Best way too...

[April<STRONG><EM>April Carey<EM><STRONG>]

Learn French.

 

I've ordered several books to help in our research on france and I have ordered my children, who are 5 and 2, a dvd to help them learn french.

But..... which is the best, fastest, cheapest (if possible!:blush for adults to learn french.

We know a little but it's just the basics.

[Russethouse]

LOL - I'm told getting a French lover does the trick !

Now you can blush !

[Teamedup]

Yes that is what they say.......... what an interesting vocabulary one would end up with though.

Already my husband and my vocabulary's are quite different, I hardly dare imagine the differerences that there would be in if I'd done that.

 

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It will ofcourse, depend on how douée you are. For some, the CD's and DVD's and lessons and they get good quick. For someone sans talent, like me, it is a long job and hard work. Best way, there isn't one, it really will depend on you.

[April<STRONG><EM>April Carey<EM><STRONG>]

@ getting a french lover, don't think my hubby will aprove, even if it is to help with my learning french!

 

Well at the moment we are unable to get to collage and we missed the enrolments for a french course at our local school, which started on monday.

Hubby wants me to get him some audio tapes to listen to in the car and I think that type of thing along with dvd and books will be best for us.

[JohnM]

Even though the course has started, conact the school. If they have only been going a week or two they will probably still bite your arm off to get you in the class. The first 2 / 3 weeks are not settled! I went to a class last night and found some people that I'd seen the week before, some new ones and found a few had already gone.  I expect the same next week as well.

By the way, if you've not been to anything like that for years and you find the prospect daunting, then remember that 95% of the class probably found it just as daunting. AND if you don't understand, don't assume the rest do. ASK, the rest of the class will probably thank you!

Good luck.

 

[Russethouse]

I had good intentions about playing French CDs in the car but decided I couldn't concentrate on that AND driving. What about just tuning to a French radio station ?

[Jill<br><br>Jill (99)]

Having been to evening classes myself (not for French, but for other languages) the beginners classes were generally geared to those wanting to holiday abroad. This may be OK, but if you are wanting to get there faster, it may be a bit slow and you may not be taught much grammar. Unless you are at a standard where you can jump to Level 3/GCSE,(at least at the college I used), it will be a slow process.

When we decided to learn Italian many years ago, we bought the Linguaphone course. That is very good learning the way people speak, idioms etc, but we found it wasn't clear enough on the grammar side. So we bought (Living Italian) and used that to work on the grammar. Either one on it's own wouldn't have been enough. Modern language learning doesn't go in much for grammer - but - grammar is essential. It is no good learning set phrases - only learning the grammar will teach you how to put sentences together. My daughter has just done GCSE German and did French the year before. She was taught German by modern methods, but was taught French privately with a French woman who also had experience of teaching GCSE. In French, she covered grammar and has been able to put sentences together herself. In German, she was taught very little grammar and feels very frustrated that she was only taught set phrases and cannot put things together herself - even though she got A* in both subjects. She is now doing AS in both and feels very frustrated with German because her grammar is lacking.

So, whatever you do, back it up with something that will teach you good grammar. Good Luck. For the children, Le Club Francais and La jolie ronde is good, but only if you have time to wait. If you want to do it quickly, get private lessons.

GAY - or anyone in England - can you get French radio in your car? I can only get it when stationary. As soon as I start the engine, there is interference - having said this, I got a new car yesterday and haven't tried it out on the radio yet. The only time I use radio is when driving.

[Cjb]

I listen to France info whilst driving to and from work. If you're based in England you might like to try listening to it via the Internet at www.france-info.com .

It's a 24 hour news station and whilst these can be a little repetitive in English, for learning a language that repetition can be just what we need in order to make further progress.

As far as the best way to learn is concerned, IMHO there is no substitute for proper lessons with a native French teacher. I accept that this might not be ideal for everyone and that it's an expensive option, but if we're making the big step of moving to live in a foreign country I firmly believe that a significant part of our budget should be set aside for language lessons. The majority of those that make a success of things over here are those that firstly make a considerable effort to learn the language.

Without it you'll find it extremely difficult to understand France and the French. I'm sure that not everyone will agree with that last statement, however, one need only look at some of the (oh they're not like us) posts on this site to see how narrow-minded a view it is possible to have if we're not able to fully converse in french.

Good luck

Chris

P.S I agree 100% with the post about the importance of learning the grammar. You can't get very far in French without a good understanding of the different tenses and conjugations. 

[SaligoBay]

CJD typed these words: "one need only look at some of the (oh they're not like us) posts on this site to see how narrow-minded a view it is possible to have if we're not able to fully converse in french."

Go on then, JCB, do us all a favour and name names, tell us who all these narrow-minded peops are, because I can only see one. 

You know you want to!

 

[opas]

April, look in your local paper or phone book for private tutors,we used this route and have enjoyed the experience.We didn`t have a French native, only a very well educated man,who assesed us on the first visit ie,asked us to read a short passage....only a slight Mancunian accent came through!!! to test for knowledge of the passage and pronounciation.

It didn`t come cheap(about £20 per hour I think) but we didn`t need baby sitters ,petrol ,car parking fees and our bought our books through various bookstores he had accounts with on discount.

Oh and we sat various O and A level papers using old coppies our tutor had .....the year 2000 one was easier than the 1975 one! ...and passed!

[Will]

The Michel Thomas set of eight (I think) CDs is very good, particularly if you have a very small knowledge of school or holiday French to start with and can't be bothered with books or written exercises.

You can get it from any good book shop or via Living France.

[Russethouse]

>>one need only look at some of the (oh they're not like us) posts on this site to see how narrow-minded a view it is possible to have if we're not able to fully converse in french<<<

Cjb - imho French people have a completely different (not better or worse, just different) sense of self - and the person who told me that first, was French.

I agree with your comments about the language but as well as that we need to appreciate the differences between the countries and culture, so that we can be better equipped to deal with whatever comes along.

Often people say things here which are just comments, not criticisms. It wouldn't help people considering the move if we pretended that France was just like Britain but with a different language !

[Teamedup]

And when one can converse, the differences show up even more.

Narrow?, don't think so, we have a good laugh about it all most of the time. My french friends take the mickey something rotten about the way some things still shock me. And they also tell me off when I complain about something or other that doesn't suite me....... and say I have been in France long enough to know that, it is comme ça and I just have to accept it. I always point out, doesn't matter where I am, if I think something is wrong, I will just have to say something. And they don't love me any the less for being like this.

[SaligoBay]

Well said, TU!

I never say anything on here about France or the French that I wouldn't say (or haven't said) to any of my French friends here.

It's perfectly okay to discuss differences, surprises, anything, it helps us all understand each other better.   After all, we've each brought x years of conditioning/baggage with us.  French people would think you were a brainless idiot if you discarded your own culture and personality - that's what makes you you!

In return, they are perfectly at ease themselves about discussing France's problems in front of me.  Some of which, btw, would have me hounded off this forum if I repeated them here!  So I won't.  Not right now, anyway! 

Back to the original topic, learning French.  The repetitive radio station is an excellent idea.  If you're a real beginner, you could do worse than Radio Trafic (sad, I know!).  Even just getting used to numbers and the letters of the alphabet is very useful, especially if you have a name with Es and Is in it - you MUST get this simple thing sorted out!!!   Good luck.

 

 

[JohnM]

I guess the answer is "Don't just stick to one method".

Every time I go/come back to France my friends say my French has improved through the lessons and every time I go/come back to lessons, the class say my French has improved.

I find CD's tapes in the car very difficult as I want to look at the book, or find out what "that" word means, but they do help. I find listening to french Radio very very hard, but good when I've finally worked out what a news story is about (My french teacher says she has been in the UK for 10 years and still finds listening to English Radio very hard - so there is hope for me with French radio). At the moment I try to do a daily dose of www.Wordprof.com along with everything else.

My favourite method has to be TRYING to converse with sympathetic french friends.

 

[Teejay]

[quote]I guess the answer is "Don't just stick to one method". Every time I go/come back to France my friends say my French has improved through the lessons and every time I go/come back to lessons, the cla...[/quote]

Lessons for me are essential otherwise I would use any excuse not to do regular language learning.  Motivation is difficult at first and lessons encourage one to develop self discipline, especially if the teacher is good.

My teacher is French, but her English is impeccable.  She is pretty hot on the grammar rules and is quite capable of throwing me into the deep end and expecting me somehow to cope.  Remorseless, she is!!  However I still intend to enrol for further classes locally, as I need to improve my conversational skills which frankly leave much to be desired.  Total immersion in the language is probably the only way forward for me, but it's paying off as last night I watched a film in English but only followed the sous-titres and for the first time I could read every single word before it vanished off the screen.

It has been easier, I believe, being exposed on a daily basis to the language one is trying to learn.  It's all around, all the time.   But if I had taken the opportunity to update my very inadequate French before living here fulltime it would have eased my transition into French life.  So to anyone trying to learn, classes are tremendously helpful in promoting confidence.  Tapes don't do it for me.  My mind wanders too much.  Radio is a useful tool but again I much prefer seeing the written sentence although the spoken word would probably now help with my aural/oral skills. 

To sum up.  It's hard learning at first but stick at it.   Little and often is the key. 

[Stephenlemmon]

The best and fastest way to learn French is to immerse yourself in the culture. You will need a basic understanding of the grammar and a little vocabulary first - but really not that much. I realise it's not the most practical way to learn French if you have job commitments, etc., but it's extremely effective.

This is what I did. With 'O' level French already fading into the mists of time, that I wasn't very good at anyway, I upped and went to France. I socialised with as many French people as possible, avoiding all the English speakers as far as possible, religiously watched Baywatch dubbed in French every day with headphones on struggling to understand every word. I bought my first French book - no Proust for me, but some trashy science fiction - and started to read that with an English/French dictionary. The first page took half an hour, the second 10 minutes and so forth.

After 3 months I was speaking fluently. I'm convinced anyone can do this. I don't have any particular language skills. Haven't look back since.

Stephen.