r/learningfrench

Trump Mobile comenzará a enviar su nuevo teléfono T1 a los clientes esta semana. La empresa pertenece a la familia del presidente estadounidense Donald Trump. El teléfono es dorado y usa el sistema Android. Cuesta 499 dólares. La empresa dice que los primeros teléfonos T1 se ensamblaron en los Estados Unidos. Trump Mobile anunció el teléfono en junio de 2025. Primero debía estar listo en agosto, pero la fecha cambió muchas veces. Algunos clientes pagaron por el teléfono pero no lo recibieron. Muchas personas en las redes sociales dijeron que el teléfono nunca llegaría. El director ejecutivo de Trump Mobile, Pat O’Brien, dijo que esto no es verdad. Dijo que todos los teléfonos se enviarán en las próximas semanas.

Vocabulario: enviar = to send / clientes (m pl) = customers / pertenecer = to belong / costar = to cost / ensamblar = to assemble / veces (f pl) = times / pagar = to pay / recibir = to receive / redes sociales (f pl) = social media / llegar = to arrive / verdad (f) = truth / próximas = next

English translation

The Trump phone is ready

Trump Mobile will start sending its new T1 phone to customers this week. The company is owned by the family of US President Donald Trump. The phone is gold and uses the Android system. It costs $499. The company says the first T1 phones were assembled in the United States. Trump Mobile announced the phone in June 2025. It was first supposed to be ready in August, but the date changed many times. Some customers paid for the phone but did not receive it. Many people on social media said the phone would never arrive. The CEO of Trump Mobile, Pat O’Brien, said this is not true. He said all the phones will be sent in the next few weeks.

You can read more news stories in easy Spanish here: https://elnewsineasyspanish.substack.com/p/el-telefono-de-trump-esta-listo-dunkin

Hey everyone,

I’m building a tiny app while learning French and I’d genuinely love some feedback (especially the honest / critical kind).

The idea came from a pretty simple frustration: there is no good app to learn and practice French conjugation (and practising it in general is a real pain).

So I ended up building something very focused on this. It’s called Croissant Verbs.

The goal is not to “teach French from zero”, but to help you actually internalize verb conjugations through short practice sessions and make them feel intuitive over time.

What it does:

• short, focused conjugation lessons across different tenses
• lots of quick repetition-based quizzes
• tries to turn conjugation from “memorizing tables” into pattern recognition
• designed for 5–10 minute practice sessions you can actually stick to

I’m not trying to pretend it’s a complete French learning solution — it’s more of a small focused tool inside a bigger learning setup.

I don’t have a marketing budget or anything behind it, so I’m mostly looking for early testers and honest opinions.

I’d really appreciate feedback from people learning French:

• does this actually feel useful or too narrow?
• how are you currently practicing French verbs / conjugation?
• what tools do you use for this today?
• am I missing something obvious in how people learn this?

Feel free to be blunt — I’m mainly trying to figure out if this solves a real pain or just something I personally struggled with.

Thanks for reading 🙏

TL;DR: I have ADHD and I change my language learning method frequently while keeping a few things consistent.

I want to share a few things that have helped me stay engaged and committed in my language learning journey while still honouring my very sparkly novelty-seeking brain. I have figured out some ways to keep things fresh and productive while keeping a few things as non-negotiables. I am very open to suggestions if anyone has any advice for me.

Disclosure: I use AI in my learning. Please don't come for me. I DID NOT USE AI TO WRITE THIS THOUGH! I liked em dashes before ChatGPT did.

My background: I'm not trying to pass a test; I'm learning French to become a French as a Second Language teacher to primary students. I have been refreshing my extremely rusty French (I did French immersion in school) for about a year with reasonable consistency (except a couple months' break). My spoken French is low but my comprehension is high and I don't have to learn most grammatical concepts from scratch.

Apps: My language learning sped up noticeably when I uninstalled Duolingo. I vary my app use, but for French I like Busuu and Français Sans Fautes.

Non-negotiables: I keep some areas consistent even if I change everything else up.

• My weakest area is speaking, so I include at least 15 minutes of speaking practice every day and I try to do longer sessions twice a week. When I can, I practice with a language exchange partner or sessions on iTalki/Lingoda, but if not, I do a session with AI, usually a few monologues with corrections.
• My second weakest area is writing, so I journal in my TL every second day or so. I write by hand, because it feels good. Then I type it out, looking for any mistakes I can correct. Then I run it through AI, correct my errors, and write out a few practice sentences with the corrections.
• I review my Anki deck every day, out loud. My Anki deck is made of sentences that include vocabulary, phrases, and grammar concepts I am trying to master. I create these sentences from comprehensible input, from any mistakes I make while writing, and especially from anytime I tried to say something in French and wasn't able to. I try to turn mistakes and failed speaking attempts into future practice material.

Tracking: I did not think I would enjoy tracking my language learning but I love it. I have a spreadsheet that AI helped me perfect and I input any LL activity. Once a month I run my spreadsheet through AI, input my goals and how I feel about my learning, and it tells me what to tweak. I don't always follow its advice but this process has helped me feel a bit like language learning is a game I can level up in.

Multimodal, embodied learning: Someone posted this article, I believe here, which resonated with my belief that moving and doing helps me learn. I love to paint and I started doing watercolour videos in French and I really think this has helped a lot. I also use these for shadowing, frequently repeating what the artist says, and at the end of a video I try to sum up what I did in French out loud. If you knit, meditate, run, walk, build, sculpt, draw, do anything involving your body, I highly recommend doing it while consuming related content in your target language. It's EMBODIED, you guys!

ZOMBIES a.k.a. The Sweet Valley High vocabulary attainment strategy: I don't know if I read this article here or somewhere else, but I have found that picking a genre and reading in my TL mostly in that genre has increased the speed of my vocabulary building because I'm encountering a lot of the same words in a variety of contexts. What that has meant for me is that I have been reading a lot of post-apocalyptic and zombie fiction in French. I am now very familiar with French words for intestines and corpse, which are unlikely to be useful to me as a future FSL primary teacher, BUT plot-driven books like genre fiction use a lot of high-frequency verbs and other vocabulary that have proven to be super useful. I sometimes watch zombie movies in French as well, just to solidify my vocabulary and not at all because I love them. (CAVEAT: later language levels rely on an extremely broad vocabulary so virtually all topics become accessible, so broad reading becomes essential by maybe B2+.)

Keeping it active: I believe in the value of comprehensible input but I believe you have to do something to consolidate what you've just watched/read/listened to in order to create greater and greater shoving power from short-term to long-term memory. So after I watch/listen to something, I (mostly) always write a short summary in my TL or tell me dog in French about the main ideas. I give myself bonus points if I can use the vocab I'm working on.

Changing it up: I know, consistency is important. But I genuinely believe that as long as you are doing something active (not just passive input) every day in your TL you will move forward. If I stay on the same activities every day, I will absolutely burn out and stop. So I follow the fun. Cooking videos in French one week, science videos and Ted Talks, in French the next, and currently a lot of French true crime podcasts. But I try to use the vocab and grammar I'm working on within the fun framework to make everything work double-time.

Languages are enormous and there's so much to learn that I think it's okay to bounce around as long as you keep your eye on the prize: what are your specific goals and what do you need to get there? Do something every day that is specific to that goal, targeting your weakest areas, and balance those with lots of fun things that connect you to the language. It's okay to switch it up, honest.

The optimization trap: Many people, myself included, fall into the trap of spending so much time trying to find the "best" method for language learning that they don't actually spend much time learning and exploring the language. I think this, and gamified apps like Duolingo, can be some of the biggest barriers to real progress.

Last thoughts: There's this idea that you have to find one method and stick to it religiously to progress efficiently, especially to break through the intermediate plateau. I know my brain can't do that. So I make sure I speak and use review flashcards daily and then I bounce around like a ping-pong ball through everything I can find in French and the thing is: it's working for me. I'm much likelier to spend 2 hours doing French art videos than I am practicing in a grammar book, so I do 15 minutes of grammar and then get out my paint.

What works for your brain? Any tips for me? Feel free to ask questions. Wishing you all joy in your language learning!

"faire la part des choses" translates to "to make a distinction between things" or "to take things into consideration." 

Breaking down the expression:
- "faire" means "to make" or "to do."
- "la part" means "the part" or "the share."
- "des choses" means "of things."

This expression is used to indicate the importance of evaluating situations, opinions, or facts separately to gain clarity or understanding. It suggests that one should recognize different elements of a situation without letting emotions or biases cloud judgment.

Examples of usage:

1. In a conflict, one might say, "Il faut faire la part des choses pour comprendre les deux points de vue." (We need to make a distinction to understand both viewpoints.)
2. When discussing a controversial topic, you might hear, "Pour avancer dans le débat, il est essentiel de faire la part des choses." (To move forward in the debate, it's essential to take things into consideration.)

PS: If you want to learn more idiomatic expressions, I actually built Bingy for that. When you watch Youtube or Netflix, you can click on any subtitle to instantly get an explanation of the expression, grammar, or slang.

Happy learning!

I've started using verbtrainer.app lately to get my French verbs down, and I'm finding it really helpful for muscle memory.

For those of you who are B1/B2 level – how did you master the more complex tenses? Do you use apps like this, or do you prefer the old-school "write it until your hand cramps" method?

Who can beat my record in french verbs