Second language refresher options?

[uofaflamesfan]

Does anyone have any recommendations for courses/books/programs to refresh my French language skills? My new role at work will require me to read, write, and speak French fairly regularly and I am looking for a good way to get comfortable with it before being tossed right in.

I took full French Immersion throughout Grades 7-12 but haven't spoken it in about 5 years and have lost a lot of my knowledge.

Would something like Rosetta Stone be enough or should I take a Continuing Education course at UofC? If anyone with similar experiences could share, it would be greatly appreciated!

[northcrunk]

Watch t.v in French and listen to lots of French music, chances are it will come back to you once your brain starts thinking in French. Rosetta stone is pretty good though. I picked up Hindi by just watching bollywood movies and listening to bollywood music.

[Ashartus]

Joining Alliance Francais (they offer courses but also various social events etc. for speaking French) might be helpful.

[Regulator75]

Lots of info here.

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=135496

[crazy_eoj]

Trip to Quebec out of the question?

[an hero]

Originally Posted by uofaflamesfan

Does anyone have any recommendations for courses/books/programs to refresh my French language skills? My new role at work will require me to read, write, and speak French fairly regularly and I am looking for a good way to get comfortable with it before being tossed right in.

I took full French Immersion throughout Grades 7-12 but haven't spoken it in about 5 years and have lost a lot of my knowledge.

Would something like Rosetta Stone be enough or should I take a Continuing Education course at UofC? If anyone with similar experiences could share, it would be greatly appreciated!

People learn differently. For me, trying Rosetta Stone to learn German (#### French) was useless, so I had to go take courses.

[RedCoffee]

french-speaking girlfriend?

[CalgaryFan1988]

I recommend going to local bars and asking random girls if anyone wants to teach you the French tongue.

You can also buy a lot of good cd's online to listen to. I'm sure it would help to refresh your memory on tones and such. Or just buy some books and read. That helps too.

[Calgary4LIfe]

The more you do, the more you will know. Reading, watching movies and Rosetta stone are all good places to start.

What I personally find the most useful in 'thinking' the language is to start having conversations with native speakers of that language. It will force you to think quicker, and by the sounds of it, will also help you gain some confidence and refresh the most quickly.

[Muta]

https://www.duolingo.com/

[uofaflamesfan]

Thanks for the responses!

That duolingo thing looks neat. I think once I start forcing myself to use French daily it will start coming back fairly quick.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by uofaflamesfan

Thanks for the responses!

That duolingo thing looks neat. I think once I start forcing myself to use French daily it will start coming back fairly quick.

Duolingo is great at the start, but it gets to a point where it's just not teaching you anything, it's just throwing more words at you. Because you aren't taught a solid foundation as to why certain words are a certain way, it's harder to recognize the patterns.

I liked the first half of the Duolingo tree, the second half I'm having issues with.

[Buff]

Got a library card?

http://calgarypubliclibrary.com/blog...connect?p=1893

Mango Languages. Free access if you have a library card. Not in Calgary? Check with your local library.

My co-worker sent his boys to a French Immersion school and he used Mango Languages to learn French. I've been eying it for a couple of years now, I just haven't had the time, or motivation/need to do it yet, but I did check it out once it became available through the library and it seemed pretty good for the first lesson.

[Ducay]

Je suis
Tu es
Il est
Elle est
nous sommes
vous etes
ils sont
elles sont....fous!

That is all I retain on a daily basis from 12 years of french