Learning French advice

[Blood]

Evening all.
Trying to find some decent apps and downloads for learning French.
Has anyone some experience or pointers they've used successfully themselves?
Recommendations please :-)

[Ehecatl]

My father in law moved to France about 10 years ago and he now can speak English with a French accent. Sadly, he speak very little French. What you could try is to pop to your local library and borrow (you may need to order them first) some French Language tapes. Now days these come CD. (can be copied to an MP3 for ease of listening) I tried Pimsleur and found them to be helpful.

[Fraxinus]

I found the BBC language courses very good, they are often used for college evening classes, at least the Greek and French ones were on courses I have done. Good tutors will add additional material to the course book.
Listening to the recorded material while driving to/from work also helps, just let it wash over you like you might a piece of music and it seeps in.

Rob.

[Blood]

That's kind of what I've been doing when decorating this last few nights. I'm remembering down thing from school so it is helping a bit. Slow and steady too I guess. Thanks for the tip. I'll look in to it :-)

[FishyFolk]

My father in law moved to France about 10 years ago and he now can speak English with a French accent. Sadly, he speak very little French. What you could try is to pop to your local library and borrow (you may need to order them first) some French Language tapes. Now days these come CD. (can be copied to an MP3 for ease of listening) I tried Pimsleur and found them to be helpful.

I can second the Pimsleur courses. I uses it to learn Thai. Still can't read or write the language, but I can carry out a basic chat with the in-laws when we are there. Only problem is...they all speak Khmer, lol

[happybonzo]

Get a French Girlfriend/boyfriend - whatever floats your boat :)

[Valantine]

Get a French Girlfriend/boyfriend - whatever floats your boat :)

But don't let the better half find out ;)

[Fraxinus]

Get a French Girlfriend/boyfriend - whatever floats your boat :)

Did that with a german girl........did not end well......the Teutonic tart :mad2:

My Greek is better than my German which is better than either my French or Spanish which only seem to come into play when in those countries :rolleye:

The (possibly) biggest thing to remember about using non native languages is "don't be shy, try" the locals most often appreciate the effort and will dig deep into their schoolboy/girl English to help.
The old 'say it in English loudly' school of thought will only serve to alienate your cause/need. Trying opens doors, I have never had a negative result by trying but have seen several where the opposite was true.
Rob.

[Blood]

That's something Ive learnt when working abroad, even the smallest effort makes a big difference when you meet someone for the first time. I would like to get upto a reasonable conversation level eventually, I know the key to this is repetition, and hearing it daily. I've found one that comes via podcast and is really good so far. Will post the link later from the mac. Til then
Salut

[Blood]

Oh, swmbo said no to the French girlfriend, though she did mention a maids outfit......

[Ehecatl]

Oh, swmbo said no to the French girlfriend, though she did mention a maids outfit......

I suspect you could find such an outfit a bit cold when camping out in the woods. :shocked:

[jbrown14]

This thread reminded me of a joke from Seamus Kennedy:

Murphy was heading to Spain for a nice vacation and was confiding in Clancy that he was worried that he didn't speak the language.
Clancy says to him, "Don't worry about that, just speak slowly and they'll understand everything you say."
Murphy arrives at his hotel in Barcelona and goes to the hotel bar. When the waiter came to his table, Murphy said, "I'd......like......a......beer......please."
And when the waiter returned Murphy said, "Thank......you."
The waiter replied,"You're......welcome. Where......are......you......from?"
Murphy said,"I'm......from......Ireland."
The waiter replied,"Really? I'm......from......Ireland......too."
And Murphy finished,"Then......why......are......we......speaking...... Spanish?"

I'll just leave the way I came in.
:D

Josh

[OakAshandThorn]

LOL jbrown! :happy-clapping:

Anyway, back on topic, the best combo I've found for learning a foreign language is to listen to music and watch TV shows of that language and take lessons from a native speaker. Such a tutor isn't necessary for a basic knowledge, but what they know will come in handy later on when you become more advanced - then you dive into dialects, slang, and all that good stuff ;). I became very proficient in Italian in only 2 years because my teacher was a native speaker, and I had 'RaiItalia' on the tellie :).

[Blood]

Evening classes are a definite I'm looking into. There's quite a few around here so I might get lucky and find a quiet group
Does watching old episodes of 'allo 'allo count?... I'm leaving now....

[fish]

Get a French Girlfriend/boyfriend - whatever floats your boat :)
Le bj!

[Humakt]

Lots of Gallic shoulder shrugging and 'haw-hee-hawing' should help.

[NorthernYeti]

it sounds daft but try watching a few movies in french but with english subtitles i found that helped when i was trying to learn norweigen a few years ago (i really need to pick that up again)try the BBC this might help and its free (http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/)

[Blood]

How does watching cloggie movies with subtitles help my French??? ;-)
Will give that go, props drive swmbo inane but it

[NorthernYeti]

i dunno just helped me while watching stuff it kinda helped with word recognition and what context etc i guess in your case total imersion might help... dont forget the string of onions for the neck i hear that helps with pronunciation
12030

[Blood]

Here's my arrogant Parisian http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/17/ybeparyp.jpg

[Blood]

Immersion is the way I'm going, but I'm missing iron maiden and metallica powering me through hard work in t'shop

[NorthernYeti]

needs more onion...

[Blood]

Lol

[happybonzo]

it sounds daft but try watching a few movies in french but with english subtitles [/URL]

This is very good suggestion. I found this worked for me and that my understanding of French improved dramatically

A few film suggestions for you

Les visiteurs 1 & 2 - both as funny as a funny thing
A medieval nobleman and his squire are accidentally transported to contemporary times by a senile sorcerer. He enlists the aid of his descendent to try to find a way to return home, all the while trying to cope with the cultural and technological changes distinguishing his time from ours.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108500/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Les Lyonnais (I was in France during the 70s and the French were c**ping themselves where this lot were going to strike next)
After growing up in a poor gypsy camp, Edmond Vidal, aka Momon, has retained a sense of family, unfailing loyalty and pride in his origins. Most of all, he has remained friends with Serge Suttel, with whom he first discovered prison life - for stealing cherries. The two of them inevitably got involved in organized crime. The team they formed, the Gang Des Lyonnais, made them the most notorious armed robbers of the early 1970s. Their irresistible rise ended in 1974 with a spectacular arrest. Today, as he nears 60, Momon would like to forget that part of his life. He has found peace by retiring from the "business". He tends to his wife Janou, who suffered so in the past, and to his children and grandchildren, all of whom have great respect for this man of simple and universal values, so clear-headed and full of kindness. But then Serge Suttel, who has disowned nothing of his past, comes back into the picture

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1741542/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources - as long as you can find the versions that you change the dialogue to French

Le diner des Cons
Each week, Pierre and his friends organize what is called as "un dîner de cons". Everyone brings the dumbest guy he could find as a guest. Pierre thinks his champ -François Pignon- will steal the show.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119038/?ref_=nv_sr_1


But I note that you also are having a go at Norwegian: For that you need

Død Snø / Dead Snow - A ski vacation turns horrific for a group of medical students, as they find themselves confronted by an unimaginable menace: Nazi zombies. Apparently, Dead Snow 2 is being released soon :)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1278340/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1


- and many thanks for the BBC link, it's really good

[laika]

I learned when I worked there, mainly from chatting in bars and the TV (nearly everyone spoke English at work - international environment). The TV with subtitles was invaluable - point a satellite dish to 18.2E and pick up a TNTsat receiver of ebay (around £70 new) and you can get all FTA channels. Alternatively you could use the new Fransat system (more expensive) or (less expensive) watch French TV over the internet (but you'll need a proxy with a French IP to do this ). Alternatively, lots of great films out there on DVD, as well as those mentioned above, try:

Mesrine, J'ai vu tuer Ben Baka, Taxi, Trois couleurs bleue, A prophet, Cache, The double life of Veronique, District 13, Les Femmes de l'ombre, The Sorrow and the Pity

On the whole, far better than Hollywood offerings and not the sepia existentialist stuff you might imagine, French TV not so good quality with some notable exceptions like 'Engrenages' and, for the shallower amongst us, keep your eyes peeled for a programme called Intervilles in the summer season - think 'It's a Knockout' with live Bulls chasing contestants in giant foam costumes! Either way, short of being there or speaking with French people regularly, TV/film with sub-titles (sous-titrage) is the best thing for learning the language. Next best thing I've found is Michel Thomas' course - but expensive and less fun.