Learning a second language, French.

[GreenLantern]

The thread says it all, I want to learn French. I have literally no experience in the subject, but there are a lot of jobs in my line of work that require you to be bi lingual. Learning this language would open a lot of doors for me career wise.

I understand how terribly difficult it is to learn a second language, but my question do you guys is what is the first step?

Is it learning the top 100 words then enrolling in a course? Are there websites where you can talk into your mic and it will help you with pronunciation?

Learning french for dummies a good place to figure out how bad I am at it?

[an_album_cover]

I would just enroll in a course.

Good for you for trying to pick this up. I know that being able to speak French has done a lot for my own career.

[CaptainCrunch]

Take a course.

Then go to Montreal and sit in a strip bar all day to practice your french.

[Canada 02]

if you do not want to take a course, get Rosetta Stone

[Redliner]

Being bilingual has definitely opened a lot of doors for me.

if you're the motivated, self-learner type, you could try something like Rosetta Stone. I have a few friends who have started learning new languages with their programs and all but one of them raved about it. It's definitely on the expensive side but apparently works pretty well.

Myself I'd just take a course. Get the basics and try it out. If you have a chance to, take a trip to somewhere where French is the predominant language. Nothing helps you learn faster than dropping yourself into a situation where you have to use the language or you will have a hard time getting something to eat.

[FlamingStuffedTiger]

I've never tried it, but I know a few people have vouched for the Rosetta Stone series. In my opinion, it might be a good place to start, but you'd probably have to follow it up.

[BlackEleven]

I've gone through this process myself.

If you know nothing I find the best way to start is to learn some basic phrases that are used all the time (hi, how are you?, my name is, etc). Then learn some basic verbs (to go, to have, to be) and basic nouns. Lastly, learn the three basic tenses -- past, present, future. You can sign up for courses to teach you this stuff, but really its simple enough to learn with a few books or online resources.

I found for learn nouns French children's books are actually really helpful. I know that sounds a bit stupid, but they're simple and full of pictures, which helped someone like me with a visual memory.

Once you have some basics down, the hardest part begins, and that's to recall everything quickly enough to speak naturally. The only way to do this is practice, practice, practice and then practise some more. It takes a lot of effort. This is where courses (that give you a chance to speak, not a University course) are very useful. Reading books and watching videos is a good way to learn some basics, but to truly learn a language you need to speak it as often as you can.

It also helps to listen a lot to native speakers once you start to get semi-fluent. If you don't know any try watching some French films. I also used the BBC website a bit which had videos for learning French. It has a mode where you can turn subtitles on and off, so you can try to understand without first, and if you can't get it you can turn them on. I used those CDs you can get too, which helped a bit but I didn't find them overly useful.

[Ozy_Flame]

Do you work for the Federal Government? That should be able to train you to become billingual. I believe it's like a 6-10 week course in Quebec. Pretty sure you can put in a request to get language trained for most departments.

[GreenLantern]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Do you work for the Federal Government? That should be able to train you to become billingual. I believe it's like a 6-10 week course in Quebec. Pretty sure you can put in a request to get language trained for most departments.

I am on a trial with Environment Canada so as it stands right now they won't pay for my training, however should I at the end of my contract know French... well there is a good chance that another door or two will open.

Thanks for the tips so far guys. This Rosetta Stone seems to work good, but man is it expensive.. I imagine a course wouldn't be much less though.

[Cactus Jack]

Blackeleven is right. Taking a course is always a good idea too because you can practice with a native speaker. Also, immersing yourself in French language music, movies, trips and French speaking people will help. Don't be shy about it either, no one is any good at learning a new language at the beginning.

[Locke]

Cheese eating surrender monkeys!!

[Buzzard]

Awesome you posted this question. I was about to myself, except I'm trying to learn Spanish.

I'm into Rosetta Stone, but I'm not sure how much good it's doing me. Doesn't seem to be directed to my learning type I think...I dunno.

There's tons of resources available on the net, lots free. I've been getting quite a bit out of some podcasts. Another thing I do through wunderadio app on iPhone is listen to Mexican radio stations. I'm slooooowly piecing a few words together at a time. From what I've gathered, it's best just to listen to as much of the language as you possibly can. I even subscribed to tln, a Spanish channel on tv.

I wish I had some Spanish speaking friends...I think that would probably be the quickest way to learn. One thing about learning French, there's a pretty good chance you know at least one person that speaks it and could help.

[GreenLantern]

I have heard a rumour that it is easier to learn French, THEN Spanish, rather than trying to learn Spanish with zero french.

Is that true? Does that even make sense? When I was in Mexico some of the more educated locals at the resort told me that.. apparently the two languages are very similar?

[firebug]

How to learn any language in an hour.

Good all around blog to follow, I recommend it.

Best regards,

~firebug

[Buzzard]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

I have heard a rumour that it is easier to learn French, THEN Spanish, rather than trying to learn Spanish with zero french.

Is that true? Does that even make sense? When I was in Mexico some of the more educated locals at the resort told me that.. apparently the two languages are very similar?

First I've heard of that...could be I guess.

You bet they are similar though. All feminine/masculine stuff (pronouns?). Lots of similar sounding words. Italian, French, Romanian, Spanish and Portugese all are similar I'm told.

I'm probably better off mastering English before any of them first though.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

I have heard a rumour that it is easier to learn French, THEN Spanish, rather than trying to learn Spanish with zero french.

Is that true? Does that even make sense? When I was in Mexico some of the more educated locals at the resort told me that.. apparently the two languages are very similar?

They're both, along with Italian, derived from Latin so there are key similarities in the languages, a lot of the difference becomes word memorization and pronunciation differences.

I spoke french as a kid and took three years of spanish in high school. Now I can't speak any of either language.

I tried Rosetta stone, but to be honest it didn't really seem to have realistic everyday language being pushed across. I understand that they are immersing you in the language to a point, showing you items and acts and saying what they are in that language. But when I'm talking about people swimming in the 10th lesson of the first level, that doesn't come across as practical to me.

I'm thinking of trying the Pimsleur method, anyone have any luck with that system?

edit: and yes Buzzard, Romanian is from Latin too, and is apparently closer to classic Latin than any of the other romance languages.

[Buzzard]

Originally Posted by nik-

They're both, along with Italian, derived from Latin so there are key similarities in the languages, a lot of the difference becomes word memorization and pronunciation differences.

I spoke french as a kid and took three years of spanish in high school. Now I can't speak any of either language.

I tried Rosetta stone, but to be honest it didn't really seem to have realistic everyday language being pushed across. I understand that they are immersing you in the language to a point, showing you items and acts and saying what they are in that language. But when I'm talking about people swimming in the 10th lesson of the first level, that doesn't come across as practical to me.

I'm thinking of trying the Pimsleur method, anyone have any luck with that system?

edit: and yes Buzzard, Romanian is from Latin too, and is apparently closer to classic Latin than any of the other romance languages.

Exactly my thoughts on Rosetta Stone.

I've read Pimsleur is the best. I guess everyone's mileage would vary though.

It's funny. I work with a Romanian and he told me how similar it is to Italian. But when he speaks it though, it sounds very eastern European, much more like a Hungarian speaker I know than any Italians I've heard.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

I have heard a rumour that it is easier to learn French, THEN Spanish, rather than trying to learn Spanish with zero french.

Is that true? Does that even make sense? When I was in Mexico some of the more educated locals at the resort told me that.. apparently the two languages are very similar?

I am somewhat fluent in French; enough that I can watch French TV and have a basic conversation with somebody who speaks French.

Having never taken any Spanish courses I can also understand a lot of Spanish. Enough that I can read the signs or menus, and get the gist of what people are saying when I go to Mexico or the Dominican.

A lot of the words are close enough to know what they are saying.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I am somewhat fluent in French; enough that I can watch French TV and have a basic conversation with somebody who speaks French.

Having never taken any Spanish courses I can also understand a lot of Spanish. Enough that I can read the signs or menus, and get the gist of what people are saying when I go to Mexico or the Dominican.

A lot of the words are close enough to know what they are saying.

I think it's better to learn French first, then Spanish, purely from a pronunciation aspect. I find French way harder to pronounce ... especially the damn r's and u's. Nailing down the Spanish was way easier for me.

[Buzzard]

So...all who can speak French or Spanish or both, how did you learn it, school?