You have recently decided to learn French, or maybe learned it before and need to brush up on it. Any reason that leads you to this book is a good reason. Learning a new language can seem intimidating at first, no matter what age or when you start. There are all these rules of pronunciation and grammar that don't exist in your native language, it can be discouraging for anyone. So where should you start ? The 20/80 rule What you should start working on at the beginning of your French journey is vocabulary, and more specifically, the 1000 most common French words. I have calculated that they represent around 20% of our language, but we use them 80% of the time. Which also means that you only need to learn 20% of the language to understand 80% of it. Isn't it wonderful news ?