Learning french: conversation, reading, and the grammar journey

I teach French. One language that is renowned for its complicated and sometimes seemingly senseless grammar rulings, and not that easy to start speaking as well, from pronounciation to tenses, and so many traps. 

I do believe regular conversation is the FASTEST way to start, and then dramatically improve, in a foreign language. However, there comes a point, where READING will give meaning to the words that you are hearing and reproducing. French has roots in ancient Latin and Greek, and sometimes understanding those roots, how they transformed over time, and what consequence they have on a modern word, will illuminate your understanding. 

This brings us to grammar: grammar is a tool that will allow us to use words in sentences that have the exact meaning we wanted. But there are various levels, it's a ladder, and there is absolutely no urgency to start learning grammar immediately when starting to learn French. As your level progresses, you will want to make more and more complex phrases, use past and future and conditional tenses, find the right tone and address correctly your peers: this is where you will start little by little to use grammar. With a good teacher, grammar should start coming to you instinctively, through repetition, and when it will become necessary, go into the details of which rule for when and why...

The best route to learn foreign language is through ... confidence! Find a teacher who makes you feel good and proud about trying, encourages you to keep trying and practicing, and as soon as you know a few sentences, immerse yourself in the culture of that new language: through movies and songs and tv shows that you like, you will start learning more and more words, start assimilating the right sentence structures, and before you know it you will realise that you are understanding that new language :)