The freeze
I can read French but I can’t speak it
Reading is quiet and kind. Speaking has a face on the other side. If you can follow a text and still go blank on “ça va?”, you are not broken. You trained the wrong skill.
This is the usual starting point if
School, apps, or years of reading filled your head — and your mouth did not catch up.
- You understand films with subtitles, then answer in English
- You know the word until you need it
- You are tired of being told to “just practise more”
A lesson built for this gap
We start from what you understand, then force it out loud. No grammar dump you can already read.
- Silence is allowed, then a retry
- Corrections you can feel
- Homework: speak, don’t highlight another article
Why reading runs ahead
French spelling gives you time. You can pause, look, guess. Speech does not wait. Your brain translates, the moment passes, you smile. That loop trains silence.
What to do instead of more reading
Cut new input for a bit. Produce what you already “know.” A tutor who waits, supplies the sentence, and has you say it is the intervention. Shadowing a podcast without a listener is still hiding.
How long the gap takes to close
Not overnight. Often a handful of 1 on 1 lessons change what you attempt. Automatic answers take longer. The first win is leaving a call having said the thing you usually swallow.
Next step
Twenty-five minutes, free, then you decide.
Tell us the goal on WhatsApp. We match you to a tutor and a first focus. Study between lessons or see all programs.
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