How I Learnt French From A1 to B2 in 3 Years (Real Tactics)

When I came to France in 2018 for the HEC Paris MiM, my French was A1. I could say bonjour, count to ten, and butcher je m’appelle Mayank. Three years later I had a strong B2: real conversations, French films without subtitles, job interviews. This is how I actually did it.

Three years is long. I did it while running a master’s program in English, while interning, while building a social life, and while figuring out how to live abroad. If you have more time and fewer distractions, you can be faster.

When you are an absolute beginner

Learn the basics before you arrive

The single best move I did not make. Learn as much as you can before flying. A1 or even A2 before you arrive saves you months because you do not spend your first weeks learning how to count and order coffee. The early levels can be learnt in a classroom. Once you arrive, you want to focus on harder stuff like grammar, listening, and speaking under pressure.

Show up at the local Alliance Francaise in your home country. They are in most major cities and the classes are good. If I redid this, I would land in France at A2, not A1. It would have saved me a year.

Take classes in France

At HEC Paris, French classes were mandatory below B1 and they were free. That structure was the single most useful thing for my progress. Learning from a French teacher beats self-paced apps, and weekly classes force consistency.

If you study in France in an English program, your school probably has free or subsidised French classes. Use them. If you are working in France, your local mairie runs subsidised classes. The CCIP and the Sorbonne run excellent paid intensives.

Use your French even when you will mess up

Switch to French at the bakery, with bus drivers, asking for directions, at the supermarket checkout. The point is not to be perfect. The point is to make the small daily mistakes so the bigger ones in higher-stakes settings feel less scary.

Most French people switch to English if they sense you struggling. Politely insist on staying in French and tell them you are learning. Most will slow down. I covered why this friction is worth it in the mistakes new arrivals make in Paris.

Once you have grasped the basics

Stop auto-translating websites

Google Chrome auto-translates any French page you land on. Turn it off. Force yourself to read in French and look up the words you do not know.

On a Mac, install a French-English dictionary into the built-in Dictionary app and force-click any word to look it up. You can also type a word into Spotlight to translate it on the fly. Reading in French builds passive vocabulary fast. Within a few months you stop needing to look up the same words.

Read children’s books

Learning a language is being a child again. Children’s books have simple vocabulary, short sentences, and concrete contexts. They are the right level for someone going from A2 to B1. Start with the Petit Nicolas series. Move to Le Petit Prince once you are at B1.

Set up a weekly French conversation session

In LA I went to a French-speakers Meetup and met two guys. We met weekly over happy hour drinks. It was casual, low-stakes, and one of the most effective things I did. Three people is the sweet spot. Two is intense and burns out. Four is loud.

Make French friends and use French with them

When you hang out, set aside 15 to 20 minute blocks where you only speak French. You cannot speak French the whole evening because real conversation gets exhausting. Carving out time inside an English hangout works. You need friends willing to do this with you. I was lucky to have a few.

Keep going up the class ladder

Only proper classes teach you the grammar depth you need at B1 and above. Self-study plateaus around B1. Do not stop classes until at least B2, ideally C1. I covered why language is worth the effort in my pros and cons of living in Paris piece. At B2 the city opens up. At C1 it becomes another home.

When you want to go further

Listen to podcasts and YouTube channels

Start with Intermediate French Podcast. The same host runs innerFrench on YouTube, which is my single favourite resource for going from B1 to B2. The accent is clear, the pace is reasonable, and the content is interesting enough that you will want to keep listening.

Once you are past B2, try regular French YouTube. A French tech YouTuber called Steven was great practice for me. Hugo Decrypte is excellent for news in clear French. Cyrus North covers philosophy and ideas. Pick the one that matches what you would already watch in English.

Watch French Netflix the right way

Install the Chrome extension Language Learning with Netflix. It lets you see French and English subtitles at once, jump forward and backward by sentence rather than by 10 seconds, and slow down playback. This is the single best Netflix workflow I have found for language learning.

Dix Pour Cent, also called Call My Agent, is a great starting series. Fast and fun once you reach B1. Lupin works at B1 to B2. Below B1, French Netflix is too fast to be a productive learning tool. Stick to podcasts and YouTube for now.

The honest summary

A1 to B2 in three years while doing a master’s program in English. I could have done it in two with a higher starting level and no internship interruption. The trajectory was steady, not magical. Class, daily practice, French friends, French media, and one weekly conversation session were the five things that compounded.

If you are deciding whether to bother, you should. The city, friendships, and career options all sit on the other side of B1. I covered why this matters in feeling at home while living abroad and the harder version in moving abroad is hard.