|
| quote: | Originally posted by Silky Johnson
I want to learn conversational French this year. I already have a pretty good grasp of the basics, and feel like I could catch up to intermediate - advanced level fairly quickly.
I know you learned it a couple years ago, non? What kind of time can I expect to to devote to it, weekly? Should I take formal classes? I think I'd be more comfortable in a classroom opposed to trying to do self directed learning. How long did it take you? |
Classes tend to go suuuper slow, especially outside of a university context, but I bet that Canada has a much better infrastructure for French teaching than the U.S., so you may be able to find something good in a classroom setting. But even if the classes available to you end up being slowish, you could supplement them with outside study and learn faster that way.
French In Action is a good resource. Since you have already had some French in the past, you can probably benefit from simply going straight into the videos: http://www.learner.org/resources/series83.html
(It's super cheesy but you can learn a ton from it.)
There are also workbooks and stuff that go along with the videos, but they are hard to find cheap I think.
I used Assimil's New French With Ease (the book + CD version), which is also good. It doesn't involve as much explicit grammar instruction as many courses, though, so it's best for people who don't mind feeling like they are "stumbling around" for a bit.
These videos are good for pronunciation help: https://www.youtube.com/user/frenchsounds/videos
I tried Pimsleur, which is an audio-only course, but found that it wasn't to my taste. Lots of people swear by it, though, and since it is audio-only you can use it during commutes and stuff.
I started learning completely on my own in early 2012, using the stuff I mentioned above. Then in 2013 I started speaking one hour per week with a tutor (from italki.com, a language learning site), which bumped up my speaking skills a lot. After a year and a half (mid 2013) I was able to carry on a conversation pretty comfortably.
Finding conversation groups or Meetups to practice French should be rather easy in Ontario, I imagine. But if you want to try talking online, you can go to verbling.com. The groups on the site tend to be a majority of people from the Maghreb, with French and Canadian people popping by occasionally.
As long as you aren't using some method that's totally retarded, consistency is absolutely the most important thing. An hour of study per day plus some music and movies in French here and there and a conversation or two per week will have you at a pretty decent level after a year I think. Even thirty minutes per day will keep you progressing. It should be easier for you than it was for me, since I had never touched the language before.
I love encouraging people to learn new languages, so don't hesitate to ask me anything, whether about methods of study or about the language itself. In French or in English.
Last edited by Vector A on Jan-03-2016 at 23:25
|
