About

Bitesize French:
an Immersion Project

First, let me just say I am not an accredited teacher and I’m not fluent in French. I consider this site my immersion project. It’s a fun way for me to immerse in French, without being in France.

My Story

I studied Chinese in college. I was always the go to for help in my class and things came pretty easily for me academically in Chinese. I could understand anything my teacher threw at me.Then I got to Beijing. Riding in my host family’s minivan back to their house from the airport, I quickly realized I didn’t know anything. While I could cruise through Chinese classes, Chinese in real life was a mystery. Even the simplest questions from my host mother left me in a panic, I just couldn’t understand.I gradually improved through weeks of speaking with everyone I met. It’s easy when you wake up and everyone around you speaks Chinese.Fast forward a few years and I was living in Beijing, I had just moved to a new area and was trying to befriend my neighbors. My Chinese was very good at this point. On hot July nights my neighbors would sit outside chatting and complaining. Many of the people in the group were hard to understand and one guy was almost 100% unintelligible.

I knew certain words and phrases often tripped me up in Chinese: just about anything pop culture related and names, in general (of companies, stars, American actors). But this one guy wasn’t saying that.Then one day I realized he was dropping f-bombs and swearing just about every other word in Beijing’s local dialect. It was an unlock that suddenly, like flipping a switch, made the language they all were speaking crystal clear to me.This isn’t a site for learning Chinese, of course, you know that. But my experience really learning it, through immersion after I left school, was a revelation.

The Owl And The Real World

In LA, I dreamed of living in France and practiced French diligently on Duolingo. The app greatly improved my vocabulary, and I felt confident after advancing through levels, thinking I could easily handle basic conversations. But when I finally traveled to France, I realized that even the simplest French phrases were lost on me. The real-life language was far different from what I had encountered in a classroom or through an app. While structured learning environments like classrooms, YouTube, or apps like Duolingo are great for building vocabulary and basic grammar, they fall short when it comes to preparing for the fluid, unpredictable nature of real-world conversations. Encounters like a stranger on a train or a quick comment from a waiter threw me off completely.

This project seeks to bridge that gap. It offers a way to quickly dive into real spoken French—no quirky, generated voices, just raw, authentic language as it’s truly spoken in everyday situations. I hope this immersion project inspires you to experience French immersion, allowing you to navigate the language as if we’re all in France together.

Understanding > Grammar > Vocabulary

As a language learner, I frequently encounter unfamiliar words. The goal isn’t to memorize every single one—it’s to grasp the overall meaning. In high school Spanish, my teacher always encouraged us to “Circumlocute!” If you don’t know the word, describe it or speak around it, but don’t revert to asking, “How do you say [fill in the blank]?” This project takes that concept and applies it to listening.

Now, I should note that the few teachers I’ve spoken with about this project aren’t particularly fond of it. They argue it overlooks grammar, but I’m not concerned. I’m not here to teach rules or structures or to explain why French is the way it is. That’s not the purpose of this exercise. The project works for me because it’s based on principles that have always been central to my language learning journey. My ability to speak has always been dependent on my understanding. The more I listen, the more I understand, internalizing phrases and speech patterns to use in my own communication.A pivotal moment for me was in Beijing when I suddenly understood a local man who was swearing—a moment that unlocked the language for me.

This highlights the importance of listening, rather than just memorizing vocabulary. Most learners I know focus on learning every word, believing that will lead to understanding. I think differently. We must listen through the sounds, as there will always be new words, and even familiar ones can sound different. This process, known as “microlistening,” is crucial for mastering a language. It’s why I’ve adopted a bitesize approach to podcast transcription in my French immersion project—diving into real spoken language to understand and internalize it for true communication.

Inspiration for This Project

Huge credit and thanks must be given to so many:

Duolingo – Their transcription quizzes were my favorite, and their approach to game-based learning is both fun and addictive.
The Woodpecker Learning App – This app introduced me to the concept of microlistening and allows me to immerse myself in French-language videos.
MicroEnglish.com – A major source of inspiration for jumpstarting this project, with its similar quizzes and podcasts designed from an educator’s perspective for learning English.
Drops and Fluent Forever Apps – Both have contributed to my language learning journey in unique ways.
The Swearing Neighbor in the Hutongs – My own experience with Chinese, where I first experienced the power of microlistening in a real-world context.
My AP Spanish Teacher, Señor MC – For instilling the importance of staying in the language and pushing us to “circumlocute.”
My Own Children – They are immersed in language the way I aspire to be: no rules, no grammar, no structure—just a constant stream of sound in multiple languages.
All the Creators – Those who made the podcast content available on this site, offering invaluable resources for language immersion.
You, the Listener – Thank you for your curiosity and willingness to immerse yourself in this project.

Why Learn French?

I’ve always been drawn to French and I have denied that interest in favor of languages that are spoken more widely around the globe. This was my choice in high school and college. However, the draw to speak it is still there. My family and I hope to live in France for at least a short amount of time, and doing so with young kids will require understanding what’s coming at us. As much as I’d love my 3 year old to translate what the plumber is saying, I’d rather know for myself.

Can You Learn French Through Short Clips?

My experience says a resounding yes.

I created this site and embarked on a 60-day challenge, posting once a day for two months. Following this, I attended a French dinner party where I could suddenly follow about 60% of the conversation as a true beginner (with only Duolingo as preparation). While I couldn’t respond fluently, I could understand and follow along significantly better than before. Beyond the dinner party, I found myself able to comprehend questions from strangers on the street and manage basic responses—skills that were beyond my reach during a previous visit to France.

The essence of speaking any language is to communicate your needs and connect with others. You don’t need to master grammar or memorize every vocabulary word to achieve this.

See for yourself

A Tool, Not A Solution

Language learning is neither simple nor easy, and there is no single method that works for everyone. I’m an impatient learner, often using multiple apps to aid my immersion. This site is just one more tool in that ongoing journey, and I hope you find it useful.

The key to truly learning a language is to use it actively, make mistakes, and engage with real people. Whether through a language partner, a meetup group, a language exchange, or even a Discord server, real conversations are invaluable. This site aims to enhance your understanding by helping you piece together spoken language. The better you get at listening, the more adept you’ll become at following conversations and enjoying the process of circumlocution.

If you find yourself needing an app indefinitely, it might not be serving its purpose. My hope is that this tool helps you reach a point where you can confidently graduate from it, though the timeline for that will vary for each person.

For Educational Purposes: Yes, and …

My goal with this site is to immerse myself in the French language daily. By cutting and creating quizzes in French, I stay deeply engaged with the language, and I hope this method can aid others in their quest for French fluency.

As a marketer at heart, this site represents a new experiment. While my primary goal is to provide a fun and inspiring resource for immersing in real French, maintaining this tool is not without costs. If the site continues, I will need to explore ways to sustain it financially while keeping the core mission intact.

In the meantime, I would greatly appreciate your support. Please feel free to get in touch with any feedback or inquiries.

Get In Touch