Quirky French Podcast

Coucou! Here's why you keep forgetting (and relearning) the same vocabulary over and over again: you're studying recognition instead of retrieval. In today's episode, I'll show you what that means and how to learn vocabulary that sticks with one super easy adjustment. In this episode, you'll learn:

• why you keep learning vocabulary but it never sticks
• how to train your brain and improve your memorisation
• how this will help you reach fluency a lot faster.

Find out more at www.quirkyfrench.com/podcast/episode23

This week we are still working on the special sounds of spoken French. However, you may still not understand spoken French after the last three episodes. So today we're going to do a little interactive episode to help you understand what to do first if you do. I'm going to help you train your ear to perceive French sounds more accurately. This episode will be very quirky, but trust me, it is as quirky as it is effective!

In this episode you will learn:
- why the listening exercises you are doing are not working,
- what to look out for when listening to French, 
- and how to break down the sounds you hear to understand them better.

More information on https://www.quirkyfrench.com/quirkyfrenchpodcast

Coucou!

In this fourth part of the series, we'll explore the mute E, (called E muet, E caduc, or E instable in French). This episode will show you how some E's disappear completely when pronounced informally.

This episode, along with the last two, represents about 80% of what you need to know to master informal pronunciation patterns. You're almost there! Learn today's material and see how much your listening skills will improve!

In this episode, you'll learn:

• which E's can be omitted
• how and when to remove the E's
• how to progressively apply those rules into your own speech
• how to train your ear and pronunciation using today's freebie 

Salut!

Let's continue our special series dedicated to informal spoken French. In this episode, you're going to learn everything you need to know about informal negations. You already know that in order to form and negative sentence, you need to use NE + (verb) + PAS, but did you know that we often remove the NE altogether? Do we do that all the time? Does it work on every sentence? When can French learners do that as well? Find out everything you need to upgrade your spoken French skills.
 
In this episode, you'll learn:
the realistic pronunciation of NE in everyday speech
how and when to remove NE
what you should know about informal negations before you apply them yourself
how to train your ear and pronunciation using today's freebie

Download the full transcript and exercises for free here: 
https://www.quirkyfrench.com/podcast/episode20

Salut!

This episode is very special! In part 2 of this special series, I'll start to unpack some of the biggest differences between written French and spoken French, to help you improve your listening comprehension and speaking skills. But, I really wanted to be as clear as possible with my examples so you can follow this week's episode as a video podcast on Youtube too (link below)! Apologies for the poor sound quality, I ran into problems with my mic... Désolée :)
 
In this episode, you'll learn:
what areas of language to focus on when listening to spoken French
what informal elisions are
how elisions are formed with subject pronouns (je, tu, il, elle...)

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://youtu.be/udrN3ApgDW8
Download the free exercises and the transcript here: www.quirkyfrench.com/podcast/episode19

Salut! 

This week, I'm starting a new series (entirely in French) that will help you decipher spoken French. A lot of learners learn textbook French, and although it is correct, it's also very different from everyday French, the "real" French you'll hear in conversations. 

In this new podcast series, you'll train your ear and learn about the most common differences between written and spoken French. This week is all about observation. Observe and record the differences you come across this week, and we'll explore them in more detail in the next episode! Make sure to follow the series in the correct order, as I'll be incorporating those differences in the following episodes and will speak more and more informally. Download today's transcript at www.quirkyfrench.com/podcast/episode18

Bonjour!
Let's tackle pronunciation this week! Do you sometimes get confused looks from people when you speak? "Comment?" "Hein??"
Or perhaps as soon as you start to speak people immediately switch to English because they spot your accent and you never get to practise your French? 😩
Let's remedy that! This week, you'll learn:

• my two tips to improve your pronunciation alone
• how to spot your pronunciation flaws
• how to monitor your progress and challenge yourself over time
• the difference between perfect speech and natural speech

More info at www.quirkyfrench.com/podcast

Salut, salut!

Don't we all wish we had more hours in the day to get more things done? In today's episode, I'll be talking about a key study habit idea that will help you manage your time better, and learn smarter. If you wonder how to fit studying around your busy schedule, this idea will help you rethink how to use your time to study. This approach is going to help you focus, learn more effectively and in a relaxed manner. In this episode, you'll learn:

• the difference between study time and study task
• why studying for a certain period of time doesn't necessarily guarantee that you're learning effectively
• how to organise and plan your study tasks

More information at www.quirkyfrench.com/podcast

Coucou! Let's talk about listening. Most learners want to improve their oral comprehension but fail to address the essential initial work and skills involved in the process. As a result, you try tons of tips and tricks to improve your listening, but not only does it not improve, but your confidence also takes a hit and you feel discouraged. Fortunately, there are things you can do to unlock your listening skills, and I will help you uncover them in today's episode. You'll learn why everything you learn will fail until you address your mindset, what three skills you need to work on to unlock your listening comprehension, and what 5 essential coaching questions you should ask yourself when you work on your listening skills. Make sure to download this episode's bonus at www.quirkyfrench.com/podcast/episode15

Bonjour, bonjour!

Today, I'm introducing a new interactive episode where I'm going to show you how you can boost your vocabulary, your fluency, and your confidence with this one simple exercise. This exercise is going to teach you compensation skills: the essential skills you need to develop to express your ideas efficiently even when you don't know the exact word you have in mind.

Do this every day for 5 minutes and you'll start to speak fluently in no time! But that's just one of the benefits! In today's episode, I'm going to tell you the other awesome "secret" benefit that you'll get from incorporating this exercise into your routine. 

Are you ready to boost your fluency? On y va! More info at www.quirkyfrench.com/quirkyfrenchpodcast