Learn French by reading.

The best way to learn French is to read real French texts at your level with instant tap-to-translate, focusing on the most frequent vocabulary first and reinforcing it with spaced repetition. English shares thousands of words with French, so a lot of vocabulary is already familiar.

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Lector reading a French passage with colour-coded word states and click-to-translate

Native speakers: ~80 million
Difficulty (FSI): Category I
To proficiency: ~600–750 hours

Why French

Reasons to start.

One of the world's most widely spoken languages — roughly 80 million native speakers and over 300 million total across five continents (OIF, 2022).

An official language of the UN, EU, and many international organisations — a real asset for careers in diplomacy, business, and travel.

English borrowed thousands of words from French, so a large amount of vocabulary is already familiar.

Bonus: Shares thousands of cognates with English thanks to the Norman influence, and is closely related to Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese — which become easier once you know French.

Is it hard? How long?

The honest version.

FSI Category I — one of the easiest tiers — at roughly 600–750 hours. Vocabulary overlaps heavily with English; the main challenges are pronunciation, nasal vowels, silent letters, and grammatical gender.

Whatever the category, the method is the same: read a lot of French, learn the most common words first, and let a spaced-repetition system resurface them right before you forget. See the method.

A line of French

Le matin, quand le soleil se lève sur le village, les boulangers ouvrent leurs portes et l'odeur du pain frais remplit les rues tranquilles.

In the morning, when the sun rises over the village, the bakers open their doors and the smell of fresh bread fills the quiet streets.

How Lector helps

Read it. Practice it. Remember it.

The reader (above) turns any French text into a lesson — tap any word to translate it, hear it in a native voice, and track what you know. Then frequency-ordered cloze practice locks the core vocabulary in, and mined words push straight to Anki.

Practice

Drill the words that matter first.

Frequency-ordered cloze sentences build the core of French vocabulary, scheduled by spaced repetition so each one returns right when you're about to forget it — in multiple-choice or typing mode. Practise listening to native pronunciation on every word and sentence, powered by Google text-to-speech.

French cloze practice in Lector with multiple-choice options

Free resources

Free resources to get you started.

The French reference data below is free to use on its own. To turn it into a full reading course, self-host Lector for free or start on the cloud from $5/mo.

French reference data

Where the French dictionary and cloze bank come from, with counts and full licensing.

Browse the data

New to Anki?

A from-scratch guide to spaced-repetition flashcards and loading your first French deck.

Getting started with Anki

Questions

Learning French, answered.

More on the method, or jump into the docs.

Is French hard to learn?

French is one of the more accessible languages for English speakers because the two share a huge amount of vocabulary. Pronunciation, nasal vowels, silent letters, and gendered nouns are the main things to master.

How long does it take to learn French?

The FSI puts French in its easiest category, estimating around 600–750 class hours (roughly 24–30 weeks of intensive study) to reach professional working proficiency. Reading regularly speeds up comprehension well before that.

What is the best way to learn French?

Read real French texts at your level, focus first on the most frequent vocabulary, and use spaced repetition to remember it. Pairing comprehensible reading with listening builds both understanding and an ear for pronunciation.

Can I learn French for free?

Yes. There is a wealth of free French content — public-domain books, open courses, and free or self-hosted reading and flashcard tools — so you can reach a high level without paying for lessons.

Get involved

Learning French? You're in good company.

Come chat with other learners on our Discord — swap resources, compare progress, ask questions, and stay motivated while you read your way in.

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Start reading French today.

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