|
 |
5 months til France: which program(s)? | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Footnoted Newbie United States Joined 4859 days ago 35 posts - 42 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 1 of 6 18 November 2011 at 2:59am | IP Logged | ||
|
I have been using New French with Ease for almost five months and I am up to lesson 105 which means I
will be 'done' with the new material in about a week, and will just need to finish the second wave. I think that the course has given me a good foundation in the basics of the language although I must confess that the finer points and much of the idiomatic material have not stuck. Anyway our family's upcoming first-ever trip to France is in April and naturally I hope to be able to maximize my study time until then. I have the following programs at my disposal: FSI 1-24; Assimil's Using French; and French in Action (dvds and textbook only). I do plan to finish the second wave of New French with Ease. Apart from that, which of these other materials would you recommend I concentrate on in the next five months (if any of them)? Thank you for any replies! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| HenryMW Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5176 days ago 125 posts - 179 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, French Studies: Modern Hebrew | Message 2 of 6 18 November 2011 at 5:00am | IP Logged | ||
|
I've used FSI for French. It's good but of the three FSI programs I've used, Spanish, German, and French, it's
the weakest. It will definitely get you there, though. They go overboard on the drills, which isn't the worst thing they could do I guess. I can't speak to the other programs. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7148 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 3 of 6 18 November 2011 at 6:41am | IP Logged | ||
|
I have all of the programs you mention except that I have the old advanced Assimil French.
I would use all of the programs you mention. I would revise the Assimil French With Ease, Play through the French in Action (I find the task pleasant) and I would do some FSI exercises. Watch DVDs and choose French for both audio and sub-titles. Read French websites. I would also recommend Mission Europa which you can google and French in Boston. I subscribe to AboutFrench by Laura K. Lawless which has useful information. Read French web pages and French books. Listen to French music. I loved the music by Francoise Hardy. Practise talking to yourself in French. Read Tintin in French. I recommend putting aside half days or whole days where you only speak French, read French, listen to French, visit French websites, listen to French music, listen to French radio (via the Internet) and do some lessons from your textbooks and you will find you will be thinking in French. If you can visit a French organisation it will force you to speak in French. Visit a French restaurant. All of this will help you prepare for your visit to France. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4911 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 4 of 6 19 November 2011 at 6:01pm | IP Logged | ||
If you could somehow gain access to the audio for French in Action that would be the best next step, in my opinion. The audio exercises are excellent. Unfortunately, they are incredibly expensive. I would also second the suggestion above about reading loads, but get books with audio. CLE has shortish books with mini mp3 CD's. Here's a link to a search on Amazon.fr: CLE books There's also The Little Prince. Here's a link to a bilingual version with an mp3 CD produced by a member of these forums: The Little Prince 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5132 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 5 of 6 19 November 2011 at 6:22pm | IP Logged | ||
Are you listening to/watching any French programming? I would add that to the mix of your other studies. And don't get discouraged if you don't understand much in the beginning. With time you'll understand more. By the time you leave for France, you'll have a solid grounding in not just the language, but the popular culture that no course could ever give you. R. == 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| PinkCordelia Diglot Newbie Wales Joined 4813 days ago 31 posts - 77 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Italian, Welsh | Message 6 of 6 21 November 2011 at 4:12pm | IP Logged | ||
|
My advice closely matches earlier comments. I fairly recently arrived in France after a
few months brushing up my rusty school French. On reflection, I definitely wish I had done the following in preparation: In order of usefulness to me: * listened to DVDs in French - about a million times each and transcribing a few episodes * practised speaking to myself in French * used flashcards to learn phrases rather than words * used the FSI French phonology course * completed Pimsleur aloud rather than in my head These are all things I do now of course with hindsight. I've never used the With Ease materials, but certainly, no-one talks Pimsleur French in the streets. When I hear familiar phrases or just intonation listening to those around me, it much more closely matches what I've learned from my Friends DVDs. 1 person has voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
