Learn English from French: Classes & Exchanges at PBC Languages
French speakers learning English hit the same walls: TH sounds, false friends like 'actually', calqued sentences. Here's what's easy, what's hard, and how PBC exchanges fix it.
Create your free accountNo card needed. Exchanges between members are always free.
If you speak French, English pronunciation will fight you on a few specific points. The TH sound in 'think' or 'this' doesn't exist in French, so it usually comes out as 's', 'z' or 'f'. The English H is aspirated and French speakers either drop it ('I 'ave a car') or add it where English doesn't want it. Stress is another trap: French stresses the last syllable almost automatically, English moves the stress around ('PHOto' vs 'phoTOGraphy'), and getting it wrong makes you hard to understand even with perfect grammar.
The grammar mistakes are predictable too, because they come straight from translating French structures. 'I am agree' comes from 'je suis d'accord'. 'I depend of my parents' comes from 'dépendre de'. Missing prepositions after verbs like 'listen (to) the radio' happen because French doesn't need one there. False friends do real damage in conversation: 'actually' doesn't mean 'actuellement', 'library' isn't 'librairie', and 'to assist' isn't 'assister' - saying 'I assisted the meeting' when you mean you attended it changes the whole sentence.
What moves fast: vocabulary. English borrowed so much from French after 1066 that words like 'important', 'possible', 'different' or 'nation' are nearly identical in spelling and meaning. Once you learn to spot the handful of false friends, that shared vocabulary becomes your biggest shortcut, not a source of confusion.
Words you will actually hear
| Here | Elsewhere | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| actually | actuellement | actually means 'in fact', not 'currently'; for 'actuellement' use 'currently' or 'at the moment'. |
| library | librairie | a library lends books, a 'librairie' sells them (that's a bookshop in English). |
| to assist | assister | to assist means to help; 'assister à une réunion' translates as 'to attend a meeting', not 'to assist' it. |
| sensible | sensible | same spelling, different meaning: in English 'sensible' means reasonable, not emotionally sensitive. |
| to demand | demander | 'to demand' is forceful (to insist on), while 'demander' just means to ask; use 'to ask' for a normal request. |
| eventually | éventuellement | eventually means 'in the end'; 'éventuellement' means 'possibly', so the two are near opposites in tone. |
| to attend | attendre | to attend means to be present at something; 'attendre' means to wait, which is a completely different verb. |
| important | important | true cognate, same spelling and meaning, safe to use as-is. |
| possible | possible | true cognate, spelling and meaning match, one of the easy wins for French speakers. |
| different | différent | true cognate; just watch the pronunciation, English stresses the first syllable. |
Classes coming up
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Exchanges looking for a partner
How it works here
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Sign up and say your level
Two minutes. If you do not know your level, we place you in the first class.
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Pick a class or an exchange
Classes are led by a native teacher. An exchange is with another member: half the time in their language, half in yours.
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Join by video, nothing to install
From your phone or your computer. If you cannot make it, cancel and get your place back.
Questions about this
How long does it take a French speaker to get comfortable in English?
It depends heavily on your starting point and how often you show up, so we won't put a number on it. What we see is that the shared vocabulary from French gets people past the beginner plateau quickly, while pronunciation (TH, stress, aspirated H) needs deliberate practice with a native ear correcting you, which is exactly what the small group classes are for.
Is the one-on-one exchange actually free?
Yes. You're trading your time as a French speaker for someone else's time as an English speaker, so no money changes hands between members. PBC Languages just handles the matching; what you're spending is 30 minutes of your own French conversation, not a fee.
What level of English do I need before joining an exchange?
You need enough to hold a basic real conversation, roughly A2/B1, because the exchange is a genuine back-and-forth, not a lesson. If you're below that, the small group classes with native teachers are the better starting point to build enough English to make the exchange useful rather than frustrating.
How exactly is the half hour and half hour split?
Each session is 30 minutes in English and 30 minutes in French, with a clear switch in the middle so neither language dominates. During your English half, you push through in English even if it's slower; your partner does the same in French during theirs, and you can always clarify briefly in the other language if you get stuck.
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