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How to learn a language: Where to start? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| lecavaleur Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4766 days ago 146 posts - 295 votes  Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish | Message 9 of 20 01 November 2011 at 11:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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I forgot to mention the Alliance française. There is a worldwide network of institutions dedicated tot he propagation of French language and culture. It is called the Alliance française. If you live in a large or mid-sized city in the United States, there might be one near you. You can take classes there at the institute but even if you choose to forgo the classes, you can attend their cultural events and take the opportunity to practise the French you've already learned.
Failing that, you can try Meetup.com to see if there is a local gathering of French-speakers and learners in your area ( to be attended with the approval and supervision of your parents or guardians, of course). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| John524 Newbie United States Joined 4767 days ago 5 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 10 of 20 02 November 2011 at 3:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you all very much for your helpful suggestions and pointers. After further
research and taking into account what many of you suggested, I have decided to work with the "New French With Ease" Assimil course. That seems to be the general consensus as to what works for everyone on this forum. And, I feel, if it works for many, I might as well give it a try. Even if it doesn't end up working for me, then what is there to lose in taking the course? I asked myself if I would know any less in French than I do now (which is practically nothing), and the answer is no. So, I have ordered the Assimil course and I'm going to jump in and swim, even if I don't know how. :) I do have one other question, which may be of minor importance, but as some of you suggested the Michael Thomas course, I looked it up at my local library and they do not carry it. However, they do have the Pimsleur CD's. Would it be beneficial to use Pimsleur before starting the Assimil course just to gain my footing in the language? Or perhaps I should use the two together? Because it's at the library, cost is no issue. Otherwise I don't believe I would consider it, because the cost is quite substantial. Thanks again, John 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5251 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 11 of 20 02 November 2011 at 3:23pm | IP Logged | ||
Yes, FREE is good!!! The lessons are about 30 minutes long and they will help you with pronunciation. It's a good combination and it comes at the right price. You can do them sequentially and even stagger them- Pimsleur in the morning, Assimil in the afternoon for example. Don't forget to do other things besides courses, like listening and speaking as soon as you can. Both are very important. The news in simple French Click on "Le journal en français facile"- "ecouter" is to listen and "lire le script" is read the transcript. You won't understand much in the beginning but as you progress in your studies you will understand more and more. This will give you familiarity with words and expressions before you see them in your courses. Bon chance! Edited by iguanamon on 02 November 2011 at 7:11pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4898 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 12 of 20 02 November 2011 at 6:44pm | IP Logged | ||
Pimsleur is an excellent supplement to Assimil. In comparison, Pimsleur is more boring and repetitive, but it is easy to listen to while you do other things, as long as you can repeat aloud. It is good for working on pronunciation, and although it doesn't cover very much of the language in total, what it covers you will learn thoroughly. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lecavaleur Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4766 days ago 146 posts - 295 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish | Message 13 of 20 03 November 2011 at 5:18am | IP Logged | ||
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I must reiterate French in Action. There are 52 videos, each one like 20 minutes long, that you can watch to practice listening. They are FREE at this link: http://www.learner.org/resources/series83.html.
French pronunciation is very difficult for most English speakers beacuse not only is there the famous uvular R (the one you make in the back of the throat) which doesn't exist in English, but there are also vowels that don't exist in English either. If you want to avoid having a painful accent, you must hear native speakers and imitate them until you get it right. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| prz_ Tetraglot Senior Member Poland last.fm/user/prz_rul Joined 4848 days ago 890 posts - 1190 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Bulgarian, Croatian Studies: Slovenian, Macedonian, Persian, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Swedish, German, Italian, Armenian, Kurdish | Message 14 of 20 03 November 2011 at 7:13am | IP Logged | ||
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Merci beaucoup, this news is amazing! Edited by prz_ on 05 November 2011 at 1:34am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| John524 Newbie United States Joined 4767 days ago 5 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 15 of 20 04 November 2011 at 5:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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Excellent advice, thanks! This will all get me on my feet and hopefully start the
language learning process rolling. Lecavaleur: I will definintly be looking at French in Action. And I looked at the Allience Francais and there is one located relatively close to where I live, and if I get the chance I'll try going to one of their events. Iguanamon: Thanks for the link! It looks great and I could already pick up a few things. Merci! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| John524 Newbie United States Joined 4767 days ago 5 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 16 of 20 02 December 2011 at 8:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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Sorry for bringing this thread up again. But, having never learned a language, I wanted
to see what some of the more advanced language learners thought of my plan to attempt learning French. Here goes: Start with Pimsleur I (Mostly for the pronunciation) Then Michael Thomas beginning and advance (To get the basic grammar concepts down) Move on to Pimsleur II and III (Just to get my footing in the language) Assimil: New French with Ease (For a basic all around course) Assimil: Using French (To round out the course) (FSI maybe?) Then after laying the grounding for the language, move on to things like: French in Action Speaking with natives Watching movies and TV in French Listening-Reading method Listening to radio What do you think? Anything I should add or take away? Can I start the things I mentioned in the second paragraph before I have a solid foundation in French, or is it better to wait? As always, I appreciate everyone's input and enjoy hearing your thoughts on the matter. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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