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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| aladson Newbie United States Joined 5803 days ago 1 posts - 1 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 1 of 3 02 January 2009 at 5:56pm | IP Logged |
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I am a senior in high school who abhorred foreign languages because of less than desirable experiences in high school foreign language classes; however, I decided I still wanted to learn French and German (up to a level of advance fluency) , Spanish and Italian (to a level of basic fluency), and Chinese (just speaking). So I decided to start with what I heard was an easier one, French. So here is what I did/ plan on doing. Please be blunt and tell me if I heading in the wrong direction.
-I bought Rosetta Stone French (the Online Edition so it was cheaper) and I have literally been practicing for 4-5 hours day (that # will decrease to two hours a day because school is going to be starting again) -There is a teacher at my school who attended Harvard for French and is (he claims and I believe him) fluent. I plan on having a conversation with him everyday in French. My question is what other avenues should I take to achieve fluency? -I doubt I’ll be able to visit France within the next year -About how long does it take to learn French, assuming I am very passionate and study a minimum of two hours a day? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| altito425 Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5958 days ago 65 posts - 70 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 2 of 3 03 January 2009 at 7:10pm | IP Logged |
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I'm really impressed at the amount of time you've been/plan on devoting to learning a language. I wish I had that much motivation.
Rosetta Stone, while I've never used it, I'm sure is a great learning tool, but when you're finished with it you should probably go through a grammar book (or two) just to make sure that they haven't left anything out (and they probably have ;P). You could probably also benefit from these websites: FSI French - very comprehensive (and very boring, so you should wait until you're at least at the intermediate level before even attempting it) program that will bring you about as close to fluency as it's possible to get with one program if you use it right. Discovering French 1 Discovering French 2 Discovering French 3 These three links will bring you to a page with about a thousand flashcards each. By the time you get around to using them you should already know most of the vocabulary but it's always good to be thorough. And when you're more advanced there's French in Action. LingQ - Here you can find hours and hours of recordings in French for just about every level and with every theme with transcripts for free. You can also hire a tutor and practice writing and conversation, but that costs money. Some other tips: There are also dual language books that you could buy from amazon.com. These were really beneficial for me when I was just beginning to read Spanish literature. They're a great way to bridge gap between intermediate and advanced learning. Lots of dvd's come with the option for French dubbing. Watching overdubbed movies is usually easier at first than watching the real thing because the language is a bit more standardized. On that note, you might also consider reading books in French that you've already read in English. Don't worry about going to France till you have at least Basic Fluency, going as a beginner or intermediate learner won't benefit you much and might actually discourage you. As far as the time it will take you, I'd say, if you're really devoted and are spending two hours a day on it, then it would be quite possible for you to achieve Advanced Fluency in about two years. I think that the most important thing is to stay motivated and always be looking for ways to improve your French, as well as improve the way you learn it. This website has a pretty extensive guide for learning languages that you should probably take a look at too. Good luck! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| zenmonkey Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6550 days ago 803 posts - 1119 votes 1 sounds Speaks: EnglishC2*, Spanish*, French, German Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew | Message 3 of 3 04 January 2009 at 4:03pm | IP Logged |
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I can't tell you how much time it will take you, it is always such a personal process.
All anyone here can do is give you their own experience and a good guess. My good guess, if your motivation holds, in a year you'll have a good intermediate level. I deeply but respectfully disagree, con el señor altito, while he gives great advice the one point I'm not aligned with is going to France early; it can be the most useful method for learning the language and giving you a big boost. Get some basics in place and get over there asap and enroll in a language class. I went from basic to rather advanced in a year of total daily 100% French (no English books even) and what noe would call 'advanced fluency' in 2 years. As to material, there is a lot of radio and podcast material for this language. Try this site for streaming French radio: Radio France Edited by zenmonkey on 04 January 2009 at 4:03pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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