Learn French?

[RT Wolf]

I dunno where to park this, so I thought I'd just do it here.

I wanna learn french. I think it'd be interesting to know another language (i speak two and half) and French is also the second official language of Canada, so it would be helpful too career wise, etc.

What's the best, cheap way to go about that?

Are those self-study programs worth it? How about some podcasts that promise to teach french?

Thanks!

[Love]

You can spend 6-9 months in France as an English assistant, and get paid to do it, if you're willing to give up some time.

[Lauxa]

My favorite language learning method is cartoons. I especially like Dora the Explorer for beginners, because she speaks slowly and repeats everything a kajillion times. Disney movies are also good, Winnie the Pooh, Avatar. If you look on Amazon, you can find which DVD's have French tracks.

Also supplement with books. I like picture books with a bit of a story but not too complex. Curious George, Babar, Clifford -- about that level is good to start.

The language learning podcasts or audio tapes I have heard so far put me to sleep, but some people like them. I did enjoy Rosetta Stone (subscription based computer program), but it is too expensive and I honestly think I learned more from the cartoons.

[Parthon]

I just spent a day trawling through search engine results for free site that teach French and found quite a few.

The other thing I did was go into a bookstore and buy one of the learning dictionaries/books that have a guide on how to learn the language along with example phrases and translations.

I'm a very visual and logical person so these two ways were the best for me.

[Rose of Cairo]

Spending some time in France or in any other french speaking country looks like the most direct way to learn french. But maybe I'm saying that because I personally need to immerse myself completely in a new language in order to learn it. It's difficult for me to do it while sitting at home.

If you learn from home, you'll need to practice a lot. Do you have some people you can talk in french with?

[ManfredKo]

The language courses of the Foreign Service Institute are best for self study and are well structured. Although most of them are from the 70's, they are still one of the best designed courses for immersion study. You can get the course for free at the following website (and other free french learning material):

Free***************.com » Blog Archive » French Language Courses

[Erica]

FrenchPod is the best self-study tool to learn French! Alright, I cannot lie, I'm one of the hosts and teachers of FrenchPod, so I'm a little biased.

But I wouldn't do this if I truly didn't believe that it worked. Like you said, Lauxa, most of the podcasts out there put the user to sleep, so we are trying to remedy that by creating a lively daily podcast to teach modern French. The hopes is that the user really learns and retains the language with as little effort (like trying to keep their eyes open), as possible.

The daily podcasts are free to listen to at Learn French - FrenchPod. If anyone on this forum listens to one, please give me some feedback or suggestions for our own personal development, because we are always trying to find ways to improve in order to make it as useful and effective as it can be.

[abcZen]

I did french for 6 years and really didn't think I had picked up much (didn't care in school). Yet when I met some french people here in South Africa I could talk to them quite well.

I've also picked up quite a bit of Afrikaans just from having to listen to people speak it all the time and have to answer in the language myself sometimes, never read a book on it though.

The best way would be to get some books and learn online I think, check out the sites that pronounce the words for you as well

[Parthon]

I just finished listening to the Newbie series on FrenchPod and I must say I am very impressed with it so far.

The lessons are well thought out and a combination of throwing you in the deep end then explaining the phrases thoroughly made it both challenging and easy to learn.

If I come up with any critiques then I'll post them.

[Thur]

Dear Parthon,

I assume you're from the US, so you're Anglo-Saxon oriented (whatever race you may be). French is a roman language, so is constructed in a different way and sounds different as well. If you really want to learn to speak French, 'caus that's what learning a language is, to my opinion; speaking it, you HAVE to go to France (or French Canada). Submerse yourself in the language and make sure nobody speeks English. Take your grammar book with you and let the French help you learn the language. This way you make the language part of yourself instead of another trick.
Of course, this is my opinion, based on my experience learning languages. I'm Dutch, but learned German, French, Spanish and Portugese this way. Spend some time in Vietnam as well, but too short. I only learned English in school and by watching (sub-titled) television.

Bonne chance, j'en suis sure que tu va l'apprendre très vite!!!

[Parthon]

Close, Australian, but still very Anglo-Saxon.

I would love to go for an extended stay in france, but unfortunately other matters in my life prevent it right now.

The main reason why I'm learning it is because learning a language is a good growth experience and I've always been fascinated with the french language. Right now I'm just immersing myself in all the French I can get. I also know a few French speaking people so that will help. I hope to retain enough knowledge about it without actually going there.

[MasterD]

I am with you; will be moving to France in September for about a year. I am using Michel Thomas and Pimsleur language courses. I want to finish them before I go there and then immerse myself in talking the language. I will let you know how it goes (first tapes only, than moving to France and actually speaking it).

[Ninja]

The way I learned English, was by watching movies and playing videogames. It will probably work for other languages as well

[Erebos]

If you grew up in Ontario, they should've forced you to take French classes in late elementary school and early high school.

But anyways, I use Language Exchange Community - Practice Foreign Languages to chat with native foreigners. You expose yourself more to informal language patterns which you'd probably hear more of as opposed to the overly formal language that the books/tapes will teach you. Nothing wrong with learning formal language; better safe than sorry. But it's always nice to be able to communicate on a more relaxed level and not make it seem as if you're at some fancy dinner party all the time.

[Erica]

Thanks for listening to FrenchPod and giving me your impressions, Parthon.

Doing it this way is great in building confidence, which I think is one of the most important elements to successfully being able to learn a foreign language.

Mainly through the second time the learner hears the phrases. Even if it is the very first lesson that they've ever had in French, they are suddenly understanding real phrases spoken by native French speakers, the same ones that they did not understand at all just a few minutes ago when they were, as you said, in the "deep end."

Things change as you go from level to level. At the intermediate level, for example, I only speak in English and Amaury only speaks in his native-French. The learner's mind is active and engaged as it switches quickly and seamlessly between the two languages. I wish you bonne chance to be able to get to that level soon

[Parthon]

I probably will get to intermediate quite soon.

I just had that experience as I was watching a TV show and suddenly someone spoke french. I managed to understand about 50% of what they said and was quite suprised.

French Pod is awesome, I would recommend it to everyone looking to learn French, plus they have a number of other languages too.