Introduction to French

The short version

• FSI Category I, the same band as Spanish: 600 to 750 hours of full-time classroom study to professional working proficiency. On your own at 30 minutes a day, budget years rather than months.
• What is hard is specific and none of it is in the category number: the vowels, gender, register, and the gap between spelling and speech.
• Standard French is the right base for almost everyone: exams and resources use it, and the ear widens later. Heading for Quebec? Keep the base and add Quebec listening from the start.
• The subjunctive has more irregular forms than the Spanish one and fewer contexts. Drill the half-dozen common triggers; the rest arrives through reading.