Fung Newbie Australia Joined 5508 days ago 4 posts - 4 votes Speaks: English*
| Message 1 of 5 19 May 2009 at 10:01am | IP Logged |
Hello, I'm Fung. My mother-tongue is Cantonese and I've been studying abroad in Australia since I was fifteen. Although my English is not sophisticated yet I want to begin to learn French in English. Is it a good idea? I know it's going to be hard but I'm eager to improve my English via learning French in English. Please be frank with me. ( I'm at senior level) Thank you
Edited by Fung on 19 May 2009 at 10:02am
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Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6543 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map
| Message 2 of 5 19 May 2009 at 11:15am | IP Logged |
Fung wrote:
...my English is not sophisticated yet ... |
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If you use English textbooks you will find that many things in French will be explained by reference to the situation in English, and that can be a problem. For instance English is notoriously idiosyncratic in its way to pronounce its vowels (not to speak of all its regional variants), and yet most authors explain the sounds of other languages by referring to some (mostly unspecified) variant of English. The same applies to grammar, with the added problem that English morphology is so reduced that some Englishmen forget that there is such a thing, or that grammar can be taught in a systematic way.
Ultimately it all boils to the question of your level in English. If you can think totally freely in English and know most of the nooks and crannies and bells and whistles of English then you can safely base your language studies on English study materials, but else I think that the core of those should be in the learner's native language, - especially if this is far from both English and French. Having lived in Australia since you were 15 you ought to be qualified, - but you have to judge that for yourself.
I notice that you have written in your profile that English is your native language, - shouldn't it be Cantonese?
Edited by Iversen on 19 May 2009 at 11:17am
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Strannik Diglot Newbie Russian Federation Joined 5509 days ago 16 posts - 16 votes Speaks: Russian*, English
| Message 3 of 5 19 May 2009 at 12:04pm | IP Logged |
I think it is a good idea. Lots of my friends learned other languages using English textbooks, although they didn't speak English perfectly.
They improved their English and the process of learning another language went pretty well.
So I think you should try that
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Fung Newbie Australia Joined 5508 days ago 4 posts - 4 votes Speaks: English*
| Message 4 of 5 19 May 2009 at 1:44pm | IP Logged |
Iversen wrote:
Fung wrote:
...my English is not sophisticated yet ... |
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If you use English textbooks you will find that many things in French will be explained by reference to the situation in English, and that can be a problem. For instance English is notoriously idiosyncratic in its way to pronounce its vowels (not to speak of all its regional variants), and yet most authors explain the sounds of other languages by referring to some (mostly unspecified) variant of English. The same applies to grammar, with the added problem that English morphology is so reduced that some Englishmen forget that there is such a thing, or that grammar can be taught in a systematic way.
Ultimately it all boils to the question of your level in English. If you can think totally freely in English and know most of the nooks and crannies and bells and whistles of English then you can safely base your language studies on English study materials, but else I think that the core of those should be in the learner's native language, - especially if this is far from both English and French. Having lived in Australia since you were 15 you ought to be qualified, - but you have to judge that for yourself.
I notice that you have written in your profile that English is your native language, - shouldn't it be Cantonese?
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Fung Newbie Australia Joined 5508 days ago 4 posts - 4 votes Speaks: English*
| Message 5 of 5 19 May 2009 at 1:47pm | IP Logged |
Thank you for giving suggestions, I shall take these from you and consider them carefully before i GO ANY FURTHER
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