[Closed] Learning French

speak slower and in a louder more condescending manner.

Duolingo

I am using Duolingo for Spanish at the moment, it is pretty good and nags you to practice everyday.

I subscribed to 'learn french by podcast' a few years ago and bought about £50 worth of credits as I thought the outlay would force me to apply myself . It hasn't worked. But the podcast is good, although it jumps from beginner to hard pretty quickly. I might try Duolingo as I need to be nagged

Mrs Gti has been using Duolingo to learn French for 18 months as well as attending evening classes for two years. I speak fluent French so she often asks me: "why do they say....?" and sometimes I can't answer because I never really bothered learning the grammar, I just know what sounds right.

Beware with Duolingo, it seems to have a habit of taking you right through year 1 then dropping you and forcing you to re-start, which is very annoying indeed.

The biggest hindrance to learning is your fear of making mistakes so the best way to learn is to go to France, get pissed and talk nonsense with real French people.

Duolingo very good, also Michel Thomas.

I used to always gen up on my French before travelling there, rehearse what I'd say from my phrase book before speaking to the French person in front of me.

9 out of 10 they'd simply reply to me in English. Wtf. How do they even know I'm English ffs.

They know you're English in the same way you know a French person is speaking English to you. It's pointless trying to learn a language simply to ask for a few beers or a Baguette while on holiday. these people are working and like all of us, when we're at work we just want the day to go by as easily and quickly as possible. The last thing we're going to appreciate is someone bastardising your language in some half assed attempt at asking for something fully knowing they wont be able to respond to your follow up questions in French, so they just cut to the chase and respond back in English. They will far more appreciate you just asking for stuff in English so they can quickly and efficiently deal with your order and send you on your way.

Having said that, my recent experiences in France which has been off the usual tourist trails, most of the French people's English skills have been non-existent, or at least worse than my French, so I've found I've had to speak French in as best way as I can, which has been quite good and has improved my fledgling French skills a lot...though i'm starting from a low base. Augmented with some hand gesticulation and finger pointing I've always managed to be understood. I guess it depends how touristy the place you're going to is.

For bad speakers of French, take heart in remembering that French women find an English accent as sexy as we find a French accent.

Duolingo is pretty good to increase vocab and introduce some of the rules, but you might want to do something else as well. I 'completed' French in Duolingo, but there was no way I could have gone from that to having anything other than very basic spoken conversations in French.

I kind of lost momentum at that point, as I was just keeping the lessons topped up without really progressing. I'll watch this thread with interest to see what other options people have tried. I had some French visitors over the weekend which reminded me how much of an idiot I feel when in the presence of bilingual people...

From my experience of learning German I'd say use Duolingo but only as an add-on to using a proper course unless you think that phrases like "the horse eats the bread" will be useful. Not free but I'd recommend the BBC Talk French pack as I used the BBC Talk German and it was good for the basic stuff.

Concentrate on stuff you'll need every day like knowing numbers, asking for a table, asking where the toilets are, ordering food asking for the bill. Forget asking for directions that's what google maps is for.

Alternatively find a good youtube french teacher. There are a couple of good German ones so there must be good French ones as well.

They know you’re English in the same way you know a French person is speaking English to you. It’s pointless trying to learn a language simply to ask for a few beers or a Baguette while on holiday

Yes I know. My tongue was in my cheek. I disagree though. It's nice to try to communicate in native language as much as you can manage no matter how carp you are.

The groups of mates I've travelled with, I've always been the only one who makes the effort. The others just seem to freeze, terrified and go mute. Embarrassing. 😶

You should go and live in france for 6 months before your holiday! 😆

For bad speakers of French, take heart in remembering that French women find an English accent as sexy as we find a French accent.

What? Even Brummies?

How do they even know I’m English ffs.

I'm going to take a wild guess say you have an English accent.

if you were reasonable at gsce French and you can already 'hear' a lot of what is being said then a teach yourself French book might be a fast way to get back up to speed.  Duolingo is ok but it can take a long time to find your level again.   If you can speak a bit then it can be fun to look at French websites that you are interested in as well as using the Google translated version once you think you know what is happening  e.g.

http://forum.velotaf.com/forum/3-velotaf-pratique/

I’m going to take a wild guess say you have an English accent.

Well I put on a French accent when I'm talking it obvs...

You should go and live in france for 6 months before your holiday! 😆

Ah well we are heading to Europe for a year so will hopefully be pretty immersed.
Thanks for the recommendations.

They will far more appreciate you just asking for stuff in English so they can quickly and efficiently deal with your order and send you on your way.

Is related to

Having said that, my recent experiences in France which has been off the usual tourist trails, most of the French people’s English skills have been non-existent,

My parents live in rural France

If they attempt to speak French first they generally get a mixed reply.

If they go into local shops and start in English they pretty much get ignored.

They got french lessons for 2 years and holidayed their before moving there.

They learnt more in the first 2 months there than in the 2 years.

No one ever teaches you how to buy house insurance in French , or a bed , or building materials.

See if you can find someone to practice with as I find the hardest bit processing fast enough to understand replies and process your reply. I can read French fairly well but struggle beyond basic conversation.

Local schools sometimes do evening courses, one of ours does all sorts of languages/levels at 2hrs a week for for something like £50 per term.

Also tuning your ear in, so online learning which is primarily spoken

Watch some telly!
Got Netflix? Type French into the search and you'll get
Ten Percent, The Returned and a shedload of films. Adjust the language and subtitle options and immerse yourself.

Having tried to learn as much French before moving to SW France three years ago, the biggest improvement was using the Michel Thomas CDs in the car. So much repetition you can't fail but get up and going quickly. We now have lessons with a neighbour, as well as private paid for lessons and the biggest step forward has still been the CDs.

The French will still spot you're english straight away and they love to speak english, but you trying to speak their language will always gain their respect. We were at the Marciac Jazz Festival talking to a stall holder, he sussed we were english but when we asked to speak in french his attitude changed immediately.

Respect is a huge thing with the French.

Mercury rev. That's phrased it better that's exactly where I was trying to get.

Out side of tourist mecca They would rather you tried and failed than just assumed they spoke English. Many do they are just not as confident as the tourist hotspots.

Has anyone actually managed to learn much of a second language after 40? I've tried with French and while commuting by train had time to use duolingo each day. Now I'm back on a bike and haven't had time to practice at all. I'm not good enough to ask to speak French with my French colleagues (as I know very little).

I will always make the effort to speak French when in France, it just seems more polite and respectful, if they reply in English that is easier for me, but I appreciate them helping me out.

Michel Thomas, if you can get past the sound of his poorly fitted dentures. “Je vais, I’m on my way”.