Learn
When beginning to read in French, there are several important things you must remember:
First
Do not to panic about not understanding every word. You are new to French! You will not understand every word. That is ok!
Second
Do not look up every word on Google Translate. It is a very tedious and boring process. It will make you hate French!
Third
Remember to use all of the reading skills you already know and use in English What are those skills you already know?
- Use the text format: What type of reading is it? Is it a menu? Is it a review of a restaurant? Is it a brochure about a place? Once you know the text type that will help you anticipate the types of information you would expect to find. For example, if you are reading a brochure about a university you would expect to find information about classes taught there, extra curricular activities, tuition costs, etc. Knowing what kind of information to expect will help improve your understanding.
- Use Visuals: Look at the pictures and title of the reading. What do the pictures tell you about the article. For example, if you see an article with pictures of animals and the word zoo in the title, you know the article will be about zoo animals. You can start thinking about the kinds of information you would expect to find in an article on this topic.
- Use your background knowledge: What do you already know about the topic? Using the text format and visuals will help you think about what you already know about the topic.
- Use cognates: We talked about using cognates in Unit 1 of this course. Remember that cognates are words in French that look very similar to words in English. They can be very helpful in your reading.
Note: If you use a word to word translator, you are certain to get a result that is not fully correct. You will miss out on idiomatic expressions and other figurative language. Be patient, and learn them.
