Learn French

[atra201]

Hello all i thought that maybe we could teach each other the French language and like post some vocabulary.
for example i'll start with the numbers (i don't have the time now but i would later post some audio files or links for audio files)
here goes and tell me if u think this thread should continue.

[atra201]

source :http://www.languageguide.org/im/num/fr/
check out this site to learn the french numbers

[HibyPrime]

http://french.about.com They have:

Listings of multinational french teaching companies (ie. you can find a class with most of them almost anywhere in the world).

A very well developed audio library

A massive selection of lessons, vocab lists, and just abou everything else.

They also have support forums for any level of french. If you have been learning french for 2 days or 20 years, they will still help you.

http://www.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php

Pronounces anything you type in a realistic voice, in any language (according to aFrenchie: Juliette is the most realistic french speaker there).

http://lepatron.tapor.ualberta.ca/

Checks french sentences/paragraphs for grammatical errors, and tells you where they are. It does not fix them for you (not that it should, you are supposed to be learning). According to aFrenchie, again, this site picks up most errors, but not all errors.

http://www.frenchpodclass.com/

61 (and growing weekly) pod casts teaching french. I belive brad first posted this.

If you have a few dollars (I think it is ~$20), buy Rapid French (Volume 1) from iTunes, it is very effective, but does not teach enough to use it as a sole learning source. This was also first posted by brad.

[brad]

yeah I would highly recommend Rapid French. It is just very basic stuff, but it is easy to listen to over and over again, and I pick up on a lot of small things now that I never did before. I think it is a perfect introduction.

I will post the numbers lesson from rapid french here in a few, it is pretty cool.

[Cooney]

If you are seriously looking to buckle down and learn French, I recommend the software known as "Rosetta Stone." It's available for a lot of different languages, and is designed to quickly develop a usable base for a person who is going to be in a country that speaks that language. It's the same program used by the US State Department for its diplomats, and by the US military for its soldiers.

It is, unfortunately, very expensive. The complete 2 level course (100+ hours) is around $350USD, but it's good stuff. I'm saving up for it so I can refresh my abilities.


Thanks for the Podcast link above! I actually was lying in bed dreaming about moi-alizee.us podcasts last night. I would love to do a series of podcasts covering Alizée's songs, translations and interpretations of them, and talking about Alizée related material. I was even thinking how much I'd like to do a couple in French, translating the English version songs back to French for comparison against the originals :-D Ah well, I need to get an IPod first. More stuff to save for!

[brad]

I uploaded a few samples from Rapid French. The first one is numbers (simple stuff like 1 thru 10 and how to tell time). And the second one is a short lesson on 'je voudrais'

Again this is very basic stuff, and it isnt meant to teach you French. It is in a kind of song format, so after you listen to it 15 times or so, you can kind of sing along in your head and anticipate the translation.

I can make out a lot of 'words' Alizee is saying now, like je voudrais for example, I hear it all the time now. And recently I was watching the JPVA Eiffel tower video again, and when she read the numbers on the screen I was suprised to pick out a few when she said it ... lol

You can buy it on iTunes search for "Rapid French"

I agree on the Rosetta Stone suggestion, I know one person that has used the Spanish one and was able to take a test to get college credit for her Spanish requirement without ever taking a class.

[brad]

Originally Posted by HibyPrime

But, can you conjugate voudrais?

I don't even know the infinitive.. dictionary time.

hell no I can't lol .. that is kind of the point of Rapid French. I don't think I am ready to dive in and really spend 3 years studying the language in depth, but it is fun knowing different expressions and very basic stuff.

Something I can shout to Alizee from the crowd lol ..

"ALIZEE!! I WANT A CUP OF COFFEE!!!"

[HibyPrime]

but, can you conjugate voudrais? (vouloir)

I can't, I even had to look up the infinitive..

Originally Posted by brad

hell no I can't lol .. that is kind of the point of Rapid French. I don't think I am ready to dive in and really spend 3 years studying the language in depth, but it is fun knowing different expressions and very basic stuff.

Something I can shout to Alizee from the crowd lol ..

"ALIZEE!! I WANT A CUP OF COFFEE!!!"

I deleted the post instead of editing, opps.

Je voudrais................. un café

I'm at about 6 months of non-intensive study. I already have diven (is this a word?) in. 3 years? good luck learning it in 3 years without living in a francophone area.

[Twitch]

Verb conjugations are simpler than they look, most are pronounced the same so in speech its not that big of a problem, and for writing all reputable French only dictionary's will have all the most common verbs conjugated in the grammar section. For a more detailed list just buy a verb conjugation book, I have one (although at one time I almost knew them all including the exceptions) and I would think that even native Francophones worried about their grammar use them as well.

[aFrenchie]

Originally Posted by Twitch

For a more detailed list just buy a verb conjugation book, I have one (although at one time I almost knew them all including the exceptions) and I would think that even native Francophones worried about their grammar use them as well.

If you're interested, I use this tiny program myself sometimes:
http://perso.orange.fr/herve.echelar...d/dicoverb.zip
(Only a .exe and a readme, no install)
Use the "Tableaux des conjugaisons" button to go faster into it...