Learning French for a job in France

The short version, for adults starting from zero or close to it:

First, for about five weeks: Flua for 30 minutes a day as your main study, working through the French beginner deck.
From about week three: a tutor or conversation partner two or three times a week, rehearsing the work situations below.
Every week: a few of your own field's terms, from your own documents.
Once you start: listen in meetings, ask colleagues to slow down when you need it, and keep your Flua reviews going.

Written by Sora Kalden, who builds Flua, so this plan puts Flua first. The reasons, and what Flua doesn't cover, are below.

Stage 1: everyday French, with Flua

Work French is everyday French plus your field's terms. In corpus studies of English, the thousand most common word families make up roughly 80 to 90% of the words in everyday speech (Nation, 2006), and French has the same steep curve, and vocabulary research advises learning them before the specialized words, whatever the goal. The French deck is 1,058 cards teaching 730 words in the order people say them most, and the forms it teaches make up 71% of all words spoken in French film and TV, counted from subtitles. Every card teaches exactly one new word or pattern in a sentence you otherwise understand, and every sentence plays at natural speed. In the iPhone and Android apps, speaking cards have you say sentences you already understand.

Flua’s working estimate, from its founder’s own tracked study rather than a test, is about 14 hours to A1, which Flua sets at 700 words; at the same pace per card, the French deck is about 16 hours of study, roughly five weeks at 30 minutes a day. Your own pace shows after your first session. Every card is free while the beta runs.

Stage 2: work situations, from about week three

A tutor two or three times a week is enough to start. Rehearse what you'll meet in your first weeks:

Introducing yourself and your role
Small talk at lunch or the coffee machine
Saying you didn't understand, and asking someone to repeat or slow down
Following a meeting and giving a short update
Phone calls and short emails

Stage 3: your field's terms and your contract

Collect the French terms from your own work: the job description, your contract and the tools you use. Flua's decks can't be edited, so keep these in a list or a flashcard app of your own. The contract words come up in almost every job:

le contrat de travail: the employment contract
le CDI: a permanent contract
le CDD: a fixed-term contract
la période d'essai: the probation period
le bulletin de salaire: a payslip
les congés payés: paid leave
la mutuelle: top-up health insurance, often through your employer
une réunion: a meeting

Moving too? The plan for moving to France has the paperwork words and the levels residence permits ask for.

If you already speak some French

Take the placement test in Settings first (“Recalibrate my level”); it starts you at your level. If you already follow everyday spoken French, around B1, the current deck is below your level, and your time is better spent on conversation and your field's terms.

What this plan can and can't promise

No independent study we know of measures how many hours any app, course or plan takes to get someone to a goal like this, so the hours here are estimates. Your own measured pace, which Flua shows after every session, is the number to trust. A few weeks won't make anyone fluent; they can take you through the most common words in the language and into your first real conversations.

Try the first cards free →

Other plans: moving to France · a French exam · a job in France · a trip to France

More: all comparisons · common questions · sample cards · Flua Index test · the method · live data · about Flua