Thinking about learning french

[dwightks]

Originally Posted by Scruffydog777

I think the main question here is how much will you get to use the French language outside of listening to Alizée? Do you live in an area where there is a good size French speaking population? Do you plan on possibly moving to France or maybe some place like Quebec or New Orleans some day where French might possibly come in handy. If not, I wouldn't do it just for the sake of understanding her songs.

I have a niece who's father for some strange reason talked her into taking German in high school. What a huge mistake. She never gets to use it. We have a large Spanish population in Boston. She would have been much better off taking Spanish.

Who knows? Alizee might decide to have another baby soon and quit her music career. What good will your French do you then?

I would suggest you do what I did. Just learn her songs. I've taken the time to learn 12 of her songs. I started of with Moi Lolita which is very easy to learn. You just have to realize some of the lyrics are controversial, so some sites try and clean up the lyrics, but once you know what they're trying to say, it's a very easy song to understand and learn.

L'Alize I think is one of her best songs to sing along with, once you've learned it. Took me a while but it was well worth it.

I took 2 years of French way back in junour high school. Never really had any use for it until now. Even though it's been so many years, I still remembered the basics. It's just like riding a bicycle.

I think the most difficult part of learning French is realizing their sentences are structured differently than ours, but if you know a couple of other languages, then I'm sure you've run into that problem before so it won't be a problem for you.

I'm not learning French just to understand Alizée. I think that is will be useful in the future and I am also interested in French culture. Alizée started my desire to learn French, but she is definitely not the sole reason.

[Scruffydog777]

Originally Posted by dwightks

I'm not learning French just to understand Alizée. I think that is will be useful in the future and I am also interested in French culture. Alizée started my desire to learn French, but she is definitely not the sole reason.

Then by all means learn French. It is with out doubt, the most beautiful language. You will have no regrets.

[wasabi622]

Honestly just listening to French music, watching French movies and the like really do help. I took French last year for a semester, and though it was my first French class, for I had studied Spanish in high school, the professor was very surprised by my fluency. I don't mean that I was fluent in French, but how I could carry a conversation, which I really attribute to the various interviews and movies I've seen in French.

But just to be clear, I'm saying that all the above is great supplementary material.

[alizeefan]

Originally Posted by dwightks

Hi everyone, I was thinking about learning some french. Alizée has had a really big effect on me and I feel like learning french is a good idea. I just have a few questions.
1. Did anyone here have the urge to learn french because of Alizée and did you actually succeed.

2. What materials did you use and how long did it take you.

3. Is French a hard language to learn?

I already know a few languages. I'm fluent in English, I can understand Tamil and Telugu (indian languages), and I can read, write, and somewhat speak Japanese. I am also wondering if already knowing other languages will have an effect on learning French?

Thanks

First to say i agree as Scruffy and Ronald stated above if you do not use it you may lose it , which may be differing depending on the individuals memory skills . Definitely something to take into heavy consideration when considering learning . Also to add there when reading about people learning languages it is VERY very helpful to use it with a native or learned speaker/s that way you become accustomed to the nuances . The best way to learn is to be using it on a daily basis . Now from researching i have found that everyone recommends the Rosetta Stone tools but it is expensive .

With that in mind and after some researching for free tools i found byki -

http://www.byki.com/

They also have the upgraded pay version but the free one seems great.
Now i can not say if the lessons work as time has not permitted me to get highly involved to learn but they seem very well writ also having a native speaker say the words so you can learn by hearing as well reading .
More importantly as elated above about using the language to learn , one of the tools is they hook you up with people who speak the language you want to learn to be sorta pen/chat pals . That way you can teach them languages you know and they want to learn and vice versa by not only writing but talking too . Add to that it is pretty cool to become friends with people around the world or in the country you are interested in .

One more tool i found helpful is to create my own desktop wallpaper background with words and alphabet translations .
That way it is right there for you to see and study constantly or easily refer back to without having to open things .

1. - Yes i have the urge but yet to get into it due to time restraints.

2. - Again i would like to get the Rosetta Stone but expensive so trying Byki .

3. - Depends on how much time you have as well effort put into learning .
Also each individual will be different in learning/memory skills.

Another thing to keep in mind which i think many overlook is -
As with any language there are varying dialects depending on location one is in of the respective country . From what i understand and evidence all over this forum about her pronunciations , Alizee being from the Corsica island has a variation on the dialects with both French and English . For instance on dialects , talk to someone from New York , LA or Texas and not only is the accent different but the wording and phrases will vary greatly too .

[dwightks]

Originally Posted by alizeefan

First to say i agree as Scruffy and Ronald stated above if you do not use it you may lose it , which may be differing depending on the individuals memory skills . Definitely something to take into heavy consideration when considering learning . Also to add there when reading about people learning languages it is VERY very helpful to use it with a native or learned speaker/s that way you become accustomed to the nuances . The best way to learn is to be using it on a daily basis . Now from researching i have found that everyone recommends the Rosetta Stone tools but it is expensive .

With that in mind and after some researching for free tools i found byki -

http://www.byki.com/

They also have the upgraded pay version but the free one seems great.
Now i can not say if the lessons work as time has not permitted me to get highly involved to learn but they seem very well writ also having a native speaker say the words so you can learn by hearing as well reading .
More importantly as elated above about using the language to learn , one of the tools is they hook you up with people who speak the language you want to learn to be sorta pen/chat pals . That way you can teach them languages you know and they want to learn and vice versa by not only writing but talking too . Add to that it is pretty cool to become friends with people around the world or in the country you are interested in .

One more tool i found helpful is to create my own desktop wallpaper background with words and alphabet translations .
That way it is right there for you to see and study constantly or easily refer back to without having to open things .

1. - Yes i have the urge but yet to get into it due to time restraints.

2. - Again i would like to get the Rosetta Stone but expensive so trying Byki .

3. - Depends on how much time you have as well effort put into learning .
Also each individual will be different in learning/memory skills.

Another thing to keep in mind which i think many overlook is -
As with any language there are varying dialects depending on location one is in of the respective country . From what i understand and evidence all over this forum about her pronunciations , Alizee being from the Corsica island has a variation on the dialects with both French and English . For instance on dialects , talk to someone from New York , LA or Texas and not only is the accent different but the wording and phrases will vary greatly too .

Thanks I'll try out Byki. I've thought about Rosetta Stone but it's too expensive. I'm also thinking about taking a French course at a community college close by, which will also be good for my transcript to get into college. These courses are very cheap for High School students.

[Dark Engine]

Originally Posted by dwightks

Thanks I'll try out Byki. I've thought about Rosetta Stone but it's too expensive. I'm also thinking about taking a French course at a community college close by, which will also be good for my transcript to get into college. These courses are very cheap for High School students.

There is actually another program out there that is a lot cheaper than Rosetta Stone and reviews claim that it's almost as effective. Look for a program called "Instant Immersion". But regardless of the cost of a program, learning a new one is hard. The pronunciation of French from reading seems to be really hard. To me, It seemed really different when compared to Spanish. The reviews seem to vary from good to bad, but for the price, it's hard to argue.

http://www.amazon.com/TOPICS-Enterta...ef=pd_sim_sw_4

There is another program out there called Fluenz that is about as expensive as Rosetta but uses a different learning style. Rosetta uses total immersion which can be difficult for a lot of ppl. Fluenz teaches you a language by explaining it in English for beginners. Similar to how high school students learn from the beginning. Just hunt around and see which interests you the best. I know I've tried the total immersion for Spanish and I lost interest pretty fast. And that's with 3 years of studying it in school.

http://www.amazon.com/Fluenz-Version...4294694&sr=1-5

[Nubcake]

Lol, I'm not the only one, I'm know the basics, magent/eatting, boit/drinking, garcon/boy, but i'm having a hard time how the words roll together and you don't pronouce the R or S's or even hear them. Reading it seems easier than speaking currently.

Also I had rosetta stone for years, just never touched it, I got it years ago when I went on a trip to Spain and than Norway so I lost the language cds, but you can find them on a torrent tracker, so I'm sure you can also find the whole client.

[DrSmith]

I tried installing Rosetta Stone yesterday but the language CD torrents don't come with bloody activation codes. I can't find them shits anywhere.

[Nubcake]

Originally Posted by DrSmith

I tried installing Rosetta Stone yesterday but the language CD torrents don't come with bloody activation codes. I can't find them shits anywhere.

Don't activate it, you can learn up to lesson 3 or something, other than that, you'll have to find a crack for rosetta stone itself not the language cd.

[Aayush]

Yups, Rosetta Stone is the very best in the business. M totally satisfied with its use and will recommend the same to the newbies in learning french.