french language

[isabella]

do you learn french? on school? or by yourself(when you do this, why?).
or do you want to do something with the french language (studying,teach it to other people or something else)?

[Deepwaters]

I've only been studying French for about four months, and my original incentive was, of course, Alizée -- I wanted to understand her lyrics because it would let me get more from her music. Although I've found other reasons since then.

I'm taking an on-line correspondence course, I also went through the Pimmsleur CDs, and aside from that I just read and listen to just about everything in French I can. I have several on-line French newspapers on my favorites tab, go to blogs and discussion boards in French, and try to write and talk in French as much as possible. I sometimes use an online translator just as a learning tool -- I'll write something short in English that I'm not sure how to say in French and translate it, then look up some of the words in a dictionary to make sure it's not doing anything weird, check a grammar reference I have on my computer, etc.

I've reached a point now where I can usually understand the essence of just about anything I read. It's still harder to catch spoken French, mainly because so many words sound like so many other words and you have to identify it from the context. I'm much less facile at composing or speaking, though.

When I read a site, I try not only to understand it, but also to read it back aloud, to help learn to pronounce words correctly. Pronunciation is the only really hard thing in French for a native English speaker, because the languages are quite similar in vocabulary, but pronunciation patterns are very different.

Anyway, I hope to get good enough to take a trip to France some time between now and a year from now, and not have to rely on anyone understanding English.

[Toc De Mac]

Originally Posted by Deepwaters

I've reached a point now where I can usually understand the essence of just about anything I read. It's still harder to catch spoken French, mainly because so many words sound like so many other words and you have to identify it from the context.

Exactly. That is a very hard obstacle to overcome. For example...

Originally Posted by http://french.about.com/od/vocabulary/a/homophones_5.htm

mai - May
On est le premier mai - It's the first of May
la maie - bread box
mais - but
Mais je ne suis pas prêt ! - But I'm not ready!
mes - my (possessive adjective)
Où sont mes clés ? - Where are my keys?
m'es - contraction of me + second person singular être (to be)
Tu m'es très cher - You are very dear to me
m'est - contraction of me + third person singular être
met - third person singular conjugation of mettre (to put)
Il met le pain sur la table - He's putting the bread on the table
mets - first and second person singular mettre
un mets - dish
Tout le monde doit amener un mets à partager - Everyone needs to bring a dish to share

I originally decided to learn French at school, in seventh grade, due to its melifluous nature. I then decided to take lessons with a private tutor once a week once I completely fell in love with the language. I've been taking French for around three years and I love the language as much as ever.

I have no clue as to whether or not I will use the language in a career, though it is a possibility.

[espire]

French is generally mandatory in Canada till grade 9. I took it in 10 out of a small interest this year, and in the middle of the year I discovered Lili. Now, because of her, I plan to take French until at least first year university .

[Cooney]

I studied French from grade 6 through my first year of university (ages 12-19). It was the sort of thing that was interesting to me, but I never really was dedicated to learning it, and didn't pay as much attention as I could have. I was generally a B student in it.

Having stopped my studies after the requisite 200-level classes in college, I used French only intermittently for the next 4 years, mostly just for fun, and never had to rely on it. It atrophied away pretty badly.

When I discovered Alizée late 2005 / early 2006, I started using it a bit more again. I recovered, at the least, most of my sense of structure - that is, I regained my sense of how to put together phrases, and how to express complex ideas. Most importantly, I had, for the first time, an actual motivating force driving me to study it.

It was in mid-2006, after finding more of her music, and becoming involved on the forums here, that I really decided that I wanted to study French in earnest. I now "teach myself" so to speak, and use Rosetta Stone training software to assist. This has created the interesting situation where there are some relatively advanced ideas that I can easily express (having recently taught myself the necessary vocab for one reason or another), and some relatively simple ones I can't (having forgotten how after years of disuse). I'm learning pretty rapidly at the moment, or at the least, am retaining things better than in years past. I decide I want to know how to say something, look it up, and still remember it later when I need it.

I'm confidant now that I could get by in France without too much trouble, though I may use unconventional or excessively formal phraseology at times. I'm also working on certain silly things, like misreading reflexives, and alternating between singular "vous" and "tu" when talking.

[lefty12357]

I've started French only recently and have some moderate success at reading it. I read on-line French newspapers to practice. I also have used Rosetta Stone, but that damned CD-ROM runs so much I think I wore one of my drives out. I can't follow spoken French hardly at all yet, and I'm not very good at speaking or writing. My goal is to at least be able to comprehend the written language well.

When I hear French spoken, I tend to only pick up a few words here and there, and by the time I've sorted it out in my head, 5 more words have flown by that I missed. I'm trying to get to the point where I am thinking in French, not just trying to translate it on the fly.

[Joey_adore_Jung]

honestly i have been learning French for the last few years and since i discovered Alizee it only greatly increased my interest in it, plus the only thing i really can do at the moment is speak a small conversation in French, but i shall improve over time!

[Sir Wood]

Originally Posted by Deepwaters

I'I also went through the Pimmsleur CDs

I'm curious, how did you like these. Pro's and con's si ce n'est pas un probleme.

Originally Posted by Deepwaters

I sometimes use an online translator just as a learning tool

At home, I rely on one of my sidebar gadgets by Systran for this.

[Deepwaters]

Originally Posted by Sir Wood

I'm curious, how did you like these. Pro's and con's si ce n'est pas un probleme.

The pros and cons are basically the same. They're repetitious and kind of boring. But -- they're repetitious, and that helped drum some basic stuff into my head that I might not otherwise have learned. I wouldn't rely on CDs by themselves, but in conjunction with the other stuff I was doing they helped.

[fsquared]

Originally Posted by Deepwaters

The pros and cons are basically the same. They're repetitious and kind of boring. But -- they're repetitious, and that helped drum some basic stuff into my head that I might not otherwise have learned. I wouldn't rely on CDs by themselves, but in conjunction with the other stuff I was doing they helped.

I like Pimsleur too, though I have tended to peter out after about lesson 8.