Learning French - where to start

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Ífaradà
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Learning French - where to start

Postby Ífaradà » 2015-03-31, 17:59

Bonjour, mes amis!

I'm about to start learning French. I had 3 years of French in elementary school and 2 in high school, sadly that's a few years ago now and I've forgotten most due to lack of use and exposure :( Though, a lot of the grammar is familiar and while reading I'm able to recognize quite a few words. But still, I consider it starting from scratch.

I have 8 months now to prepare for a 6 months intensive French language course starting next year, my end goal is to be able to study in France. I'm planning on attending a local course in my area for starters, but I really need advice as to what I can do to learn as much as possible in the coming 8 months. I'm a big fan of immersion, so I''ve already set my phone to French, Playstation etc.

I've used Rosetta Stone in the past, but I'm not sure if it's worth the price. I see a lot of people recommending Duolingo instead, so I'll definitely look into that.

Are there any specific tools that are useful for handling French in specific, and are there any good websites I could visit? Would really appreciate any pointers. Really looking forward to this journey.

Merci!
-Native: Yoruba & Norwegian
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Pasie
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Re: Learning French - where to start

Postby Pasie » 2015-09-09, 21:49

Honestly, the best choice is duolingo. It's the only one that teaches actually decent sentence structure- no offence to others.

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Liootas
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Re: Learning French - where to start

Postby Liootas » 2015-09-11, 16:39

Pasie wrote:Honestly, the best choice is duolingo. It's the only one that teaches actually decent sentence structure- no offence to others.


I totally agree. You can reach B1 with Duolingo (it's free and good) and form then on you can take some French classes. :D
[flag=]lt[/flag] native
[flag=]en[/flag] B2/C1
[flag=]fr[/flag] B2
[flag=]es[/flag] A2/B1
Picked up some [flag=]eo[/flag] and [flag=]ru[/flag]
Interested in linguistics and conlangs:)

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Re: Learning French - where to start

Postby TommyZamora2 » 2015-09-11, 17:45

I'm actually in my second year of French in high school right now, and I'm struggling hard with it and I can't catch up and just end up getting confused. I had a complicated first year, life getting in the way of my educational and social life. European languages aren't my thing either...

Duolingo you say huh? I know what it is and it's really popular around here but for some reason I never really considered it.

Pakalala
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Re: Learning French - where to start

Postby Pakalala » 2015-10-15, 14:30

Hi, I am a french native and give courses. If someone want work with me, sent a message to my box !!

Thanks :)

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Ífaradà
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Re: Learning French - where to start

Postby Ífaradà » 2015-11-25, 0:52

Pakalala wrote:Hi, I am a french native and give courses. If someone want work with me, sent a message to my box !!

Thanks :)
Cool, I might do that.

For now I've started with Coffee Break French (podcasts). I learn several phrases from this alone every day.
I also do Duolingo which is fun and teaches well. I also got a book. I listen to French music a lot and learn quite a few things that way too (Elle a les yeux revolver - new favorite). Course is closing in. Starting in less than 2 months. I think I'm around an A1 and a half.
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Re: Learning French - where to start

Postby vijayjohn » 2016-01-07, 21:37

I use Duolingo sometimes but personally don't care for it all that much. I would like to recommend french.about.com, though.

yanis
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Re: Learning French - where to start

Postby yanis » 2017-03-30, 17:28

I think Duolingo is nice but it's based on translation and primarily written skills, not so much listening and speaking. I don't think you can really learn to speak using it, although it can really get you started with the language basics, and even help you achieve European certification levels. For learning to speak, I try to watch French videos that aren't too hard to understand - not so easy to find. I also use www.blablafrancais.com for short video dialogues of every day life and video exercises, I really like it it has helped me make good progress in my speaking and listening. Another resource I've used is www.elingora.com which is an all-free language learning community, you can record yourself and have native speakers give you feedback and help you improve your speaking.


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