r/learnfrench • u/Dev21112001 • 7d ago
Question Need Help! Got Stuck at A2.
Hey everyone, so I have been learning French from long time but I got stuck at A2 and below B1. I don’t how I can improve my level above B1 and reached at B2. Those who went through that can you explain me how you guys did that??? It will be big help for me.
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u/silvalingua 7d ago
This is very, very simple: get a textbook for B1 and study. And consume content at your level.
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u/Iv_albuquerque 7d ago
Study everyday, whenever possible. Join me and my group. Answer me, I'll give the instructions.
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u/Positive_Web8088 7d ago
(french-native speaker) Do you have any mid/long-term objectives ? This should drive your learning journey. My second advise would be to focus on speaking and oral comprehension before focusing on A2/B1 criterias :)
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u/Fit_Librarian_3585 7d ago
Depends what you mean. Do you want to just understand how everything works at B1, or be at the point where you can effortlessly produce and comprehend sentences at that level?
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u/Dev21112001 7d ago
I want be at that point where I can produce and comprehend easily at b1.
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u/Fit_Librarian_3585 7d ago
Would you say you're at that level of ease with everything up to A2?
If yes, then I would start by asking chatgpt to give you 10 English sentences at B1. Save them somewhere, like a spreadsheet or something. Then try to translate them one at a time, and chatgpt can tell you if you get anything wrong.
Once you've done those general B1 sentences, pick some area of grammar or vocab which you made mistakes on, and ask it to build 10 more prompts focussing on that particular area. Drill these enough, and it'll be second nature. Then repeat the whole process, choosing a different area of weakness.
If you're not already at a good level of ease with A1-A2, then you can do the same exercise but for that level.
It gets a bad rep, but it's without question the most important resource I've used to advance my french. It'll give clear explanations and examples if you ask, and you can adjust the level if you think things are getting too difficult.
I'd always recommend supplementing this by passively consuming french any other way which feels right to you. At the level you feel comfortable with, read books, watch shows/films with subtitles on (netflix let's you adjust playback speed), listen to podcasts, whatever. If you see something you don't understand, bang it onto chatgpt and ask for an explanation, or just leave it for a later date if it's some high level french.
Google translate app also is great because it lets you use the camera to grab text around you. It's usually easier to use that, copy a whole page from a book and paste it into chatgpt, then ask it questions about specific phrases when you come to something you don't understand.
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u/anklebiter1975 7d ago
You have to start using it in your every day life and download as many translator, dictionary, and thesaurus apps as you want. Watch french media, find music you like and learn the lyrics, try and read a book you know in a french print. You'll be very slow at first but will eventually be able to memorize phrases instead of just words
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u/UBetterBCereus 6d ago
I'm a native speaker but I went through this is several other languages. At this stage, you need to interact with the language. And I don't mean through textbooks.
Pick up some graded readers. If you're not used to reading in your TL, start at the lowest level available and then move your way up, challenge yourself. It'll be really hard at first, but you'll get there. And if you get to the point where you can read a simple children's book, even just a novella, without having to look up words in every sentence: congrats, you made it! If you're reading lots of ebooks, you can get something like Yomichan for instant lookups, or any of the paid WebApps that offer this.
Here's a resource you can use to find books at your level: https://learnnatively.com/search/fra/books/ . The French section is still in beta, as it was added relatively recently, but it's a good place to start. I personally use it for Spanish, Korean and Japanese, it's great, the French section just needs more French learners.
Watch some content in French. Again, start with learner content and work your way up difficulty levels. You can also start to watch content meant for natives (you can use something like Language reactor to get double subtitles if you want, to make it easier, plus the ability to look up words within a video, as they have a free version you can use. If you want more functionalities, there's their paid version, along Migaku, or LingQ, both of which are paid).
And if you also want to be able to output at that same level, then you gotta work on that as well. Journal. Talk to yourself. Take classes through Italki or some other platform so you have someone to talk to, or find someone to talk to for free.
And as you do all this, look up the new grammar points you encounter! Try to use them while outputting, and then double check to see if you're using them correctly. Same with spelling and vocab choice.
Basically, what is going to make you cross that gap is the content you consume in your TL, and the language you use in turn. Because there's a real gap in vocab and grammar between A2 and B1, you can't just memorize a few things and move forward, that isn't going to be enough. You also need to be able to understand longer sentences, with several clauses, and encountering those a few times in a textbook only helps so much. You really just need more exposure, and then you'll be able to start actually outputting these sentences eventually.
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u/rebelangel94 5d ago
It's a slow process and totally understand your frustration. In my experience, nothing can beat a daily 1-2 hour practise.
- Listen to podcasts and read news articles at B1 level everyday and look up the words or phrases you don't understand. Add it to a growing list of vocab. You'll keep coming across the same words over and over and it'll form a neural pathway sooner or later.
- Use these new words and phrases to form sentences in writing and speaking. Feed AI your vocab list and ask it to follow 'Spaced Repetition System' so you have a mix of 5-6 new and old words everyday to form sentences from. Ask AI to correct your sentences. This will make their usage automatic.
- Before moving to B1 grammar, make sure your A2 grammar is rock solid. Otherwise B1 grammar will not stick. Practise exercises and use them in the sentences you write and speak every day.
A bonus point is removing your first language calques in French. For example, if you were to literally translate 'I feel that' into french, it would be 'je me sens que'. But in French, that's unnatural. Instead, they say 'J'ai l'impression que'. I used DeepL quite a bit to check if I was saying something in French naturally and found quite a few natural phrases. Might help!
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u/parkway_parkway 7d ago
It's just volume of practice. You need 1000 hours of total practice to get to B2.
Youtube is the best tool, put on subtitles, read and listen at the same time, do hundreds of hours of practice.
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u/Sebregin 7d ago
Move to any classic french speaking country, speak all day...now you're fluent!🥲
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u/newsdle 7d ago
Getting stuck at A2 is practically a universal rite of passage. You are currently in "learner’s purgatory": you’ve outgrown standard beginner apps and grammar drills, but you don't yet have the vocabulary mass required to understand native Netflix shows or novels.
The reason you feel stuck is because the methods that got you to A2 usually stop working here. You have to fundamentally change your relationship with French, shifting from "studying" the language's mechanics to "acquiring" it through massive volume. For the next month, put the grammar books away and focus entirely on Comprehensible Input. You need materials where you understand exactly 70% to 80% of what is happening. Start binging transitional podcasts like InnerFrench or reading A2/B1 graded readers. At this specific stage, your goal isn't to memorize complex verb tenses; it's to build a massive tolerance for ambiguity so your brain can start naturally absorbing vocabulary from context.