Learning French
The classes, the apps, and the phrases you need before you need them.
My French was, generously, "classroom-level and ten years stale" when I arrived. What actually got it moving wasn't a single course — it was a combination of structured classes, casual practice, and forcing myself to use the ten phrases that come up daily, badly, over and over, until they weren't scary anymore.
Where to actually take classes
The Alliance Française has a branch in Nice and runs structured group courses at every level, which is the obvious and reliable starting point if you want real grammar and a teacher correcting you. Beyond that, several local associations run cheaper, more informal conversation classes aimed specifically at newcomers and often subsidized or free — worth asking about at your town hall (mairie) or through expat community groups, since they don't always advertise widely. If you learn better one-to-one, private tutors are easy to find locally and usually charge by the hour for in-person or video sessions.
Tandems and conversation exchange
A language tandem — pairing with a French speaker who wants to practice your language in exchange for helping you with theirs — was honestly more useful to my confidence than any class. There are informal language-exchange meetups around Nice most weeks, often in a café or bar, and apps built specifically for finding tandem partners make it easy to arrange one-to-one sessions too. The advantage over a class is that you're forced to actually construct sentences in real time with someone patient, rather than just conjugating on paper.
Apps that helped, and ones that didn't
Duolingo is fine for keeping a daily habit going, but it plateaus fast once you're past the basics — I found it more useful in my first month than my sixth. What made more of a difference later was a flashcard app for building real vocabulary retention, and simply switching my phone, a couple of apps, and my podcast feed to French once I could follow along even loosely. None of this replaces speaking out loud to an actual person, but it fills the gaps between conversations.
The phrases you need first
Before grammar, learn the social script: "Bonjour" the second you walk into any shop, before you say anything else — skipping it reads as rude in a way that genuinely surprises newcomers. "Je voudrais…" for ordering or asking for something. "Est-ce que vous parlez anglais?" asked politely, in French, tends to get a warmer response than launching straight into English. And for admin specifically: "J'ai rendez-vous à [time]", "Voici mes documents", and "Pouvez-vous répéter, s'il vous plaît?" will get you through most prefecture and bank counters even when your vocabulary runs out mid-sentence.
A few more that earned their keep in my first months: "Je suis désolé(e), je ne parle pas très bien français" buys you patience rather than irritation. "Pourriez-vous parler plus lentement, s'il vous plaît?" is more useful than it sounds, because the actual problem is almost never vocabulary — it's speed. And "Merci, bonne journée" on the way out of any shop, even a five-second interaction, is the kind of small courtesy that adds up to being treated like a neighbor rather than a tourist.
Why your accent matters less than you think
I spent far too long embarrassed about how I sounded, convinced people were judging my accent rather than listening to what I was actually saying. In practice, almost nobody cares as much as you think they do — what people respond to is effort, politeness, and a willingness to keep trying rather than switching straight to English at the first stumble. The turning point for me wasn't getting the accent right, it was getting comfortable being imperfect out loud, in public, on purpose.
Common mistakes
Waiting until you're "good enough" to start speaking, which mostly just delays the point where you get good. Skipping "Bonjour" out of nerves, which lands worse than a grammar mistake ever will. And relying entirely on an app without ever practicing out loud with a person — the two are not substitutes for each other, they're different muscles.
My first proper conversation entirely in French was with a pharmacist, about a headache, and I left more proud of myself than the situation probably warranted. That's the honest truth about this — the small wins matter more than they should, and they add up.
Course offerings, subsidies and app features change — it's worth checking current options with the Alliance Française or your local mairie directly.
Stuck on something specific?
Send Nathalie your question — the answer usually becomes a guide.