16h • General 🗣
How long will this take?
Ce matin j'ai eu un chat avec ma femme. Elle m'a dit: "You've been working on learning French for a long time now. How long is this going to take?" Je ne sais pas, j'ai dit. Autant de temps qu'il faudra! Mais, j'ai pensé peut-être je passe de temps faire le chose moins utile pour moins. J'ai expliqué ma processus à Gemini et il m'a donné des informations intéressant. Voici le commentaire d'IA:
1. Why Your Progress Isn't Scaling (and the Fixes)
When you are a beginner, progress feels rapid because you are going from knowing zero words to knowing hundreds. As you approach the intermediate/advanced transition (often referred to as the "intermediate plateau"), progress becomes much more subtle.
To break through, you may need to shift from passive/gamified learning to active, real-world engagement:
- The Duolingo Limitation: While great for building a basic daily habit and learning rudimentary syntax, Duolingo has very low efficiency for intermediate-to-advanced learners. It uses translated, isolated sentences rather than natural, contextual language. Continuing to do multiple lessons a day at your level may be yielding diminishing returns.
- Anki Burnout vs. Anki Bloat: Flashcards are excellent for retention, but they teach vocabulary out of context. If you are spending hours reviewing cards, you are practicing remembering cards, not utilizing the language.
- The Shift to Native Input (The "Correction"): To reach fluency, your brain needs comprehensible input that mimics real life.
- Action: Try replacing Duolingo and heavy Anki sessions with consuming native French media (podcasts, YouTube, news, novels) at a level where you understand 70–80% of what is being said.
2. How Long Does It Take to Achieve Fluency?
The U.S. Foreign Service Institute (FSI), which trains diplomats, categorizes French as a Category I language (one of the easiest for native English speakers to learn).
- It takes approximately 600 to 750 hours of intensive class and study time to achieve "General Professional Proficiency" (equivalent to a strong B2/C1 level, where you can speak fluidly and handle complex professional topics).
- However, the FSI achieves this in near-total immersion (25 hours of class per week + 3 to 4 hours of daily self-study).
- For an independent adult managing everyday life, studying 1 hour a day, reaching B2 typically takes 12 to 18 months, while C1 (highly fluent/advanced) usually requires 700 to 900 hours (roughly 2 years).
Given that you've been studying seriously for 1 year and are already approaching advanced, you are actually on a very realistic, if not accelerated, trajectory. Your brain is simply doing the quiet, slow work of organizing and consolidating that massive influx of data.
3. Language Learning in Your Mid-to-Late 50s: Is Fluency Realistic?
Absolutely, yes. It is entirely reasonable and achievable to reach fluency in your 50s or beyond.
While there is a persistent myth that only children can achieve fluency, cognitive science paints a much more nuanced picture:
The "Older Learner" Advantage
- Systematic Learning: Adults possess highly developed executive function, metacognition, and study strategies that children lack. You understand how you learn, how grammar works structurally, and can consciously apply learning methods.
- Vocabulary Integration: Your native vocabulary and conceptual understanding of the world are vast. Learning a new word in French doesn't require learning a new concept—just mapping a new sound/word to an existing concept.
What Actually Changes with Age?
- Pronunciation (The Accent): While adults can learn to speak clearly and understandably, the neuroplasticity required to speak with a perfect, native-like accent does decline after puberty. However, accent is not fluency. You can be perfectly fluent while retaining an English accent.
- Speed of Rote Memorization: Memorizing list-style vocabulary (like raw flashcards) can take slightly longer due to gradual changes in working memory. This is exactly why transitioning your study time from rote memorization (Duolingo/Anki) to contextual exposure (reading, watching, listening to natural French) is so crucial—it plays directly to an adult's strengths.
- Cognitive Benefits: Neurological research shows that learning a second language in older adulthood is one of the most powerful workouts for your brain, building massive "cognitive reserve" and effectively delaying cognitive aging.
Moving Forward
You have built an incredible foundation. To break past this plateau, consider cutting back on the apps and transitioning your "many hours" into reading actual French books, watching French television (with French subtitles, not English), and having one-on-one conversations where you are forced to formulate spontaneous thoughts.
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How long will this take?
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