Posts from — May 2010

My niece and I have spent the afternoon talking about ways to improve her French. She learned French up to year 12 level so has all the basics in place, but although she lives in the UK she doesn’t get over to France very often to practise. So I showed her the Radio France Apprendre page with its Francais Facile news bulletins. I’ve blogged about this before. Radio France produces a new bulletin each day, and whether I’m in Australia or elsewhere, I download the mp3, onto my computer. Then each week, I transfer the new half-dozen or so bulletins onto my iPhone, and delete those from the previous week. It’s great for listening to while walking to work, doing the housework, or whatever.

Another good method for revising French is via the ever-increasing range of audio-books, although these do need to be sampled first to make sure they are the right level for the learner. We found some great ones on Audible Books http://www.audible.co.uk/ called Alexa Polidoro’s Bitesize French lessons. There are a range of levels and we found one to suit my niece, discussing the 200-year anniversary of Frederic Chopin.

A French learning tool that I find indispensable is the Larousse English-French Dictionary I’ve bought for my iPhone. There are a number of dictionaries on the market, but this one gives a wide range of meanings of each word, plus a pronunciation guide (using the International Phonetic Alphabet—one of the most useful things I have ever learned!).

As well as a dictionary, if one doesn’t know any French at all, the Earworms Rapid French for beginners is ideal (available from audible.co.uk), focussing on basic phrases and lots of repetition. When you get to France, if you can say, ‘Je voudrais un café, s’il vous plait’ (the first phrase taught by the audio-book), you’ll find the waiters who speak even a little English will meet you at least halfway.

But the main thing that every first-time visitor to France needs to learn is to say ‘Bonjour Madame/Monsieur’ as soon as one enters a shop. It is the responsibility of each customer to say this first, because we are entering their domain, and it shows politeness and respect. The only exception would be a very busy shop, with the salespeople all engaged in dealing with customers.

Similarly, if asking passers-by for assistance, while you may start with, ‘Excusez-moi madame/monsieur,’ this should be quickly followed with ‘Bonjour’, and then by ‘Parlez-vous anglais?’ unless you feel up to asking for the actual street you are seeking, in which case you could say something like: ‘Les Champs Elysees sont ou?’

I’m hoping my niece will write a review of the Alexa Polidora lessons, so I can share it here. In the meantime, here are some other useful-looking links I’ve found…

Useful links:

Article on distinguishing between masculine and feminine nouns in French

http://learning-french.suite101.com/article.cfm/how-to-distinguish-between-masculine-and-feminine-nouns-in-french

Suggestions on how to learn French:

http://learning-french.suite101.com/article.cfm/suggestions-on-how-to-learn-french-and-some-sites-to-help

Podcast language courses:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewGenre?id=1469

Michael Thomas French language learning Audio books:

http://www.audible.co.uk/aduk/site/audibleSearch/searchResults.jsp?N=2100&Np=-37443&Ns=P_Total_Sold|1&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&ms=1320

French flashcards app:

http://itunes.apple.com/app/gengo-flashcards-french/id305969342?mt=8