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MrTapir
Joined: 19 Sep 2009
Posts: 11
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 Posted Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:05 am |
| TimDanaher wrote: | | Buckled_Rims wrote: |
The big mistakes are going to be finding which gender matches the nouns. You'll just have to learn by rote or trial and error. |
Not entirely true.
A fair few common nouns have to be learned by rote, but otherwise, the word ending will tell you the gender:
(off the top of my head)
Masculine:
-age (except for 6), -ion, -ment (ex. la jument), -eur (animate nouns) -aire, -oire, -ée (if derived from Greek nouns, heh), -é
Feminine:
-té, -tié, tion-sion-cion, -elle, -ette (mostly), -aison, -eur (inanimate nouns), -euse, -ine, -once-ence-ance (ex. le silence), -ée
There are more, natch, can't remember them at the moment. Not having to learn genders by rote was one of the biggest reliefs when I was learning French. |
dont forget mostly all the shops, ending in 'erie', eg la boucherie, la papeterie, la quincaillerie' etc
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snakehips
Joined: 12 Jun 2003
Posts: 2132
Location: Twixt London and leafy Surrey
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Posted Mon Nov 16, 2009 10:51 am |
Some French radio stations can be picked up in the UK. I improved my French a few years ago by listening to RTL whenever I could.
I am currently trying to improve my Italian. I access the online version of La Repubblica every day and subscribe to free email circulation lists on various topics. I am sure you could find some online French publications that interest you. The benefit of this is that you see how the language is actually used , which can be vastly different to the way you are taught it in school.
I find Michel Tomas unbearable to listen to !
Bonne chance
Hanches de Serpent
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jc4lab
Joined: 08 Jun 2004
Posts: 638
Location: United Kingdom
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Posted Mon Nov 16, 2009 11:10 am |
Learned Spanish Portugeuese and Italien for 3 months before a visitn to Brasil,Central America etc..Well worth it cos you go off the beaten track with more confidence..Surprising how you cope knowing nothing though..It slows you down at worse..
My way was to create your own phrase book for the phrases you will need.and laerdn them.. and just borrow stuff from the library for practice..Chances are on a course you learn such useless stuff like how to order water without gas..Useless..Sorry I have already been mugged today is more useful...
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deptfordmarmoset
Joined: 05 Sep 2009
Posts: 377
Location: Sour Feast Lahn'n
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Posted Mon Nov 16, 2009 11:26 am |
| snakehips wrote: | Some French radio stations can be picked up in the UK. I improved my French a few years ago by listening to RTL whenever I could.
I am currently trying to improve my Italian. I access the online version of La Repubblica every day and subscribe to free email circulation lists on various topics. I am sure you could find some online French publications that interest you. The benefit of this is that you see how the language is actually used , which can be vastly different to the way you are taught it in school.
I find Michel Tomas unbearable to listen to !
Bonne chance
Hanches de Serpent |
Though I'm not sure how good the radio reception will be for Roscobob , who gives his location as Fife. There are hundreds of radio stations available on the net though - I use a simple free radio player - it's less cumbersome than iTunes - called http://www.screamer-radio.com/ and there are probably lots more available.
And here's a list of French online papers: http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/france.htm
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Cressers
Joined: 15 Nov 2006
Posts: 368
Location:
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Posted Mon Nov 16, 2009 11:29 am |
Be perepared for the language in real life to be unlike the classroom exercises. That said, once immeresd in french you will learn a lot very quickly.
Allez!
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Crapaud
Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 1409
Location: Glasgow UK
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Posted Mon Nov 16, 2009 12:55 pm |
| snakehips wrote: | | Some French radio stations can be picked up in the UK. I improved my French a few years ago by listening to RTL whenever I could. ... |
I used to listen to RTL On one occassion they were doing one of these random phone calls, to a member of the public, where you have to respond with the 'phrase that pays':
*phone ringing*
French presenter: Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. (or les blah if you prefer).
*long pause*
French presenter: Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah?
*pause*
French presenter: Est-ce que vous parlez francaise?
*pause*
Listener: Nein!
French presenter (panics in english): This conversation is not possible!!!
*hangs up* [fx] brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....... [/fx]
There're loads of French radio stations on the web:
A, possibly, useful thread here.
I found TV5Monde (Apprendre TV) pretty good, the videos aren't too long and you can print out a transcript to check out any new or unfamiliar vocab before listening.
Veni Vélo Vici |
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symo
Joined: 03 Oct 2008
Posts: 504
Location: Devon - Would move to London but is now Devon fast. It's the hills you know.
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Posted Mon Nov 16, 2009 1:39 pm |
Pimsleur,
I learnt Portuguese with their CDs. Which have a strong Rio twang too, so now when I say things the locals find it amusing as I sound a little like them.
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pneumatic
Joined: 17 Jun 2007
Posts: 1287
Location: Kingdom of Fife, Scotland
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Posted Mon Nov 16, 2009 2:16 pm |
I learned the words and grammar at school and read the literature and culture at University, but I only really learned to speak it by spending lots of time in France living with French people.
One thing to note, especially as an adult learner of any language, it is not a forebrain activity (logical, thinking, working it out); it is backbrain stuff (holistic, feeling, trying it out.) You have to throw yourself into it, like a good actor. You have to form your vowels with a mouth like a goldfish and you have to deploy all the physical gestures (like the gallic shrug) to make it real.
The reason for this, apparently, is that you use the motor skills bit of the brain for second language acquisition, which is different from the bit that processes your mother tongue. This is also what impersonators do when they learn a new celebrity character.
Bonne chance, mon pot!
--------------------------------------------
Fast and Bulbous
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CHRISNOIR
Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 925
Location: Rochdale
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Posted Mon Nov 16, 2009 2:31 pm |
Another vote for the Michel Thomas guide.
Failing that why not try going to France, pointing at things and speaking in English only louder than normal and waving your arms aound? Make sure you become super-exasperated when the dim natives fail to grasp what you are saying - this always helps...
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Buckled_Rims
Joined: 04 Apr 2009
Posts: 110
Location: Geordieland
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Roscobob
Joined: 26 Jul 2009
Posts: 106
Location: Fife, Scotland
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Posted Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:51 pm |
Thanks for the advice folks. Really appreciated.
I shall keep you updated with my progress 
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Headhuunter
Joined: 28 Nov 2008
Posts: 1350
Location: SE London
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Posted Tue Nov 17, 2009 3:03 pm |
I learned French at uni and did a year abroad on the French DOM La Reunion - an island in the Indian Ocean near Mauritius and the Seychelles. Unfortunately the beaches were to much of an attraction and I barely went to any classes but I ended uni as a fluent French speaker. Bit rustier these days but my crowning moment was when I was asked which part of Paris I was from by someone in La Reunion! I was hammered at the time and after a few drinks French practically cascaded from my mouth... Back at uni I used to sink a double vodka or 2 before oral exams...
I agree that by far the best way to learn a language is through total immersion in the country it's spoken. I went to Japan for a few years a while back. I arrived without a word and left speaking to about A level standard. I was forced to learn, when I arrived I was effectively illiterate and unable to communicate with anyone.
If you have to stay in the UK, learning through an evening class is good. If you live in London, the City Lit offers very cheap and effective courses. Or you could try Alliance Francaise - more expensive but apparently very good. Or alternatively there are lots of French/English language swap groups that meet in pubs, all you have to pay for is your booze.
"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets." Voltaire |
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deptfordmarmoset
Joined: 05 Sep 2009
Posts: 377
Location: Sour Feast Lahn'n
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Posted Tue Nov 17, 2009 4:30 pm |
Two vaguely bike-related expressions which may, one of these years, prove useful:
1.:Faire [tout] un vélo de quelque chose - to turn something into a saga, make a song and a dance about summat (see ''compact vs double'' thread)
2:Avoir un vélo, un petit vélo [dans la tête): - To be a little doolally. (see ''compact vs double'' thread again)[/i]
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