Alright so my girlfriend is French. Actually like half French but her whole family speaks French and they’re all obnoxious about it. Not obnoxious like mean, obnoxious like they switch to French mid-conversation and then I’m just sitting there like a moron. That’s basically how I ended up deciding to try online French classes for beginners. Sitting through family dinners where everyone’s speaking in French and I’m clueless made me realize I needed to actually learn something. So I started looking at online French classes for beginners options and just picked one without overthinking it.
For like two years I just sat through family dinners where everyone’s talking in French and I’m eating bread and pretending I understand. Her mom would translate stuff for me which was nice but also made me feel like I was five years old. Eventually I just got tired of it.
One night I was like you know what, maybe I should actually learn this. My girlfriend immediately went into this whole thing about how she tried to get me to learn for years and blah blah blah. So obviously I had to be stubborn about it and was like “I don’t need your help I’ll figure it out myself.” Which is stupid but that’s how I am.
I googled online French classes for beginners just to have something to do on a Sunday night. There were a million options. I picked one that was like midway down the list and seemed fine. Honestly I don’t even remember how I chose it. I just clicked and paid and was like alright let’s do this.
The Thing That Scared Me Most
I genuinely thought I was bad at languages. Like that was just a fact about me. I got a C in Spanish in high school and I was like okay so I’m just not a language person. Some people are good at languages, some people aren’t. I’m not.
So when I signed up for online French classes for beginners I was expecting to be terrible at it. Like I was already making excuses in my head. “Well I tried online French classes for beginners and I’m just naturally bad at it so whatever.” I was setting myself up to fail before I even started because that’s easier than actually trying and potentially failing.
The online part freaked me out too. I thought it would be like watching a YouTube video by myself where I fall asleep. And then I’d feel guilty for not doing it and eventually quit. That’s literally what happened with like everything I’ve tried to learn online. Duolingo, random language apps, videos on YouTube. I’d do it for three days and then never touch it again.
I almost didn’t do it because I was like why would this be different? But I’d already paid so I figured I had to at least try one class.
First Class Was Actually Terrible
I logged in and it was awkward as fuck. The teacher was already there and like three other people just sitting there silent. Everyone had their cameras on which made it worse somehow. Like we were all just watching each other be nervous.
The teacher was like hi everyone welcome to online French classes for beginners and everyone’s like… okay. Real enthusiastic energy in that room.
She started talking about how we’re all scared and that’s normal and blah blah blah. Honestly I wasn’t really paying attention because I was too busy thinking about how I was gonna look stupid.
Then she just started saying words. Bonjour. Au revoir. Merci. Oui. And having us repeat them. I sounded ridiculous. My mouth literally couldn’t make the R sound. It was like something was stuck in my throat. One of the other people in the online French classes for beginners group sounded the same way and I felt a little better knowing I wasn’t the only one choking.
We did that for like thirty minutes and I genuinely thought this was pointless. I learned five words and they’re all really simple words that a toddler knows. I was like this sucks why am I doing this.
Week One Was Boring As Hell
So literally every day that week was the same lesson. Online French classes for beginners day one, day two, day three—all basically identical. Bonjour. Au revoir. Comment allez-vous. Ça va. Merci. Oui. Non.
Different teachers taught it which was weird. Like you’d think they’d have one teacher but they rotate them. I kept wondering if the teachers were comparing notes about how bad I was.
By like day three of online French classes for beginners I was already bored. I was like when are we gonna learn something harder? I wanted to move faster. I didn’t realize yet that the reason they repeat stuff constantly is because your brain actually needs that repetition to lock things in.
The weird thing is by the end of the week I wasn’t thinking about each word anymore. I’d hear bonjour and I just knew it was hello. I wasn’t translating in my head anymore. It was just automatic. That actually surprised me.
But honestly the first week of online French classes for beginners still sucked. It felt pointless. I was doing it but I didn’t believe it was working.
Week Two I Stopped Being Such a Pessimist
I don’t know what changed but like week two something felt different. I could say the words without thinking about them. They were just coming out naturally.
We started learning numbers and colors. The teacher would say a color and I’d say it back. Then she’d do like blue cat, red dog, all these combinations. And I realized oh wait I’m making actual sentences. Not long sentences but like actual things with a subject and an object and words in French.
I went to the French café near my apartment because I was feeling confident. I ordered a coffee and didn’t use English first. Just said “un café s’il vous plaît” and the guy understood me immediately. Didn’t have to repeat myself or anything. He just made my coffee.
That sounds like nothing but honestly it made me feel like a genius. Like I had actually accomplished something real. I texted my girlfriend “I ordered a coffee in French” and she was like “okay” but I could tell she was surprised I actually did it.
After that I was more into the online French classes for beginners thing. Like I still thought some of it was boring but I could see that it was actually working.
Week Three Things Got Weird
So like two weeks into online French classes for beginners, one of the teachers had us introduce ourselves. Full sentence. Name, where we’re from, something about ourselves. Everyone had to do it.
I was nervous. Like actually nervous. My hands were shaky. I don’t know why, it’s such a dumb thing, but I was worried about messing up the sentence in front of other people.
When it was my turn I said “Bonjour, je m’appelle [name], je viens des États-Unis, j’aime jouer au football.” I think I butchered it but I said the whole thing. Didn’t freeze up. Didn’t switch to English halfway through.
The teacher was like “très bien!” and everyone clapped. Which is embarrassing but also I felt weirdly proud of myself for completing a sentence in French. It’s such a basic thing but somehow it felt like I’d done something difficult.
One of the other guys in the online French classes for beginners group was like “nice man” in the chat and that made me feel even better. Like we were all suffering together and when one person did something, everyone was rooting for them.
Around Week Four I Actually Started Having Conversations
Not like real conversations. But like exchanges of dialogue. The teacher would ask me a question in French and I’d actually understand what she was asking and answer it. Sometimes wrong but I was understanding the question first instead of just being confused.
We did this exercise where we were simulating ordering at a restaurant. The teacher was the waiter. I had to order something. I said “Je voudrais un café et un croissant.” She understood me. We did this whole little scene that probably took three minutes but felt like I was doing something real.
That’s when online French classes for beginners started to actually feel useful to me. Before it was like am I wasting my money? But then it was like oh okay I can actually use this to communicate stuff.
My girlfriend was shocked when I started throwing random French words into conversations. Like she’d ask me something and I’d respond partially in French just because I could. She was like “okay so you’re actually learning this huh?” which felt like a win even though she was kind of making fun of me.
Month Two I Realized I Could Actually Understand Things
Like two months into online French classes for beginners I was watching a French YouTuber and I understood most of what he was saying. Not everything. But like most of it. I could piece together the meaning even when I didn’t know every word.
My girlfriend’s mom came over and she was talking to my girlfriend and I caught like 40% of the conversation without trying. I wasn’t sitting there translating in my head. I was just understanding. It was wild.
There was this moment where she said something and I actually responded in French. It was wrong probably but she understood what I was trying to say and we had like a ten second conversation where I was speaking French. That’s the most confused conversation ever but it happened.
Online French classes for beginners by month two had moved into harder stuff. We were learning past tense which is annoying as hell. French verbs are complicated and don’t make sense. But we were doing it.
I started actually doing the homework instead of just skipping it. Like I cared now. I wanted to get better. That wasn’t happening at the beginning when I was convinced I was naturally bad at languages.
Month Three I Stopped Making Excuses
By three months of doing online French classes for beginners regularly, I was actually decent at it. Not good. But decent. I could have conversations about basic stuff. I could understand YouTube videos. I could read simple articles.
My girlfriend asked me if I wanted to go to Paris with her family next summer and I was like yeah I actually think I could do that now without feeling like a complete idiot.
I realized somewhere along the way that my problem was never that I was bad at languages. It was that I didn’t care enough before. Once I started actually caring, learning French wasn’t hard. It was just boring sometimes. But boring and hard are different things.
Online French classes for beginners made me care because there were actual people involved. Real teachers, other students, scheduled class times. If it was just me watching videos on my own I would’ve quit immediately. But because I had to show up at a certain time and there were people there, I actually did it.
Why Online French Classes for Beginners Ended Up Being Good
The structure is what matters. Like if you just try to learn French on your own you’ll bounce around and waste time. Online French classes for beginners has a path. You know what you’re learning today, what you’re learning tomorrow, where this is all going.
The repetition thing that annoyed me at first actually works. Your brain needs to hear stuff multiple times before it sticks. They’re not repeating because they don’t know what they’re doing. They’re repeating because they know that’s how humans learn.
The live classes keep you accountable. If it was just videos I would’ve quit week two. But because there’s a class at a specific time with specific people, you show up. You don’t want to be the person who just disappears. That sounds dumb but it’s true.
You can also rewatch stuff if you don’t get it the first time. In a real classroom you’re stuck with what the teacher says. Online you can go back and watch it again. That’s actually huge.
The teachers in online French classes for beginners are also patient in a way that makes sense. They’re not annoyed that you don’t know French. That’s literally why you’re there.
Real Stuff People Ask
How long until you can talk to French people?
Depends on the person. Three months in I could have tiny conversations but I needed them to speak slowly. Six months in I could have real conversations at normal speed if they weren’t using slang. After a year I could mostly understand everything but I still mess up words.
Is online French classes for beginners better than real classes?
I think it depends on the person. For me it’s better because I can be at home in my pajamas and I don’t feel as self-conscious. But you do need the live component. If it’s just videos you’ll quit.
Can you actually get fluent from online French classes for beginners?
You can get conversational. Like actually able to talk to people and understand them. You probably won’t get “fluent” without living in France or spending serious time with native speakers. But you’ll get way better than you are now.
Do you have to do homework?
You’ll get better faster if you do. But even if you just do the classes, you’ll learn stuff. It’s just slower.
Real Talk
I spent two years saying I’d learn French and doing nothing. Then I spent like a week being annoyed about online French classes for beginners and thinking it was pointless. Then I actually stuck with it and now I can have conversations in French. That’s insane to me.
The whole thing was just me deciding to actually do the thing instead of talking about doing the thing. Online French classes for beginners worked because it had structure and actual people involved. If it was just me and an app I would’ve quit forever ago.
If you’ve been thinking about learning French, just pick a program and do it. Doesn’t have to be fancy. Doesn’t have to be perfect. Just something with live teachers and a structured path.
Check out https://berliners-institute.com/french-language-courses/ and see what they have for online French classes for beginners. I’m not gonna say their program is perfect because I haven’t tried it. But they have actual live teachers which is what matters. Don’t overthink it. Just pick something and commit to showing up.
In three months you’ll either regret wasting the time or you’ll be able to speak French. You probably won’t know until you try.
That’s honestly it. Stop thinking about it. Just do it.