Learning French

[kinch]

Can anyone suggest any resources for learning French by yourself? I've just finished the Michel Thomas 8-disc beginner set and I am quite confident with that material. I have copies of the "Advanced" course and the "Vocab Builder" but these are all audio.

I would like to start writing in French. Something that I could spend 15 minutes on a day with. I don't have too much time, as I'm in University full time.

[Lacey]

Just talk to Polyester Angel! She teaches English to Quebecois

(is that right?)

[DaWezl]

Can you borrow Rosetta Stone from the library? I've heard good things about those discs.

[sarah11918]

Can you borrow Rosetta Stone from the library? I've heard good things about those discs.

Second that. It's very popular among both business travelers who need to learn another language and homeschoolers. Bonus if you can find it at a library, as it's hella expensive for someone just wanting to dabble on their own.

[PolyesterAngel]

Can anyone suggest any resources for learning French by yourself? I've just finished the Michel Thomas 8-disc beginner set and I am quite confident with that material. I have copies of the "Advanced" course and the "Vocab Builder" but these are all audio.

I would like to start writing in French. Something that I could spend 15 minutes on a day with. I don't have too much time, as I'm in University full time.

The best way to learn French (or any language in my opinion) is to be immersed in the language. Easy for me, I teach English to French kids, therefore they are immersed in English during my class. Kinch, try to join some sort of French speaking club or group through your university.

As for the writing.... well... That's hard, even for someone (me) who's been doing it since first learning to write. There are a lot of rules, exceptions to the rules and exceptions to the exceptions that therefore have different rules. Try to get "Le Bescherelle (http://www.bescherelle.com/)," and if you can read French well enough you can try searching online for quizzes and tutorials. I'll ask around to my TFSL colleagues if they know of anything.

[Philip]

Stalk French people - Il fonctionne pour moi.

[PolyesterAngel]

Il fonctionne pour moi.

Who functions for you? :p

[Philip]

Who functions for you? :p

Dang! That's what you get for trying to make a joke in another language.I was aiming for 'It works for me!' Quick, PA, give me the correct translation and I'll re-do the joke and then we can pretend that faux pas never happened.

[PolyesterAngel]

Cela marche pour moi

Although the expression doesn't really exist as such in French... It's more like "ça marche," meaning "it works!"

[Philip]

Stalk French people - ça marche!





















Merci, PA, I don't think anyone will notice.;)

[Lacey]

Oh, I noticed.

[therealshell]

I took French from the fifth grade until twelfth, and still can't speak the language.

[Lacey]

I took it for 3 years in high school, and hardly remember anything important. I do know my favorite words were poupee and saucisson. SAUCISSON! It's such a good word.

[therealshell]

One time in Montreal, I paid to see a French movie sans subtitles. It was very stylish, indeed, but I had no idea what was going on. It was called "Subway," and about the only thing that I could tell for sure was that it did take place largely on the Paris metro.

[NiceyDoodle]

I took french starting in Grade 4 right up to Grade 9.
These are the words I remember. I can list, because it will be short.

mon frere
rouge
blanc
noir
chien
le chat
poisson
la tete
FERME LE BOUCHE
madame
monsieur
le enfant
pere
mere

thats it. What is funny is my daughter moved to PEI where she has to take french in grade 8. Out here in Western Canada, no french is taught unless you enrol in a french school. She's screwed.

[really_mzungu]

J'aime le mot "pamplemousse." Mais je n'aime pas manger les pamplemousses.

[Lacey]

That is indeed a good word! But I do enjoy eating les pamplemousse, myself.

[really_mzungu]

Les pamplemousses veulent me tuer. Or something like that that gets across fruit paranoia more correctly.

[NiceyDoodle]

grapefruit right?

[Lacey]

Yep.

(wtf messages now need to be at least 10 characters in length)

[kinch]

thats it. What is funny is my daughter moved to PEI where she has to take french in grade 8. Out here in Western Canada, no french is taught unless you enrol in a french school. She's screwed.

What? Well I know they have it in High School as an option... but it's not mandatory in elementary school? We are so silly here in Alberta :P

Thanks for the tips everyone. I took French up until Grade 8 and then switched to Spanish in Grade 9... I kind of regret it now. But since I have a reason to learn French now, and I want to learn it, I find it easier to retain.

One word I remember from French in grade 8:

Piscine (Swimming Pool)

How do I remember? Well my Grade 8 French teacher taught us an easy way to... you never "Piss In" the swimming swimming pool. Piscine! Good ol' Mr. Goodis!

[sarah11918]

One tip I'll give you is to imagine the longest, most convoluted way to say something, and that's probably closest to the correct French.

In looking for some examples, I came across this:
English has short sentences and simple syntax using anaphoric elements, that is, the repetition of a word or a group of words (using pronouns such as it, they, this, that, etc.) at the beginning of several consecutive sentences. French usually has long sentences with complicated syntax, which involves the use of relative clauses (subordination) and also a lot of connectors, unlike English.

The most basic example is the difference between "John's book" and "le livre de John" but be prepared to eventually bust out phrases like "that which" and "of which" to make longer sentences if you really want to get in the spirit. :)

Are you more interested in a conversational learning approach or a visual (reading/writing) approach? I'm just starting to learn Spanish for our trip to Mexico and I know I prefer to actually work through grammar exercises and read short texts. I find I learn the most quickly from reading rather than speaking, I guess because you don't have pronunciation as an obstacle to learning the vocab and sentence structure. I'll figure out how to pronounce it later, much to the Mexicans' dismay, I'm sure. :)

[PolyesterAngel]

I took french starting in Grade 4 right up to Grade 9.
These are the words I remember. I can list, because it will be short.

mon frere
rouge
blanc
noir
chien
le chat
poisson
la tete
FERME LE BOUCHE
madame
monsieur
le enfant
pere
mere

thats it. What is funny is my daughter moved to PEI where she has to take french in grade 8. Out here in Western Canada, no french is taught unless you enrol in a french school. She's screwed.


La bouche...

[NiceyDoodle]

Michele

Ta gueule

[scratchy]

i bought rosetta stone new years eve and have been using it for an hour daily. i am relearning a language i studied in high school and college. it has been totally useful in reinforcing old vocabulary i used to know and teaching me new things i never learned (or forgot after all these years)

i honestly think i would get too lost if i was learning a new language for the first time via rosetta stone. they match words with pictures and don't tell you what it is describing.

they can show you a picture of a young girl with a shirt, skirt and a bike. unless you knew what the basic vocabulary was, you wouldn't know what they were referencing until you went further along and waited for the repetition

it's uber $$. i got the holiday deal which shaved a $100 off the top. i think it was close to $500 for levels 1,2,3. there's a 6 month money back guarantee so i am going to try to get through the program as fast as i can

i suggest you try to find someone who has the program and would let you test drive it. i think you can install it on 2 computers and 5 people use it.

when i was researching rosetta stone, some people said libraries don't carry it anymore. i didn't bother checking libraries because of their 6 month trial

[DaWezl]

The French I actually remember the best is a "translation" I did in high school of Monty Python's "Sit on My Face" song for class. (Apologies for horrid spelling...it's been a looooonnnnngggg time since I actually studied French, and the translation may be awful as well) I didn't care for my French teacher all that much, but it was awesome that she let me do this as my project, lol. :)

Asseyez sur ma figure et dit moi que vous m'aimez
J'asseye sur vous et dit que je vous aime aussi.
Nous vous entendre peyorer (<--sp?!! I remember how to pronounce, lmao)
Quand Je suis entre vos cuisse
Vous me soufflez

I never really fully worked out the second half of the song well enough to be able to sing it in French, but I still can sing the first half, so I guess I did learn *something* in high school!

[marebo]

i took three years of latin...you never had to speak it...i did have to translate jason and the argonauts

[PolyesterAngel]

Michele

Ta gueule

Well played :P

[kinch]

Just found this site: http://www.livemocha.com/

It's like a social network for language learners. It connects native speakers with learners. Part of it is very similiar to rosetta stone but it also includes writing and speaking exercises that are reviewed by actual native speakers. You also get to review the exercises of those learning English.

[Amicustoall]

My neighbor bought Rosetta Stone to learn Dutch. I played around with it one night. I think to really learn a language it rocks. It takes away the translation aspect, which I think is critical if you want to be able to converse.

[sarah11918]

Just found this site: http://www.livemocha.com/

Merci pour la suggestion! J'apprends l'espagnole pour notre voyage au Mexique en mars.

[kinch]

Merci pour la suggestion! J'apprends l'espagnole pour notre voyage au Mexique en mars.

De rien. :)

[bearnaked]

In this particular case:
'De nada.'