cunning linguists

[Theseus]

Try Duolingo.

A free language course that teaches you by getting you to help translate the web. You get language lessons, they get translated pages. Currently set up to teach Spanish, French and German.

 

[postman]

Officer Crabtree gives free French lessons,i have heard he is very good,i thought i would mention this as i was just pissing this way.He a wits yur call.

 

[Fnaar]

The BBC produce excellent online langauge learning material, in loads of languages. It caters for a range of levels, and (trust me) it's better than a book.
link to French stuff: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/

 

[growingvegetables]

Couple of really daft ideas?

Years ago, I got a job in French-speaking Senegal and had to get up to speed FAST in effective French --- with nowt but long-dead memories of school-boy French to fall back on. I got a couple of novels and read them .... VERY slowly, to begin with. But it was a painless way of picking it back up again - still remember the one I started with ... Les Bouts de Bois de Dieu by Ousmane Sembene.

Or try http://duolingo.com/? Does it work? No idea - I just remember seeing the guy (he also invented capcha ) talking about it maybe a year ago, and it looked interesting!

 

[Hover Fly]

Our cook's son (aged8) uses books by an author called Brigitte Baudelot, sorry no idea how you can get them in SL. Hope this helps.

 

[Hover Fly]

My brother-in-law tried ordering a meal in French in Paris. The waiter watched him with withering contempt for a minute or two before rolling his eyes and saying "Come now monsieur, zees would be zo much easier in Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeenglish, non?"

Snide bastard - I'd have stood up, uttered a very loud "Merde!" and walked out!

The Frenchies really can't understand the "British speaking French". Simple example, and one our salesgirls giggle over a lot: j'aime is never pronounced jay hayme by a froggie. Similarly there is an "a" in Sauternes.

 

[jazzkat]

There are some very good CDs by a guy called Michel Thomas. PM for details.

pm'd

 

[jazzkat]

Some great suggestions there guys. I'll start checking them out.
Thanks

 

[marinyork]

pm'd

I found his post a bit odd but if he's offering you the CDs for free then fair dos. There are loads of audio courses, I bought Paul Noble Italian as people reckoned it was better than the Collins/various other ones but a lot cheaper than Michel Thomas. The French/Spanish Paul Noble ones are cheaper for some reason from some retailers.

I also stumbled into a language shop in London on Judd St which I think was called http://www.lclib.com/ and it does mail order. Not cheap, but somewhere like that might be slightly more likely to get stuff than somewhere else. Not cheap though.

 

[byegad]

When I first started courting Mme Syrphe she arranged for me to have French lessons with a chum of hers who teaches on two week courses in Bordeaux. After the usual introduction and kisses on both cheeks she asked "Hover, have you ever had any lessons in French in England?" "No." "Ah, that is a very good start."

Yes, I suffered seven years of school French. I failed 'O'level at progressively worse grades, 7, 8 and 9.

Then 25 years later I went to France for three weeks 'doing' all the invasion beaches, the breakout and the Falaise Pocket. After three weeks on my own I found my spoken French improved beyond anything I'd ever have managed at school, but there again 'O'level French was all about writing not speaking. After that successive holidays in France saw me taking my son to casualty after hacking his finger with a very sharp knife and visiting a GP for tonsillitis. I look up words before I need them in a dictionary so knew the French for tonsil before I walked in! I can chat in French although writing French is another thing altogether.

My advice is French conversation classes as soon as you have the very basics, and the best to be found are in France speaking to French people in French, they'll gladly correct to if you go wrong and as someone else said will miraculously break into English if you get stuck.

 

[Moodyman]

That thread title had me thinking something else

 

[jazzkat]

That thread title had me thinking something else

aye, but you had to come and have a look didn't you. Result

 

[gavroche]

You are all welcome to my French conversational classes starting in September. All levels catered for.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

French isn't my bag, and others will be able to advise you on suitable books, but I can recommend using a French meetup group if there's one in your area (search www.meetup.com). These meetups are typically attended by several native speakers who are keen to help those studying the target language. You'll probably also find people in the same position as yourself along with others who can give good advice on making progress in your studies.

One thing you could try is French comics. The pictures give you all the context and make it very easy to work out the dialogue, you'll find them on eBay or amazon.

Good luck, a second language is a fantastic thing to have.

GC

 

[jazzkat]

You are all welcome to my French conversational classes starting in September. All levels catered for.

Thanks for the offer, I'm a bit far away though