Learning a foreign language

Ron-P

Now that I have successfully conquered my first challenge (going vegetarian) I thought I'd up the ante, to learn a foreign language...French.

I love how the language sounds, it's been one of my top favorites for as long as I can remember. Is it pratical for me, no. But I don't care, I'd rather learn something that I like more so then what I could actually use. Besides, my goal is to save for a trip to France and go 2 years from now and go for several weeks if not longer. I'd really like to be able to speak the language as best I can before I go.

So, anyone have any tips for helping me conquer this challenge?

Demiurge

So, anyone have any tips for helping me conquer this challenge?

This will sound crazy, but take a French class.

greyford1979

Get yourself a hot French chick to help you learn:p I'm learning how to speak Romanian from a hot chick=my fiance;):D My parents speak it as well but it's much more fun learning from her(she taught me all the swear words first lol) I guess it wouldn't hurt to check out that Rosetta stone thing, I have no experience with it but maybe some others have and could chime in on how effective it is, good luck!:D

PerfectCreature

I almost took that but the budget cut in my school only allowed spanish. ANyway, come live in my area, we have lots of french people ha. I dated a few, I learned quite a few choice words HAH!
Anyway, its a fun one to learn, and enjoy it
+1 Rosetta, or try an online class or something?
Maybe sit in on a college class, most universities will let you do that without getting a grade just pay for the class.

j allen

Taking a class is good, because you actually get to talk to people in French while learning how to talk to people in French. Also a bonus, you get to make fun of people failing at conjugation.

J'aime danser avec un chat dans mes pantalons!

Demiurge

Rosetta Stone is bad.

Kex

Demiurge wrote: »

This will sound crazy, but take a French class.

Even better: take a class in somewhere like Qu

fatchowmein

Here's something different you can do for fun when you're tired of studying French. Do you see those DVD's sitting on your shelf? Well, grab a couple that you're intimately familiar with and play them in French with English subtitles or grab a couple of french movies like Cyrano de Bergerac and Brotherhood of the Wolf.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099334/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0237534/


Or try some french music. I like Christophe/Aline but that's an oldie and the import CD is pretty expensive.

http://www.amazon.com/Aline-Christophe/dp/B000006XL6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1276913404&sr=8-1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj8-_QKN31o


There's an online website that basically lets you pen pal with people from other countries in order to learn their language but I can't remember the name of the site. Maybe someone else will chime in.

Sherardp

Japanese and some Spanish here. I used Rosetta Stone for Japanese because it helped with the Kanji and Kata Kana, along with another language program Pimsleur which helped tremendously. I learned alot more from the immersion in the language to be honest. YMMV and good luck with the French.

shack

Sherardp wrote:

along with another language program Pimsleur which helped tremendously. I learned alot more from the immersion in the language to be honest. YMMV and good luck with the French.

The Paul Pimsleur method has been around for years...but is still very good. I picked up the French set of CDs from our Public Library a few years ago and was able to get to a decent level of proficiency pretty quickly.

http://www.pimsleur.com/

cnh

We have a guy here who learned his Chinese with pimsleur...seemed to do a pretty good job?

The question I have is HOW OLD ARE YOU? As you age, the ability to learn a new language declines asymptotically. So hopefully you're not too old. Me, at this point whatever languages I know, that's pretty much it...too late for anything new...other than some simple phrases...no real mastery is possible anymore.

Save your money...lots and lots of it....and enroll in the summer language program at Middlebury College if you can take a summer off. If you have 'any' ability at ALL...you'll be conversing in French by the end of that summer!! Best language program in the country!

cnh

TECHNOKID

Ron-P wrote: »

Now that I have successfully conquered my first challenge (going vegetarian) I thought I'd up the ante, to learn a foreign language...French.

I love how the language sounds, it's been one of my top favorites for as long as I can remember. Is it pratical for me, no. But I don't care, I'd rather learn something that I like more so then what I could actually use. Besides, my goal is to save for a trip to France and go 2 years from now and go for several weeks if not longer. I'd really like to be able to speak the language as best I can before I go.

So, anyone have any tips for helping me conquer this challenge?

Ok, let's challenge pronounciation, say this sentence as fast as you can:

''Les chemises de l'archi duchesse sont elles s