[Sebastian]

I want to learn French. I like the sound of it, their culture and many things related to France. (obviously girls are awesome. (they are so sweet and feminine)

The problem is there is no use for it. it's nearly impossible for me to listen to someone talking french. So it would be very hard for me to practice with someone.
Since there is no use for it, there is a motivation issue as well.

Bit I am trying to look at it as like reading a literature. (you don't get something practical out of it but it makes you more rounded, knowledgeable person)

How should I start?
just memorize bunch of words first?
Start with a grammar? (learn how to put sentences)
Start with conversational french?

I am more interested in just carrying small conversation than reading french articles.

[simondice]

When I came to US, I spoke no english.
I was little, so I couldn't go out as much to play outside because parents were working. I began watching english shows with caption, and began with that. Reading and hearing.
I was around puberty and found out how fun girls were, so I got a little sexy filly as a girlfriend who would take the time to teach me conversation. I would speak with her and start to tease her in english.
It was just a matter of immersion. Learning in school a language is a total bummer (been there, done that)

Watch movies in french
Fuck some sexy french fillies, and date them so you can learn the language
Hang out at places where you can learn it, some places where you can find old french people.
Immerse yourself

[KsockZ]

there's tons of information out there: but look into some of these for a good start.

pimsleur: http://www.pimsleurapproach.com/learn-french/

duo lingo

watch tv with sub titles

translate songs

read children's books

find a french broad to chat with

get a grammar book

learn the most common 1000 words: you can buy flash cards or there's app for your tablet or phone. then 1001-2000, and then 2001-3000. you should know like 85%+ of any language with 3000 words

[rangman2000]

Check out these forums: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/
There are loads of genuine polyglots there who are self taught - it's an excellent place to seek advice. No one is trying to sell anything or use affiliate links etc.
E.g. http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/for...33571&PN=1

Michel Thomas audio courses are highly regarded for complete beginners as they teach the basics of grammar and key vocabulary incredibly quickly.

Assimil courses are also very highly regarded (IMO not for complete beginners but follow on nicely from Michel Thomas). They don't seem to be particularly well known in the USA but they are very popular in Europe. You'll need the audio and the text.

But seriously, spend a couple of hours reading the threads on that forum for advice.


Also, realise that language learning takes a very long time with many frustrations, it needs to be done pretty much every day and that if you ever stop you will forget everything you know very quickly (although it comes back faster the second time). And if you want to get any real skill in the language you will need to interact with native speakers.

[micha]

as rangman said: HTLAL is all you need. Everything about learning languages is explained there.

Additionally, I can recommend memrise.com

It has a "most common 10,000 French words" course. I am doing the Russian version of it with great success.

[Simeon_Strangelight]

I learn French in school, but amped it up tremendously by myself making me at times undistinguishable to locals.

Many guys who learnt 10+ languages did the following:

1. Learn basic grammar and makeup of language first - fuck all those morons who say that you can learn phrases and some form of pigmy-version of the language to have it down pat

2. words and use of grammar are best learnt by doing stuff you like to do - let french tv, movies, radio run next to you all the time (languages can be learnt also subconsciously to a degree if you have a basic knowledge of it). Read and do stuff in french - if you are into comics, then that is a good way. You could also start watching movies in french with subtitles or play french video games. Learning words and use of the grammar in a dry fashion is boring and ultimately takes more time than just learning it by doing things you actually enjoy. When you encounter a word you don´t know - then look it up on the go and then you learn it fast.

[OSL]

-

One of my bucket list items is to attend this intensive French language bootcamp:

http://www.institutdefrancais.com/

As well as this intensive Mandarin bootcamp:

http://keatschinese.com/

-

[Kitsune]

This is a complete method for learning languages.

If you're looking to learn French, using the above method you will be able to gain proficiency really quite quickly.

I'm going to be relearning French and Spanish from probably December onwards as I haven't used them in years. After four months of learning Mandarin, I've realised how undaunting the romance languages are.

As far as a basic method if you don't want to check the above site:

Learn how the IPA works in french.
Get a dictionary with IPA in it.
Learn a thousand words or so of basic vocabulary and common verbs.
Learn some basic sentences.
Sit for hours swapping the words you know into the sentence structures you know.
Then learn grammar once you can build sentences already.
From there scale sentences to paragraphs.
Fro there, get better at French as you would in English. Read French language books to extend your vocabulary. Watch French talk shows for eloquence skills, etc.

[mastauser]

I am in early twenties and I speak (in decreasing fluency) Dutch, English, Spanish, German and French.

The answer: school (normal educational system and language schools, reading and translating (start with childrens books if you must), radio, movies (first with subs that you understand and then with corresponding subs), talking, fucking, IM. Really it's an combination of everything.

[el conquistador]

For French, try getting a hold of Margarita Madrigal's books.

Combine them with Michel Thomas. By the end of those you won't be fluent but you will progress quickly and you'll have a solid base to build upon.

[Sebastian]

Is Rosetta Stone any good?

[wi30]

I'm currently learning German on Duolingo. Even though it isn't perfect, it is still an excellent free learning tool. I took German back in high school but forgot most of it. I've been using Duolingo for about 5 or 6 months and have made it pretty far through the program. I didn't realize how much I progress I had made until Matt Forney's tattoo post was translated into German on ROK. I could make out the majority of it.

[azulsombra]

(11-03-2014 01:00 AM)wi30 Wrote:  

I'm currently learning German on Duolingo. Even though it isn't perfect, it is still an excellent free learning tool. I took German back in high school but forgot most of it. I've been using Duolingo for about 5 or 6 months and have made it pretty far through the program. I didn't realize how much I progress I had made until Matt Forney's tattoo post was translated into German on ROK. I could make out the majority of it.

Duolingo is legit. It reminds you to do lessons everyday so you always get that practice in. Im good with languages and just started using it for German. The pronunciation practice is great as well.

[TravellingSoldier]

I can vouch for DuoLingo. Just started re-learning French! And I'm learning it through Spanish to solidify my comprehension in both.

[TravellerJay]

Go for memrise which is good to have fun and play with words and the way they sound and how they are written.
Also Duolingo.
Both can be used in apps and web.

[Blue5]

Anki, a good flashcard system that lets you practice on your mobile phone.

Youtube has a treasure trove of resources.

As mentioned above multiple times, duolingo.

And perhaps most importantly, finding those communities of native speakers and socializing with them.

[Sourcecode]

I got the opportunity to enroll in a school where the foreign language was the teaching language.
I had a decent understanding, but I went to each university class with a different notebook and every time I didn't understand a work,I wrote it down.

When I got home I have a note card and added the word top my pile. I had lots of cards. When I would review them, if I hit the card a lot of times and knew it,I would put it in a different stack.

[Sourcecode]

That..and, if you are on the country...bars.
Go to a bar with the locals.have a couple drinks and try use the language.

you are already in a social atmosphere. I never ran into a local at a bar that really wanted to blow me off for trying to learn their languages.
You also learn the language outside of the classroom and how it's spoken by the average person.
When I came back from Germany..I almost had a hard time with classrooms because I picked up so much slang language and regional dialect.

The same idea in Budapest...I tried to speak even the most basic Hungarian with shop openers , bartenders, restaurants.. and I was rewarded for the attempt with better service and corrections in my language

[lycosidae]

(11-01-2014 09:19 PM)Sebastian Wrote:  

I want to learn French. I like the sound of it, their culture and many things related to France. (obviously girls are awesome. (they are so sweet and feminine)

The problem is there is no use for it. it's nearly impossible for me to listen to someone talking french. So it would be very hard for me to practice with someone.
Since there is no use for it, there is a motivation issue as well.

Bit I am trying to look at it as like reading a literature. (you don't get something practical out of it but it makes you more rounded, knowledgeable person)

How should I start?
just memorize bunch of words first?
Start with a grammar? (learn how to put sentences)
Start with conversational french?

I am more interested in just carrying small conversation than reading french articles.

I live here in the states, most of my friends are Europeans, and my girlfriend is French from Paris (English is her second language). Even in that situation, I have no motivation to learn the language because it has no other use to me... unless maybe I want to move to France and find a job there... Or to talk to her parents, who are working class and don't know English. Most of the people in France 35 or younger know English.

From what my French friends tell me, most of them want to speak English anyway. Even in France, it's becoming less the case that you need to know French even outside of Paris...

I took a French class and i was like "fuck it..." If you're going to learn a language, do it for reasons other than pussy because it takes a lot of motivation...

If my girlfriend were Spanish, that would probably be different. Not only is it an easier language to learn, but it has a lot of business application outside of Spain and there are millions of people around that speak it. Not the case of French...

But good luck if you do it! You're right, French girls are great.

[Sebastian]

Duo lingo is awesome! I downloaded in my phone and have been playing like a game. thanks!

Btw, french verbs are so complicated...damn...

[TravelingDoc]

I download this book https://fluent-forever.com/

I find that methodology very sound. It is a system which you can learn any language on your own. You have to do the ground work on setting it up which is part of the learning process.

It is very similar to DuoLingo but instead you make your own flashcard which help you to remember better.


It is almost the exact system Kitsune refer to, just in a book form and system to help you.

[Yeti]

This thread comes with great timing as I've recently decided to learn French. It should not be difficult as I speak Spanish.

I disagree with some who say that French is not that useful. It is one of the two languages of international diplomacy. Lots of people in Africa speak it. And being able to speak it just lends an air of chic and authority.

I'd learn Spanish or Mandarin first over French but French is definitely useful.

[frank_guest]

Indeed, French is very useful for Africa, both northern (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia) and sub-Saharan. It's also a popular second or third language with Italians, Romanians, Portuguese, and also with many Germans who live close to the French border.

Ignore the posters who say grammar is necessary. "Me yesterday see movie." Do you understand that? If you're a native English speaker, almost certainly you interpreted that instantly as meaning "I watched a movie yesterday". Same reasoning applies to most Indo-European languages, and definitely to French.

The important thing is sound. If you can't make the sounds of a language, and can't understand the sounds other people are making, you are sunk. Suppose I pronounced "I have a rough cough, ought to get some sleep." Now pronounce all the words with "ough" as though they rhymed with "through" and you make no sense. Conversely, if you're a foreigner and expecting all the "ough" words to sound the same, you'll be baffled by a native English speaker speaking the preceding sentence. French spelling isn't so bad as English, but the pronunciation is not that easy. They'll probably understand you (all native English speakers mangle French in the same way), but you won't understand them unless you focus on sound in the learning process.

This is why you should use a course which emphasizes speaking and listening, like the Pimsleur courses. Go through 120 or so lessons (you'll need to repeat the lessons 3 or so times to really hammer the words in, so that will take about a year) while simultaneously working your way through a simple phrasebook. At that point, you should be able to hold a simple conversation.

French has more common vocabulary with English than any other language, (commun, vocabulaire, langue are cognates from the preceding clause, for example), so once you get past the basics, which are the small words in the preceding sentence (has, more, with, than, any, other), you should be able to pick it up very quickly.

[Kitsune]

(11-07-2014 08:04 PM)frank_guest Wrote:  

Ignore the posters who say grammar is necessary. "Me yesterday see movie." Do you understand that? If you're a native English speaker, almost certainly you interpreted that instantly as meaning "I watched a movie yesterday". Same reasoning applies to most Indo-European languages, and definitely to French.

Nothing quite like aiming high. Do you really think the quickest way to learn a language is to ignore the rules that make it work? People will understand "yesterday me see movie" but they'll also think you're an idiot. Good luck doing anything constructive without grammar.

And French grammar isn't that hard.

Quote:

This is why you should use a course which emphasizes speaking and listening, like the Pimsleur courses. Go through 120 or so lessons (you'll need to repeat the lessons 3 or so times to really hammer the words in, so that will take about a year) while simultaneously working your way through a simple phrasebook. At that point, you should be able to hold a simple conversation.

One year for a simple phrasebook and pimsleur conversation? I'm not trying to be a dickhead, but you can learn the basic vocabulary and simple sentences that pimsleur and a phrasebook provide in a month or so.

Pimsleur is great for pronunciation, but the amount you learn from it isn't all that much.

A person is much better off doing the following:

Learn the IPA in the language.
Listen to Pimsleur and learn basic words and then basic sentences from a phrasebook.
Get a grammar book and learn how to morph all the sentences and vocab they've already learned into the different tenses.

Doing that would put them miles ahead in terms of time and effort than somebody who just listened to pimsleur and used a phrasebook.

[Sidney Crosby]

Doing Pimsleur and using Duolingo right now, just a couple weeks in but it's going pretty good.