What is the best way to learn French?

What's the best way to learn a language? I want to learn french?

  • Answer:

    I needed to learn to speak 3-4 languages over the past few years for my job, and in the process have landed on a pretty damn good method. It got me to C1 fluency in French in about 5 months, and I'm currently using it with Russian (and plan on reaching C1 equivalent fluency by September). At this point, I go in 4 stages: * Stage 1: Learn the correct pronunciation of the language. Doing this does a few things – because I’m first and foremost learning how to hear that language’s sounds, my listening comprehension gets an immediate boost before I even start traditional language age learning. Once I start vocabulary training, I retain it better because I’m familiar with how words should sound and how they should be spelled. (Correct spellings in French, for example, are much easier to remember when there’s a connection between the spelling and the sound), and once I finally start speaking to native speakers, they don't switch to English for me or dumb down their language, which is awesome sauce. If you're learning a language with a different alphabet, this is where you learn the phonetic alphabet(s) (Kana, for Japanese or Pinyin for Chinese, for example) * Stage 2: Vocabulary and grammar acquisition (itself in a few stages), no English allowed. I start with a frequency list and mark off any words I can portray with pictures alone (basic nouns and verbs). I put those in an Anki deck(http://www.towerofbabelfish.com/Tower_of_Babelfish/Anki.html ) and learn them. Once I have some words to play with, I start putting them together. I use Google translate (Exception to no English rule - just be careful there's no English in your Anki deck) and a grammar book to start making sentences, then get everything double-checked at lang-8.com before putting them into my Anki deck. Turning them into fill-in-the-blank flashcards builds the initial grammar and connecting words. As vocab and grammar grow, I eventually move to monolingual dictionaries and writing my own definitions for more abstract words (again doublechecked at lang-8.com). This builds on itself; the more vocab and grammar you get, the more vocab and grammar concepts you can describe in the target language. Eventually you can cover all the words in a 2000 word frequency list as a foundation and add any specific vocab you need for your own interests. * Stage 3: Listening, writing and reading work Once I have a decent vocabulary and familiarity with grammar, I start writing essays, watching TV shows and reading books, and talking (mostly to myself) about the stuff I see and do. Every writing correction gets added to the Anki deck, which continues to build my vocab and grammar. * Stage 4: Speech At the point where I can more or less talk (haltingly, but without too many grammar or vocab holes) and write about most familiar things, I find some place to immerse in the language and speak all the time (literally. No English allowed or else you won't learn the skill you're trying to learn, which is adapting to holes in your grammar or vocabulary by going around them rapidly and automatically without having to think about it). I prefer Middlebury college, but a few weeks in the target country will work as well if you're very vigorous with sticking to the target language and not switching to English. If you're extremely strict with yourself, your brain adapts pretty quickly and learns how to put all the info you learned in stages 1-3 together quickly enough to turn into fluent speech.

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There are many methods that can be used when learning another language, in this case, French. What I have listed below are what I have found to be helpful when I started learning Italian. The first method is to start taking French classes at your school, if they are offered. If you have a native speaker for a teacher, that would be even better because the teacher will be able to catch the mistakes and correct them when necessary. You may also find a language-learning program, such as Rosetta Stone, to be a useful tool in the language-learning process. However, if you decide to purchase Rosetta Stone, it would make a good teaching aid that could be used in conjunction with the classes you take at school. French-language movies are another good way to learn the language. Check to see if your local library has foreign-language movies that you can check out. Walt Disney movies dubbed in French can also be beneficial because they help you to get accustomed to listening to dialogue (a Spanish teacher I had in high school recommended this to the class). While at your local library, you can also look at foreign-language learning cassette tapes and compact discs. Listening to French-language music can teach you listening skills as well as written. When you listen to the songs and follow along with the lyrics, you will be able to hear how a word is pronounced and see how the word is written. There are also many web sites and YouTube instruction videos that can help you learn the basics. I also know of a web site called World Wide Internet Television (WWITV) at http://wwitv.com/ and they have foreign-language television channels that you can watch that can help immerse you in the French language.

clutchxp66

Hello i'm french girl, i speack bad english but one be able to discuss if you want I would teach to you to one be able french and you english?

Charlene

Try buying one of those language dvds or look words up on websites

Charlotte

watch movies, dramas, cuz there they used the real language... sometimes books or classes teach you right but they used the perfect way, and ppl are used to the basic :) am learning korean with the dramas :)

golondris_1

The most efficient way would be to learn Esperanto (easy peasy) first. after that: get the pronunciation right, read simple books, watch movies you like in french with english subtitles, chat with francophones, listen to spoken radio

zirp

Pursue activities that you love - in French. For example, if you love to sing, learn some chansons, listen to them on your headphones, and perform them publicly. If movies are your thing, rent dvds and watch your favorites scene by scene first with subtitles in English, then with subtitles and French voice overs, and finally with voice overs only. Make friends with native French people (who are a lot of fun to be around!) Spend a week where you're not allowed to do ANYTHING in English.

Eric S

If you want to understand the much more informal, colloquial, frequent, daily sort of spoken Spanish then you need to select this program https://tr.im/bAPhE the on-line Spanish program from Rocket Languages With the Rocket Language course you will find out and emphasizes present day, daily, spoken Spanish, you will understand to speak Spanish just like a native speaker does in his typical every day reside. This course incorporate the more formal and appropriate Spanish that you would need to know, that you would be anticipated to know so if is what you are you looking then you came at the correct area.

tyler

I would say Italian. Both of the languages sound extremely good and it wouldn't be that hard of a transition. German you could also learn. It's a pretty difficult language, but so is French. You have to use your throat a lot with both. German and French just have no relation really, so I would say Italian.

Melissa

By far, the best way would be to live in a country where that language is spoken. If you could spend a summer or semester in France, Switzerland, etc, you have no idea how much you would improve at speaking. When you're immersed in a language, you tend to pick up things without even realizing it - it's incredible. If that's not an option, try finding native speakers in your area or at least people who speak French fluently. The best way would be just to practice, though. Traveling to a country where the language is spoken is by far the best way, but try finding people to practice with and you will improve.

Taylor

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