Interview with Nur Ungan

Jun 2 / Nur Ungan
What has helped you learn most effectively in general, across any subject?

I read all the material line by line and never skip a section. If I do, I always go back to it. 

Understanding the topic, seeing the interrelationships among topics, and analyzing why things work the way they do help me a lot. Spending enough time at the beginning is crucial. 

When you think about your best learning experiences, what specifically made them work so well?

My best learning method is to rephrase concepts in my own words and according to my own understanding. Then I double-check, cross-check and verify whether I understood them correctly or not. I learn from my mistakes. During this process, I write things down, simplify them, summarize them, organize them into tables, and make lists.

At the beginning, dedicate a significant amount of focused time—to start seeing credible results.

What tends to slow you down or create friction when you are learning something new?

Analyzing takes a lot of time and effort, and it slows me down. Dealing with this long process creates friction. I can learn things quickly, but unfortunately, cannot memorize easily. For me, memorization cannot be a conscious effort; it must happen naturally only through repetition and repeated exposure.

Friction mostly happens in the initial phase of learning a new subject because there is so much to absorb. With French specifically, at the beginning there are many moving parts—grammar, pronunciation, spelling, and vocabulary—that all need to align to a certain degree. I don’t think there are any shortcuts. If we take shortcuts and don’t put in enough effort at the beginning, we risk developing poor technique, pronunciation or grammar difficulties to fix later. The learning process needs to evolve in balance. 

But, this could lead to frustrating thoughts such as, “I should be much better at this by now. Why hasn’t it happened yet?”

How do you stay motivated when learning becomes difficult or uncomfortable?

I distance myself for a few days to clear my mind and return to it with a rested perspective. I remind myself that this is a process with ups and downs. 

Do you learn better with structure and guidance, or with more freedom and autonomy? Can you give an example?

I need some structure - lectures and a clear document to follow at the beginning. After that, I need freedom. I need my own time to rephrase things, view them from different angles, and work with different materials and practice them. 

For example, today’s creative writing session was about a train ride.
I was tired and short on time, so I wrote it in English and translated it with ChatGPT, knowing that it would still be beneficial. I could go back and check how certain phrases and new vocabulary, conjugation are used. I could practice pronunciation by shadowing Google Translate.

Can you describe a moment when something suddenly “clicked” for you? What do you think led to that moment?

Hearing or reading the explanation multiple times, making mistakes, and analyzing those mistakes and asking questions leads to something clicking.

For example, finally after learning and forgetting multiple times, I got that we need to use être as the auxiliary portion of the passé compose of the reflexive verbs.

What habits or routines have had the biggest impact on your progress over time?

I am patient, practice regularly and dedicate focused time to learning. Sometimes I know my brain gets scattered, so I try to avoid that. 
I believe that any skill can be learned with enough practice, up to about 80–85%. Natural talent could contribute to achieving another 15–20%.

If you could give one piece of advice to someone trying to learn something new, what would it be?

At the beginning, realign your life to being able to dedicate a significant amount of focused time—at least a solid six months—to start seeing credible results.

— Nur Ungan

J’ai commencé à apprendre le français avec François et au club de français. Je suis très content et je voudrais partager mon expérience d’aujourd’hui avec vous.

A unique quality of French Club and François is to offer variety of sessions that suits everyone’s own needs, level of knowledge, and interests. There are semi-private sessions, starter and premium plans and of course the free sessions.

Today, I attended the Written & Oral Comprehension Session for the first time, which is part of the Starter Plan. I didn’t know what to expect or what the format would be. It turned out to be one of the best experiences I’ve had.

First, all levels are welcome to attend, and François very effectively manages to make everyone participate in a way that suits their level. Everyone takes turns; reading paragraphs, interactively answering questions, and translating a paragraph from French to English and vice versa. There is no pressure, mostly on a voluntary basis. It is nice that François also calls names and kindly invites students to participate, and sometimes gently encourages them to try a bit harder than their level. While one person is reading, the others can follow along on mute and have time to look up vocabulary or take notes and learn from each other. At the end, the text is shared so you can review it later.

This session is such a valuable immersion experience if you are looking to accelerate your learning and enhance your written, oral, and comprehension skills.

Nur Ungan

April 8, 2026

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