français courant
A language challenge itself is a significant milestone on the path to language freedom. It's never about 50 days or 150 hours or whatever your timeframe is. These are just random numbers. What is most important is the practice.