How I went from French level A1 to B2 in a year on a tight budget

Salut tout le monde 👋

I just wanted to share a bit about my journey learning French over one year, especially for anyone feeling stuck at the beginner levels or worried about the cost.

I started at A1 (could barely introduce myself), and now I’m comfortably at a B2 level - able to follow native content, hold conversations, and express myself somewhat freely. I did it mostly solo and super cheap.

Here’s what worked for me:

• Immersion: I watched up to 5 hours of French content a day (mostly YouTube, Twitch, Crunchyroll and Netflix). No subtitles (or French subs when needed). I treated it like background noise at first, then focused more over time. I would watch a show completely in French and re-watch it with English subtitles. Favorite shows I did this with: Attack on Titan (anime) and Lupin (Netflix show).
• Grammar: For level A1, I did the Lingoda Sprint which was free at the time if you took ALL the classes you signed up for. After that, I didn’t follow a course. Instead, I picked apart grammar as it came up in shows or reading. If something confused me, I Googled it or found a quick YouTube explainer.
• Speaking: I practiced talking to myself and made short videos to get more comfortable with my accent. It was awkward at first but helped a lot.
• Vocabulary: I jotted down the most common new words on phrases I came across and reviewed consistently. This was probably my least favorite thing to do but also the most helpful.
• Tutoring: I only started using a tutor on iTalki a few months in, but even just 1 session a week helped correct my bad habits and build confidence. You can find some pretty affordable tutors on there.

One of the hardest parts was finding content that matched my level. I kept stumbling into shows that were either way too hard or way too babyish. That frustration led me to build a free little tool that filters French movies and shows by CEFR level. It’s been a game-changer for me so just putting it out there in case it helps others too. (Feel free to DM me if you want the link. I won’t post it here to respect the sub rules.)

If you’re learning French and feeling overwhelmed, my advice is this: immerse yourself even when it feels pointless, talk to yourself like a crazy person and make your learning fun. You’ll be surprised how fast things click even within a month.

Bon courage à tous 💪🇫🇷

P.S. not sure if it has been discussed on this subreddit before but language learning this way made my brain work faster in other areas such as my job (coding). It truly pushed my mental capacity to the limit.