You are asked in French for your date of birth…
… and you don’t know how to give it: embarrassing situation!
You do not understand the price (given orally) …
… of something you want to buy: embarrassing situation!
And I experienced these embarrassing situations when I was learning Dutch…
However, I had learned to count in Dutch. But you know how it is:
You learn a list of vocabulary and how to use it, but because you don’t use these words regularly…
it’s not really that you’ve forgotten it…
or even a little bit forgotten…
or even that it has slipped your mind completely.
And it was during these embarrassing moments that I could regret not having practiced enough with the numbers in this foreign language.
Often, numbers in a foreign language are not really considered as something important, you learn to count to 10 and then that’s it.
In the best case, you are told how to count to 100. And you have to deal with the theory.
And even if you realize that knowing how to count in French is important, once you’ve learned how to count to 100, you move on …
… and even if you haven’t forgotten the theory, you don’t have any practice and after a while… counting in French is almost as difficult as when you started.
What I always tell my students about numbers in French is that…
... counting in French is like gymnastics (or any other sport).
If you don’t practice, you won’t be able to progress, and every time you have to go back to gymnastics, it’s going to be hard and you’re going to get sore.
Counting in French is like gymnastics!
You have to train regularly.
Do exercises,
push-ups,
sit-ups.
Regularly.
At least at the beginning, so that your body and your brain gain enough experience to be able to reproduce the gestures without too much difficulty.
When I see people in gyms running on treadmills, doing weight training, I feel a bit jealous.
I say to myself that if I could create a room where people could practice learning French in the same way as they practice fitness, it could be fantastic for the acquisition of the French language.
I can’t invite you to a gym room.
But I can offer you a workout style training
to learn to count,
to master French numbers,
to repeat the numbers enough and at the right time so that you feel comfortable with them.
That’s why I created
The French Numbers Workout Method.
In one month,
5 to 10 minutes per day
with short interactive videos,
you will go from zero (I can’t count in French)
or
from level 1 (I count a little to 10)
or
level 2 (I manage a bit, but don’t talk to me about numbers beyond 30) …
you will go to level 100
and above:
a facility to understand all numbers in French
and
an agility to say all the numbers in French.
After using the French Numbers Workout Method you will no longer be afraid of numbers like the incredible French
77
(‘soixante-dix-sept’ -> 60 + 10 + 7)
or
99
(‘quatre-vingt-dix-neuf’-> 4 x 20 + 10 + 9) will no longer hold any secrets for you!
So to summarise:
-> my advice:
consider learning French numbers as a daily exercise
-> the training:
the French Numbers Workout Method
If you want to be able to count in French to 100,
to 999,
even to 123,456,789 (more than 123 million),
the French Numbers Workout Method is for you.
See you right away in the Boutique
of the Français illustré …
à bientôt, Jérôme
