ADVISE RE LANGUAUGE COURSES PLEASE

[dee]

Hi new to this site, we are a family of 5 who are seriously thinking of making the move to France we have ideas of what we plan to do, where we would like to move to, biggest problem at the moment is our language or rather lack of it.

I have very basic school girl French and although have treid to join local language courses have to wait til Sept. Can any one please advise of good basic french books and language tapes etc. Thinking of getting Muzzy not only for the 3 children but also for ourselves. Any advise grastefully recieved. Thanks Dee

[Daniel5791]

HI there,

I am doing similar to yourself, only it is only me and my girlfirend making the move. I haven't gone down the courses route yet, rather I have gathered up every resource I can get my hands on, and bombard myself with French from all sides. I started with a Lonely planet phrasebook and French for Dummies which I found a great start for basics. I signed up for some online courses.(Dailyfrenchpod.com and rocketfrench.com) both are good. I found dailyfrenchpod quite professional and helpful, although a bit daunting at times at the start. The best thing I did was buy the Harper Collins Robert unabridged French dictionary. A big book that you can't carry around, but extremely good for learning phrases, modern words, idioms and just about anything. Cost me about US$25 secondhand online. I keep it on my coffee table all the time for reference. I watch French movies and the French news. Read French newspapers online. I watch movies I know well on DVD and have the french subtitles on. Surprisingly I have found french music really good as well. Download the lyrics use the dictionary and before long phrases and words start to have meaning. I have been learning now for around 6 months I guess, and things are really starting to stick. There are times when I hear something new and think I have gone backwards or haven't progressed much, especially when my French friends at work talk amoungst themselves so quickly and I can't keep up after word 5 in the sentence-but most of the time it is quite satisfying. Actually learning the language has been great fun, I can't wait to get over there and try it out! :)

Hope some of this helps you out. Bonne chance!

Daniel

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

Michel Thomas. His teaching method, for me, has outstripped every other method I have tried. You'll be speaking French within hours with it. Amazon or the like should sell the course.

[tegwini]

http://www.bitesizedlanguages.com/

 

Hi Dee

do try this one - f.o.c., comes daily, small amount to learn at a time, new words daily  &  has sound you can click into.

I've been receiving this for months & I have learned quite a bit & it's also helped me refresh my french which I did at university - but forgotten lots!

Michael Thomasis pretty good too - was available free not long ago from one of the newpapers - wouldn't be at all surprised to hear of someone trying to sell the cds on ebay etc.

good luck

tegwini

[Wendy]

Try your local Alliance Francaise...they are in the phone book. Then again if you are thinking of moving to Normandy, Brittany or especially the Dordogne you will not really need to speak serious French at all as these regions all have large British enclaves already and cater to non-french speakers. Why make life more difficult than need be?

There ARE regions in France though where if you do not speak fluent French you will be up the creek. Because they do not speak anything else, of course, and make no allowances for those who do not. Depends where you are moving to.

[cowoman]

This is really good and its free

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/mafrance/#