I Want to Learn French

So a little while ago I began feeling very 1 dimensional only speaking 1 language, and decided I’d like to learn another. I start perusing a site for learning German and memorizing verb conjugation and shit, then I took a trip to Montreal.

Well after that trip I said fuck German, I’m gonna learn the second language of my country first, then I’ll move on to random other shit.

At the moment I’m again using online resources to teach myself, but am thinking of signing up for part time french evening classes at a local college. Has anyone ever tried these part time classes? If so, how were they structured? Did you find you learned quite a bit?

use podcasts from french classes, son

also, buy a used French as Second Language textbook.

see if you can find Espaces used.

I started at the community college with these classes you speak of, and went on to minor in French at the university level. These classes are excellent in that they are methodical about grammar, giving you an excellent base to work from.

Of course, you will eventually need to spend some time in French-speaking Quebec to really internalize it and make it ‘click’ for you; this is the only real way as an adult that you’ll good at it.

I studied abroad in France, and that was really the ‘over the hill’ point for me; it’s been 5 years since I’ve spoken, read, or written with any real regularity, and I still have a pretty good grasp on it.

Not only that, if you decide to learn yet another language, having learned a second as an adult will speed your progress greatly, as you’ll already be good with grammar and be able to relate and differentiate aspects of the language to what you already know.

Depends on the teacher. I recently dropped out of french as the teacher focused more on conjugating verbs, spelling instead of how we actually speak it. Spend some time in Quebec or France if you really want to learn how to speak it. My two cents

[quote]Pluto wrote:
Depends on the teacher. I recently dropped out of french as the teacher focused more on conjugating verbs, spelling instead of how we actually speak it. Spend some time in Quebec or France if you really want to learn how to speak it. My two cents[/quote]

Move to France. Wait six months.

French.

I went to a French immersion school for 5 years when I was younger. Plus my Mom is French Canadian.

I’m not bad at French, forgot how to spell it completely. However, I can still speak it.

[quote]Rattler wrote:
I’m not bad at French, forgot how to spell it completely. [/quote]

F… R… E… N… C… H

Ok cool thanks for the responses guys. I’ll check out some podcasts and look into getting a second hand FSL book Live thanks for the heads up. I have a couple of friends who are basically fluent in french so I could spend some time in Quebec with them and ask them questions/converse with them.

i took spanish for 2 semesters, couldnt take it this year because theres only 2 spanish teachers @ my school and none of them are teaching the class i need.

anyway, i work w/ a lot of spanish people but its hard to learn from them b/c they say everything means either dick or pussy and any word in english you say to them also means either dick or pussy, or fucking.

classes really are the best and worth the money. if you take a class you then it is a sure thing

[quote]Vicomte wrote:
Pluto wrote:
Depends on the teacher. I recently dropped out of french as the teacher focused more on conjugating verbs, spelling instead of how we actually speak it. Spend some time in Quebec or France if you really want to learn how to speak it. My two cents

Move to France. Wait six months.

French.

[/quote]
I was in France and Switzerland for a week.

You pick up that shit fast.

[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
i took spanish for 2 semesters, couldnt take it this year because theres only 2 spanish teachers @ my school and none of them are teaching the class i need.

anyway, i work w/ a lot of spanish people but its hard to learn from them b/c they say everything means either dick or pussy and any word in english you say to them also means either dick or pussy, or fucking.

[/quote]

Lmfao, yeah I figured with all the slang and stuff I’d need some formal education first.

Watching loads of french films will help.

[quote]SteelyD wrote:
Rattler wrote:
I’m not bad at French, forgot how to spell it completely.

F… R… E… N… C… H

[/quote]

Guess I walked into that one didn’t I?

Yeah I just found this thing on BBC.com language page where they show you video clips and stop periodically to ask you questions in french and you have to answer in french,

it’s multiple choice so not overly hard but it makes sure you’re paying attention and at least have some vague understanding of what’s going on I thought it was pretty sweet hot damn that was a huge fucking run on sentence I really need to work on that.

[quote]Cprimero wrote:
Watching loads of french films will help.
[/quote]

My gf and I tried that. Then we started overdubbing it in English.

After five minutes she asked me why every show was about anal sex.

[quote]JLu wrote:
LiveFromThe781 wrote:
i took spanish for 2 semesters, couldnt take it this year because theres only 2 spanish teachers @ my school and none of them are teaching the class i need.

anyway, i work w/ a lot of spanish people but its hard to learn from them b/c they say everything means either dick or pussy and any word in english you say to them also means either dick or pussy, or fucking.

Lmfao, yeah I figured with all the slang and stuff I’d need some formal education first.[/quote]

no, latino people just have the sense of humor of an 11 year old.

but yea formal classes really are great. you have a bunch people to interact w/ who are on your level that way you dont feel as awkward as if trying to talk to a random spanish (or french) person 1 on 1 for the first time.

it also gives you a ton of interactive exercsies to do, like asking people questions and then answering them, etc. plus you have your teacher there to supervise and make sure everyone is pronouncing correctly.

pronounciation is extremely crucial and especially in languages like Spanish it can make the word mean a whole new thing just depending on where the accent is.

[quote]Chewie wrote:
Cprimero wrote:
Watching loads of french films will help.

My gf and I tried that. Then we started overdubbing it in English.

After five minutes she asked me why every show was about anal sex.
[/quote]

I believe that would be overdubbing it in greek.

Hehehehe… I’m in Ottawa… where 'bouts are you? I learned in school… and I live in Quebec… but you have to practice it in order to keep it…