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Learning French

We analyzed all your options for learning French. 

We checked how quickly you’re likely to make your first conversation in French with each option, cost and many other things.

Here’s what we’ve found out.

We were serious about getting an accurate picture of the different online and offline options for learning French available for you today, so we’ve analyzed each option’s main features and surveyed close to 1,000 people who started to learn French.

Some of them started using different apps, some of them started taking private lessons with a French teacher one-on-one either offline or online, and some went to great schools like the Sorbonne in Paris.

We’ve followed them for some time and summarized for you the things you might want to know: how fast you are likely to become conversational in French, how fun and engaging it was, and the cost of learning French with each tool.

Comparing the cost was a tricky part because each option of learning French uses a different pricing model.

So to keep things simple, we’ve used the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and calculated how much it would cost you to reach level A1 in French, which is the most basic level of proficiency in French.

Keep scrolling further down below the table to learn more about our research and understand each option’s different features.

Online and offline options for learning French compared

Hover over the green, yellow and red signs in the table to see what they mean. Below the table, you can read more about the way we’ve gathered those scores. 

Click on the green, yellow and red signs in the table to see what they mean. Below the table, you can read more about the way we’ve gathered those scores. 

Becoming Conversational

First 100 Words

Cognitive Friendly

Fun And Interesting

Price

Becoming Conversational

Words

Cognitive Friendly

Fun

Price

tokfrench

Start from 99$

French Course

Start from 590$

Private Teacher

Start from 1,900$

Start from 199$

Start from 147$

Start from 168$

Start from 575$

Start from 167$

Start from 140$

Start from 160$

Start from 175$ ***

tokfrench

Start from 99$

* If you don’t find in the table an option of learning French you are considering, please let us know about it. Click here to write to us.

** The prices are calculated according to what our survey participants paid. We update prices twice a year.

*** There’s a free subsription with limited functionality which makes learning French with Duolingo even harder and longer. 

Here’s how we’ve found out the scores of each option for learning French.

Becoming Conversational

We’ve analyzed how many hours on average people need with each option of learning French to get conversational.

You get conversational when you can communicate about simple and day to day tasks using simple, direct and familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases.

It has a name. It is called A1 level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) you may find here. This is the first level of profficiency in any language, so this is your first goal when you come to learn French.  

The total time it takes people to become conversational in French includes the time they need to learn and also the time they need to practice and rehearse everything they’ve just learned.

For example, if you’re learning French with a private professional teacher, you don’t learn French only when you’re with your teacher.

Between every two lessons with your French teacher, you spend time by yourself going over the things you’ve learned with the teacher and practice them.

So we’ve calculated the total time people spent learning French with each option by surveying 742 people who started and finished at least 120 hours of learning and practising French.

Learning French with a private professional teacher was our reference point. It turns out it takes at least 84 hours to become conversational with a private professional French teacher. 

84 hours is exactly the average value of the yellow clock badge you may find in the table above.

If the average time it took people to become conversational was above it, the tool they’ve used to learn French received a red clock badge.

If the average time it took people to become conversational was below 84 hours on average, the tool they’ve used to learn French received a green clock badge.

Only one option of learning French made people conversational faster than a private professional teacher. All other options delivered similar results or worse.

First 100 Words

We’ve analyzed how many hours on average people need with each option of learning French to know and remember 100 new words.

The total time it takes people to know and remember 100 new words in French includes the time they need to learn and also the time they need to practice and rehearse them with flashcards or any other method of memorizing new words.

Learning a language is much more than learning new words of course, but how fast you learn new words is a good indication of how effective the learning method is. 

Also, moving fast with vocabulary doesn’t only help in expressing yourself in a new language; it also motivates and builds confidence.

So we’ve calculated the total time people spent learning French with each option by surveying 891 people who started and finished at least 20 hours of learning and practising French.

The median time it takes students in a French course in the Sorbonne to know and remember 100 new words is 15 hours. 

We decided to use this as the average value of the yellow clock badge you may find in the table above.

If the average time it took people to know and remember 100 new words was above it, the tool they’ve used to learn French received a red clock badge.

If the average time it took people to know and remember 100 new words was below 15 hours on average, the tool they’ve used to learn French received a green clock badge.

The progress people made with vocabulary in French was quite slow with most of the tools in the table; however, three options of learning French helped people remembering 100 new words in French in less than 9 hours. 

Cognitive Friendly

We’ve analyzed how cognitive friendly each option of learning French is by measuring its cognitive waste (here’s one scientific article which talks about it).

If cognitive waste is high in a particular option, it is not cognitive friendly to learn French with. If cognitive waste is low, then the option of learning French is cognitive friendly. 

Cognitive waste gets higher in response to many different cues, like cognitive shifting. As this article in Nature shows, each time you shift between tasks is bad for learning.

Research also shows that every decision you need to make while learning drains your brain and leaves less cognitive power to the real deal, which is learning French (here’s one scientific article that talks about what’s called ‘cognitive load’).

Cognitive waste was not the only way we measured how cognitive friendly each option of learning French is, but we found they are inversely correlated with one another.

Being cognitive friendly doesn’t only mean you’ll learn French faster; it also means it will be easier for you to learn French, and you will finish each learning session more motivated and energized to keep going. 

Our reference for a high cognitive friendly option of learning French is a Private French Teacher.

So we’ve analysed all other options of learning French against it.

Fun And Interesting

We’ve asked all 994 participants on our survey who finished at least 5 hours of learning French how fun and interesting it was for them.

We also asked them what was fun and interesting about it to analyze their answers more thoroughly.  

People found learning French fun and interesting when it included some story-like features, some kind of game or competition, and when it made them smile.

We found only one option of learning French that was not fun and interesting for most people. 

So if more than 51% of the people found it fun and interesting, the tool they’ve used to learn French received a yellow badge.

But if more than 85 % of the people found it fun and interesting, the tool they’ve used to learn French received a green badge.

So what's the best option to learn French?

Each of the options of learning French provides different strengths.

When we test them against concrete and measurable goals as described above, you get a clear picture of which tool is the best way for you to learn French.  

In the table above, we’ve compared the different options of learning French against the top 5 criteria people told us are the most critical for them in choosing how to learn French.

Things like how fast they are likely to become conversational in French, how fun and engaging the lessons are, and the cost of learning French.

You’re probably wondering about the same things, right?

There are so many options for learning French, online and offline, making it difficult to choose the best way for you to learn French.

In our survey, we were first aiming to clean the clutter using a clear, practical and straightforward approach to measure the effectiveness of each tool of learning French.

Analysing the different options of learning French against 5 concrete and measurable criteria, we’ve found Tokfrench to be the most cost-effective option to start speaking French.

It’s the only online option to learn French that can bring you to start speaking French all by itself, without the need to use other resources, tools or apps to learn French.

Tokfrench provides every student with superior results over traditional offline options too, like language schools, by offering a competitive price.

That way you enjoy the benefits of both online and offline options for learning French.

You gain the effectiveness of an offline option and enjoy the price of an online option for learning French.

You can read more about the method of Tokfrench here or, even better, start speaking French with Tokfrench in 15 minutes and feel for yourself how far it can take you. 

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