Posts Tagged ‘two choices’
Learn French at Home – French Home Study Has Never Been Easier
January 30th, 2010 | 
Author: It used to be that you had two choices for learning French – go to a night course or buy very expensive (and quite boring) sets of tapes to Learn French at home. Times change though, and now with the advent of the internet and the home PC you have a huge number of choices for French home study courses.
Now don’t get me wrong – I’ve got nothing against French text books. There are some very good ones about that use modern teaching methods and patterns of learning that your brain naturally adopts. They’re much better than when I was a kid and I’ve bought quite a few.
But they can’t compete with modern CDs and the interactive programs that are available. A book can’t really talk to you. You can’t hear a French accent from a book. A French book can pose some questions, but it can’t actually react to your answers, correct you and then give you the opportunity to revise your newly learned French phrase or move on to a new one.
The interactive French teaching software available today can do exactly that. In fact it can do more. Some of them supply French MP3 files that can not only be played on your PC but can also be transferred to your MP3 player or a CD so you have portable French language lessons as well. Obviously you don’t get the full benefit of interactivity your computer will give you, but you can listen in the car, on the train, jogging, whatever takes your fancy – and you didn’t pay any extra for it, it’s all part of the system.
I am generalizing to an extent, of course. Not all interactive French courses are the same, just like not all French CDs or French books are the same. In general, however, they offer a level of ‘playability’ which is more involving and more entertaining and thus educates more quickly and with more retention than a book ever could. I love to sit down and read a good story with a book in my hands, but if I need to learn something like the French language, give me my PC and a software program any day.
If there’s a downside at all, it’s price. Now it’s not possible for me to check every program to learn French at home but the ones I’ve found that do what I want them to – which is teaching French to a reasonable degree of competence and confidence – are considerably more expensive than a $20 book. Having said that, they’re not what I’d call expensive either, considering what you can get from them.
Rocket French for example has MP3 files and interactive lessons for grammar, words, French verbs (quite a complicated area if you’re an English speaker by birth). It also has hundreds, if not thousands, of text files for further reference and the whole lot comes in at around $100. If I was looking to learn French at home, that’s exactly the sort of thing I’d be investing in.
Author: Dennis Cordy
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: WordPress plugin Guest Blogger
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Learning How to Speak French Like a Native
For many people, the thought of learning a new language seems like a daunting task, and indeed if you don’t have the right tools it can be. If you want to learn French quickly, then you will need to totally immerse yourself in the language.
There are many ways to learn a language but there are really no shortcuts. The only way it is going to work is if you are committed to practicing your lessons each and every day. In order to be able to speak French like a native you are going to have to work at it diligently.
It is not any more difficult to learn how to speak French than it is to learn how to speak any other foreign language, if you plan to learn it systematically. The first thing you should do is enroll in a professional course. There are two choices.
The first is to find such a foreign language lab or institution in your local area which offers beginner or advanced French courses, depending on the level that you need. The second option is to go online and search for reputed organizations that teach French online.
The online option is the favorite of most people because it is extremely convenient, affordable and effective. Online learning is convenient because you do not have to commute to and from any facility, as you can use your home or office computer to download the necessary materials to complete the interactive lessons.
Online learning is affordable because it will cost less than hiring a private tutor or enrolling in a regular French language school, since the online courses are designed to be within the reach of the vast majority of the world wide population. As well, online learning is effective because it provides you with everything a regular course would have offered, yet you can access it anytime you want and work at your own pace.
French language schools know that the secret to learning French or any language is to let the students hear the language being spoken constantly. Listening to French being spoken by people with the proper dialect is a necessity, and one you can accomplish by watching French TV.
Try and immerse yourself in anything French, such as news, movies and music. If you want to learn to speak French, then you will have to practice as much as you can, preferably 8 hours a day or more. The key to learning to speak French is to have the commitment and the desire to succeed.
Try to learn as much of the French vocabulary as quickly as you can. This is the foundation on which you will be able to build your fluency of the language. In order for you to be able to converse in French and be understood you will also need to understand French grammar and how to conjugate a French verb.
Reading and practicing as much as you can will help you to accomplish this end. In order for you to speak French like a native you are going to have to put in a lot of hard work, but it will be well worth the effort. Bon chance!
Author: Mike Selvon
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Guest blogger
