Studying in Your Second Language: How to Keep Up With Lectures

A francophone student in an English-language program in Montreal, an anglophone taking courses at a French university, an international student in their first semester abroad: the situation is the same. You understand the language, but a 90-minute lecture at full speed, full of jargon, leaves you exhausted and with half the notes you need.

Short answer: you do not need to understand everything live. Prepare the key vocabulary before each lecture, record the lecture when it is allowed, rebuild your notes from the recording or transcript the same day, and keep one glossary per course. Most of the language gap closes in the hours around the lecture, not during it.

Why lectures in a second language are so tiring

In your first language, you listen and think at the same time. In your second, part of your attention goes to decoding words, so less is left for understanding the ideas and writing them down. Technical vocabulary makes it worse: a word you know in everyday life can have a precise meaning in law, economics or biology. The fix is to move as much decoding as possible out of the lecture room.

Before the lecture: prepare 10 minutes of vocabulary

• Open the slides or the reading for the next lecture and list every term you do not know or are unsure of.
• Look each one up in a subject-specific source (the textbook glossary, a field dictionary), not only a general translator.
• Write the term, a short definition in the course language and, if it helps, the equivalent in your language.

Ten minutes is enough. During the lecture, you will recognize those words instead of stumbling on them, and you can spend your attention on the reasoning.

During the lecture: capture, don't transcribe

Trying to write everything down in a second language is a losing battle. Instead:

• Note the structure: the main points, the examples, whatever the professor repeats or writes on the board.
• Mark with a "?" anything you did not catch, with the approximate time.
• If your course allows it, record the lecture. Ask the professor if the policy is not clear; many accept it for personal study.

A recording turns a missed sentence into a sentence you can replay. With DAFi, you can record the lecture (or import the audio afterwards) and get structured notes and a summary, generated in English or French, which you can then compare with your own notes.

After the lecture: rebuild your notes the same day

This is where most of the learning happens.

1. Go through your "?" marks and fill them in from the recording, the transcript or the slides.
2. Rewrite the main ideas in your own words, in the course language. If you are stuck, write it first in your language, then translate it.
3. Add every new term to your glossary.

Doing this the same day matters: the context is still fresh, and you will not face a pile of half-understood lectures before the midterm.

Build one glossary per course

Your glossary is the most valuable document you will create this semester. Keep it simple: term, definition in the course language, translation if useful, and an example sentence taken from the lecture. Before the exam, turn it into flashcards: the term on one side, the definition on the other. Our guide on spaced repetition explains how to review them without cramming.

Writing assignments and exams

Written work is where the second language shows most. A few habits help:

• Collect useful phrases from the readings: how authors introduce an argument, contrast two ideas, conclude.
• Write your plan first, in short sentences. Clear and simple beats complex and wrong.
• Use a spell checker and grammar tool for the final pass, but write the ideas yourself.
• Check whether your university has a writing center or language support: many offer free appointments.
• Ask in advance whether you can use a bilingual dictionary during exams, or answer in your first language. Some universities, especially in Quebec, allow it; the course outline or the professor will tell you.

Asking questions without fear

Many second-language students stay silent because they are afraid of making mistakes in front of the class. Two alternatives work well:

• Write your question before speaking. Reading it out is much easier than improvising.
• Use office hours or the course forum. Professors are used to international students, and a question asked in week two saves hours of confusion in week eight.

A weekly routine that works

• Before each lecture: 10 minutes of vocabulary.
• During: structure, examples and "?" marks.
• Same day: 20 to 30 minutes to rebuild notes from the recording or slides.
• Once a week: review your glossary and test yourself on it.

After a few weeks, the lectures get faster to follow and the rebuilding time drops. The language gap does not disappear overnight, but it stops being the thing that decides your grades.