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3 Minute French - Course 1 | Language lessons for beginners (Udemy.com)

Learn to speak French you can use in everyday real-world situations - all in just 3-minute chunks!

Created by: Kieran Ball

Last updated September 2026

Our take

Based on the ratings of 20,979 students, a sample of their written reviews and the syllabus, as the course stood in September 2026. No course pays to be reviewed.

This is the first of Kieran Ball's French courses, aimed squarely at people who have never learned any French. Each lesson runs about three minutes and teaches one small chunk, then reuses it in later lessons so sentences get longer as you go. The syllabus shows nine lessons, recap notes, two vocabulary sheets and a few crosswords, with 138 lectures and about six hours in all. The focus is travel basics like greetings and ordering food and drink.

Reviewers like the format a lot. They mention the sense of completion after a short lesson, the regular repetition that helps words stick, and clear, easy-to-follow lessons. One says Ball is obviously good at finding the easiest way into a language. Complaints are small. One reviewer found the pace slow, with long pauses between sentences. Another said the volume drops in the last few sections, and a one-star review wanted the on-screen text to show a silent letter. Of the 20,979 ratings, most are fours and fives.

Nearly 90,000 students have taken it, and it was updated in September 2026, so it doesn't feel stale. It's a gentle starting point, not a route to fluency. Expect a base of useful phrases rather than deep grammar, and there are no quizzes. For a holiday, or a restart after earlier attempts fizzled, it's an easy recommendation. Anyone past the basics should look elsewhere.

Best forBusy complete beginners and holiday travelers who want to build French sentences in tiny daily sessions.
Skip it ifYou want deep grammar, quizzes or live conversation practice, or you already speak some French.

Pros

  • Three-minute lessons fit into a busy day and give a quick sense of completion
  • Earlier phrases keep coming back, so words stick without separate memorizing
  • Starts with the most useful words, so reviewers report making sentences within a few lessons
  • Updated recently, with recap notes, two vocabulary sheets and crosswords included

Cons

  • Pace can feel slow, with long pauses between sentences for some reviewers
  • One reviewer says the volume drops noticeably in the last few sections
  • No quizzes or practice tests, and grammar is only touched in small bites
I like the concept of learning a little each day with enthusiasm, to create a positive habit while preventing burnout.
Denise Elizabeth Haynes, a student

Genuine zero-French beginners; the course assumes no prior French and avoids grammar jargon.

Featured in our guide: The Best Language Learning Courses on Udemy in 2026

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What you will learn

  • Speak French confidently and comfortably in everyday situations
  • Understand what's being said back to you
  • Be more than just an average tourist when travelling to French speaking countries
  • Go from complete beginner to building your own sentences after the very first lesson
  • Build a solid base vocabulary of words and phrases you can use straight away in the real world
  • Understand and use grammatical and linguistic features of the French language with ease
  • Understand the structure of the French language
  • Give your opinions in French
  • Give descriptions of things in French
  • Greet the locals when you are in a French speaking country
  • Order food and drinks in French
  • Get to grips with French pronunciation

Course content

15 sections · 138 lectures · 6.2 hours of video 9 assignments, 25 articles

  1. 1Introduction to the course 1 free preview1 lecture · 8 min
  2. 2Lesson 1 3 free previews6 lectures · 3 quizzes · 19 min
  3. 3Table of Contents 1 free preview1 lecture
  4. 4Lesson 212 lectures · 3 quizzes · 30 min
  5. 5Lesson 313 lectures · 3 quizzes · 37 min
  6. 6How to do the translations in 3 Minute French1 lecture · 4 min
  7. 7Lesson 412 lectures · 34 min
  8. 8Lesson 516 lectures · 46 min
  9. 9Lesson 611 lectures · 31 min
  10. 10Lesson 713 lectures · 36 min

Who it is for

The instructor says it suits

  • You really want to learn to speak French in a very simple and very quick way
  • You are going to spend a holiday/vacation in France or another French speaking country
  • You have failed to learn French in the past, but really want to give it one more go
  • You have no experience with French, but you would like to learn fast
  • You have always wanted to learn a new language, but you are very busy and can never find the time

What you need before you start

  • The good thing about this course is that it is taught under the assumption that you know no French and nothing about languages
  • Everything is explained clearly and thoroughly without the use of confusing terminology

How it compares

Against the other 535 rated Udemy courses in Language Learning on CourseDuck:

  • Rating4.8 out of 5higher than 82% of them
  • Reviews20,979#9 of 536 by number of reviews
  • Length6.2 hourslonger than 55% of them
  • Last updatedSeptember 2026more recently than 93% of them

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Course Description

Bonjour et bienvenue :-)

My name is Kieran, and I’ve been teaching foreign languages for over eighteen years. I love languages, I love learning and I love teaching. I also love chocolate, but this isn’t really the place to discuss my chocoholism!

I created 3 Minute French as a way to make learning French easier than ever before and accessible to anybody, especially people who have tried and failed in the past. My course is perfect for the complete beginner as I break down the French language into tiny chunks that I show you how to build back together again in a logical, simple-to-understand way. You can go from knowing no French at all to putting together your own sentences in just a few minutes.

The words and phrases that you'll learn in this course will be useful to you in any French-speaking country. A lot of traditional language courses either start by teaching you an endless list of pronunciation rules, or you learn phrases that aren't too useful for the beginner, such as how to talk about your family or your job. In 3 Minute French, you'll learn the most useful words first. As well as vocabulary, there are some useful grammar points that will be explained to you in bitesized chunks. You'll then be given plenty of opportunities to put them into practice.

You'll also be given two Vocabulary Expansion Sheets, which are documents full of useful vocabulary in specific topics ('food & drink' and 'numbers'). These Vocabulary Expansion Sheets give a boost to your French and help to improve your comprehension.

Finally, the title... 3 Minute French?


Obviously, you can't learn French in just three minutes, but you can learn it in three-minute chunks.

As the name suggests, each lesson in this course lasts just three minutes (more or less!). In each lesson, you learn a tiny chunk of French that you can use to build sentences. As you work through the course, you learn more and more little chunks and your sentences will gradually get longer and longer.

The chunks that you learn in the first lessons are carried through to the last lessons. This means you don’t have to worry about trying to remember everything; you will get so much opportunity for practice that you will find the words and phrases just sink into your brain.

The lessons in this course are focused, practical and effective, and you will build language skills that you can use straight away in real-world situations. You will be able to speak French comfortably and with confidence whenever you’re in a French-speaking country.


WHY 3 MINUTES?

When you begin learning something new, you tend to start off with lots of excitement and motivation. You might spend a few hours on the first day learning, but then the next day, you can only manage one hour, and then that goes down to half an hour, and then you get bored and you give up. Well, the reason behind the very short lessons is that it helps you to stay motivated and it also enhances the learning process.

By keeping your learning to short chunks, you will find three wonderful things start to happen:

1. You will maintain enthusiasm

If you want to learn anything, you have to maintain enthusiasm or else you won’t continue. If you limit your study time to just three minutes, you’ll keep French fresh and exciting and you’ll be eager to learn. If you spend hours studying, very quickly you’ll get bored with French and it’ll turn into a chore.

2. You will study more consistently

It’s much better to study for just three minutes once a day than to study for three hours once a week. A spare three minutes is relatively easy to find even in the most hectic of schedules. If you make sure you complete at least one three-minute study session every day, it’ll quickly become a habit that you’ll do without thinking. It’s much easier to fit in a daily three-minute habit than a weekly one-hour habit. By doing this, you’ll become a much more consistent learner, and consistency is the key to success.

3. You will remember things better

This is my favourite reason as to why you should limit your study to just three-minute chunks. If you study something for just three minutes every day, you’ll trick your brain into memorising the information more quickly than if it were to see the information for hours each day. It’ll think, “I see this information every day so it must be important, but I don’t see it for very long, so I’d better hold onto it and make it into a memory fast!” You’ll be amazed at how much more easily things tend to stay in your brain if you limit yourself to just three minutes a day.

So, that’s why I keep the lessons to just three minutes.


A METHOD THAT REALLY WORKS

I can’t quite believe it, but over 500,000 people in more than 200 countries have now used 3 Minute Languages to learn to speak a foreign language. It still amazes me when I get an email from somebody on the other side of the world telling me how much they have enjoyed learning French with me. Apart from the thrill it gives me to find out people are listening to my voice in places like Mongolia, Peru and even Fiji, it also confirms to me that the 3 Minute Languages courses work well.

So, if you want a course that teaches you to speak French you can use in everyday situations using a simple and fun method, then sign up to 3 Minute French today.

Merci :-)

Kieran

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Instructor Details

Kieran Ball

Hello, bonjour, hola, hallo, ciao and olá! 

I’m Kieran and I’m a language tutor based in the UK, and I also create online courses and write books to make language learning accessible to all.

My books and online courses are based on the method I developed for teaching languages, which I've been using in all my classes for many  years. The method will get you speaking quickly, without the  struggle normally associated with language learning.

I have created three series of language courses available in French,  Spanish, German, Italian and Portuguese. They're called: '3 Minute  Languages', 'Building Structures' and 'Quick Guides'.


I hope you enjoy, and "Happy Learning" :-)

Kieran

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Reviews

4.8

20,979 ratings on Udemy

Select a bar to show only those reviews.Select the bar again to show every rating.

By Denise Elizabeth Haynes on 8/28/2026

I like the concept of learning a little each day with enthusiasm, to create a positive habit while preventing burnout.

By GE CHENG on 8/4/2026

the lesson is very good. it's in a good pace and could let me continually learn French. thank you for the lesson.

By Kim Margaret Psaila on 7/6/2026

yes the course suits my day to day routine well. I enjoy the small bite size lessons. The regular refresh helps me remember what I've learnt.

By Hamza Harakat on 7/4/2026

will so far the language seems interesting and easy to lorn I think in this course they use a very interesting words to start with and the 3 minutes per lesson in a very good learning choice, will done ✅

By Christiaan du Plooy on 6/24/2026

Great course that makes it very easy to learn and remember. My only complaint would be that the volume in the last few sections was very low.

By Kate O'Connor on 6/18/2026

By learning a few useful words first, you're actually speaking French very quickly! It's little bite-sized learning, which means you're learning the rules but in a much simpler way. And then you can pick up some of the vocab in your own time. I'm really enjoying this course so far - the instructor is obviously so knowledgeable in the easiest ways to approach language learning!

By Leonard Kujur on 6/13/2026

Just 2 lessons and I have already found it helpful in making easy sentences in French language. Feel encouraging.

By RANVEER SINGH on 5/26/2026

Amazing beginner's course. The fact that the each lesson is just 3-5 mins, it really gives you a sense of completion.

By Brian McGuire on 3/21/2026

We are learning a lot, and we’re glad’s that we tried your course. From pronunciation to spelling, the repetition is making us comfortable saying and understanding common phrases.

By Mohd Shadmaan Khan on 1/1/2026

It was an awesome experience as a beginner. The teacher is someone who makes you fall in love with learning . Must recommend to all.

By Francesca Ancona on 11/15/2020

Yes, it was a good match, but not having a live instructor present, I can't get any feedback on my pronounciation.

By Mitesh Sura on 11/8/2020

This course is helping me in my everyday life. I have some French friends and now I can talk to them a little bit better.

Showing 12 of 298 reviews

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Overall Score : 96 / 100