cunning linguists

[jazzkat]

French isn't my bag, and others will be able to advise you on suitable books, but I can recommend using a French meetup group if there's one in your area (search www.meetup.com). These meetups are typically attended by several native speakers who are keen to help those studying the target language. You'll probably also find people in the same position as yourself along with others who can give good advice on making progress in your studies.

One thing you could try is French comics. The pictures give you all the context and make it very easy to work out the dialogue, you'll find them on eBay or amazon.

Good luck, a second language is a fantastic thing to have.

GC

No meetup's nearby, great idea though. I'm hoping that once I get up and running I can try to make use of something like that. I had thought about comics, I reckon revisiting asterix and tin tin in french would be the way to go!

 

[Hover Fly]

It's one of the things I did, a stack of band dessinées by the toilet or wherever I might have a few minutes spare.

 

[gavroche]

french children nursey books are also good to iprove your french.

 

[jazzkat]

french children nursey books are also good to iprove your french.

I had thought about this too, but I have no idea where I'd get something like this. Any ideas/advice/recommendations?

 

[jazzkat]

Ok google has been my friend!

 

[rich p]

I disliked the Michel Thomas method intensely. Patronising and irritating.
Others may disagree!

 

[RhythMick]

I disliked the Michel Thomas method intensely. Patronising and irritating.
Others may disagree!

Yeah agree, but I ignored the tone and thought the method was great.

That said, all this stuff is useless unless you can actually practise speaking French with someone in my view.

@MarinYork ... What was odd ?

 

[martint235]

I can just about get by in French ie I can order beer. I did notice on the recent trip to Dieppe that not many people did actually speak English. They would work with you to get an understanding but their English tended to be about as good as my French.

Oh and I learnt that l'Urgence is their version of A&E. You had to be there.

 

[gavroche]

I had thought about this too, but I have no idea where I'd get something like this. Any ideas/advice/recommendations?

Amazon.fr

 

[compo]

Do what I did, join the Foreign Legion. When I joined in the 60's they had excellent French language classes reinforced by a Corporal's boot up your jacksie if you got it wrong.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

A few years ago I needed to do a intensive catch up on your French course. I found watching French films - without subtitles at first - helped understand what things people say in different situations and how the language changes into different registers. Try getting hold of something like Spiral (can't remember the French name) and watching it without subtitles a couple of times. It will improve your ear and you'll begin to notice differences between formal and informal language.

http://french.about.com/ is quite useful though very written-oriented. I think they used to have a forum

If Gavroche fancies it, would it be worthwhile setting up a French thread on here? I'm reasonably good at French and even have a post-grad French-to-English diploma in translation and would be happy to give help.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

I've just remembered another tip: what are your hobbies? Find a French magazine that deals with your favourite hobby and either subscribe to it or read it online. Similarly you could join, say, a French cycling forum so that you'll at least understand the general context of the topics (although it might be best to stay out of 'navettage'!).

I read various Italian newspapers online, have my homepage set to yahoo.it (you could try yahoo.fr), and generally expose myself (ooh err!) to as much of the language as possible.

I buy used books from an Oxfam shop that's near a university which means it gets all the language books that graduating students no longer need.

You could also try the .fr versions of eBay and amazon for books, films or audiobooks.

Bon chance/in bocca al lupo

GC