Online language training

[Cleo Catra 178382]

So my winter goal this year is to finally learn to speak a bit of French. I've always felt terrible that not only am I Canadian and uni-lingual, but I live in OTTAWA and am unilingual...eeeeeeee.

 

 

I've considered going to take classes, but I am BAD at having to be in the same place at the same time week by week, or day by day. I am, however, great at teaching myself and learning on my own time, and know I would actually utilize something like online training.

 

Has anyone ever used online language training, and if yes, what one would you recommend? I've been thinking of trying the Rosetta Stone series, you can access all of their online training for $300, which isn't too shabby. But before using it I'm hoping to find someone who has, to let me know what they think.

 

Any tips/suggestions for other sites are welcome!

[Meg O'Ryan 266444]

I have a friend who learned French using Rosetta Stone.

[Malika Fantasy 144625]

I've heard good thing about Rosetta Stone,but my friend that use it had a bit of trouble because you learn proper Parisian French and not the French-Canadian/Québecois that is more use here, lots of different way to pronounce some words etc

[Luckyme 41401]

I had tried both - online and in the classroom setting. While each has its own advantages and disadvantages, I really prefer the classroom learning.

To me, speaking or conversation involves back and forth interaction - and classroom learning provides that.

 

I personally had never tried the Rosetta Stone series. It seems the training cost is quite reasonable. But as Malika pointed out, depending on what your actual goal is - learning Parisian French and the French-Canadian/Québecois French could be quite different. The former is useful if you tour European countries such as France and Belgium and want to be able to converse with locals there, whereas the "Outaouais" French with slightly different accent and usage, is used mostly here in this region. I would say that in a classroom setting here, you'll have more opportunity to learn to speak like the French-Canadians here.

 

Hope it makes sense.

[NotchJohnson 214096]

Cleo here is my suggestion, start by learning dirty words first with some french guys like me and the rest will come easy. I can start teaching you this weekend if you wish.lol

 

Pardon my English but I french very well.

[Cleo Catra 178382]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I think I'll try the Rosetta Stone. I actually would prefer learning the Parisian French, because I do travel a lot and a trip to Paris/Morocco is planned in the spring. Once I master that, you Quebecers can help dirty up my French a bit ;)

[Guest *ig*a**]

Oui oui mon cherie.

[Boomer 33202]

A few years ago I was going to Central America and wanted to learn a bit of Spanish. I tried a service called Live Mocha, and I think you can do the basics free.

 

http://livemocha.com/

 

The other resources you might want to take a look at are the two school beards. I've done many continuing ed courses that they offer through the winter. They are reasonably priced and you get the chance to practice with others at the same level.

 

http://www.ocdsb.ca/continuweb

 

http://continuingeducation.ottawacatholicschools.ca/

[Guest S*ar*]

Learning any language can be very difficult. I found learning French to be a challenge from the onset yet I did so in a classroom situation, by watching French television, listening to French radio broadcasts, by practising with others and by making mistakes. I've never tried the online route or with any method other than in a school or practical setting. One thing for sure is once you've learned much of it you need to keep it up...use it or lose it Cleo. You have to practise and you have to get your ear tuned to the language. Malika was most correct to about the French in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick being different than Parisienne French which I first learned in elementary school and can still comprehend easily yet I still struggle with street French around here. Even tougher after moving back to Ottawa from an area that has little to no French. Try some classes. Meet up with some French speaking friends or make some new ones as everyone will help you along your journey. It's a question of attitude rather than aptitude; if you want to learn it you will. Learn it for yourself and because you want to.

[castle 38816]

From what I have been able to gather...the only real difference between Parisian French and Quebecois French is the amount of cursing lol

 

So here's a couple clips which, if watched often enough...should help you out with the "dirty" french.

 

Firstly, the pissed off kitty (When I heard you were looking to learn french I automatically thought of this lol. It seemed fitting :p)

 

Secondly, some Quebecois grammar lessons:

 

There you go...now you're an expert Quebecoise. Free of charge. Well ok, not entirely free. I must confess that I will be expecting a little sumpin sumpin in return ;) Hey, I'm only human.

[Moviefan 1238]

Le Francais ecrit, est tres dificile a apprendre, mais pour apprendre a parle francais c'est un peu plus facile. Ci tu ecoute le radio en francais. Cas vas aider.

 

The French writing, is very dificult to learn, but to learn to speak French is a little easier. If you listens to the radio you in French. It's going to help.

 

Learning how to write in french is a nightmare, with all the conjugated verbs, but speaking it will require practice. I suggest watching french movies with English subtitles will help also. Have clients speak to you in french during visits, But that way you will only learn the dirty words.

[Cleo Catra 178382]

Le Francais ecrit, est tres dificile a apprendre, mais pour apprendre a parle francais c'est un peu plus facile. Ci tu ecoute le radio en francais. Cas vas aider.

 

The French writing, is very dificult to learn, but to learn to speak French is a little easier. If you listens to the radio you in French. It's going to help.

 

Learning how to write in french is a nightmare, with all the conjugated verbs, but speaking it will require practice. I suggest watching french movies with English subtitles will help also. Have clients speak to you in french during visits, But that way you will only learn the dirty words.

 

I'm not terribly concerned with writing in French, the speaking, and reading, is what I need to learn the most.

 

French movies is a good tip, thanks! And once I learn the basics I'll definitely be encouraging my gentleman callers to speak with me in French...so make sure you know ALL the dirty words ;)

[Phaedrus 209521]

You could get some initial hints from Henri. He is, after all, a cat...

 

I:

II:

III:

[Nicolette Vaughn 294340]

I've used Rosetta Stone to assist me in speaking another language and it works!

[cyclo 30131]

I've used Rosetta Stone also and found it useful. One of the best features is that it can "hear" your pronunciation and correct you.

 

If you're planning a trip, you should look at some apps for your smart phone. Rosetta Stone is good for general conversation, but there are useful phrases that you'll want to master or have at your fingertips when travelling that Rosetta Stone doesn't focus on such as "I want to book a room for the night", "I'd like a table for two", asking and receiving directions etc. I found that using an app to practice phrases before the trip was an effective and easy supplement to using Rosetta Stone. You can use the apps to practice while you're out for a walk or cooking for example. In a real pinch you can even use them to "speak" for you when you're travelling. In the case of the iPhone some of the newer apps use Siri to translate your speech instead of having to stick to a fixed number of standard phrases.

 

Some good app translation brands are Odyssey Translator, iSpeak, iTranslate, codegent.

 

Good luck

[Athos 108589]

I've used Rosetta Stone also and found it useful. One of the best features is that it can "hear" your pronunciation and correct you.

 

Having a non-judgmental feature to correct pronunciation is really important.

 

My kids are far too brutally frank with their opinions about my poor pronunciation en francais. Despite the fact that they are both very fluent, when we travel they prefer to let me stumble through trying to communicate. They find it very amusing.

 

I also grew up in Ottawa in a uni-lingual family. While I can read french, my ability to speak is sadly very limited.

[Athos 108589]

on the french children's books side ... there are french translations of Harry Potter. If you're a fan of the books, it would be a great way to improve french reading skills.

[Boomer 33202]

One other neat source is found on CBC radio. There is a show called "C'est la vie". They select a word of the week and then discuss it's meaning and all the ways it can be used. The other nice thing is that you can get it on pod casts, take it on your Ipod when you're out for a walk.

[castle 38816]

on the french children's books side ... there are french translations of Harry Potter. If you're a fan of the books, it would be a great way to improve french reading skills.

 

Agreed! I recently had to beef up my french reading skills for work so I picked up The Exorcist in french, having already read it in English a few times (one of my favorite books lol). It worked wonders! So yeah....pick a book you've already read a few times and feel familiar with that is an easy read and not too heavy on the huge drawn out metaphors and descriptions (ie, avoid Anne Rice lol)....That's great advice! But maybe its best just to get the basics of the french language down first. Otherwise it would be like reading greek.