Any advice on methods learn French in 8 months??? I am traveling to Paris in the spring and would like to make some attempt to learn the language. I can read a little French already, but if someone speaks to me I am hopelessly lost. At the very least I would like to learn enough to pronounce words correctly and not embarrass myself. Any suggestions?

Head on over to your local community college and sign up. You won't be sorry.

You can listen to most movies on DVD in French. I am teaching my daughter French and make her watch some of her favorite Disney movies in French. It helps to hear many different voices and conversations than just a narrator from a French program. <BR> <BR>Here are some other good French Programs that she is using: <BR> <BR>Rosetta Stone... a computor program, just get the explorer package if you don't want to spend a lot of money. <BR> <BR>French in Action...a video series that is made by the Anneberg CPB Project. It may come on your public tv station free. I had to buy it and it was quite expensive, but I love it. <BR> <BR>Lastly search on the internet. There are several sites that tutor French and have audio.

I listened to tapes in my car. It didn't help with reading but my pronunciation was pretty good. I used a Berlitz for Travelers tape but later found a Pimsleur program that I liked even better. The Pimsleur is expensive and there are three separate programs depending on your level. Perhaps your library has it or a friend. It was repetitious and allowed me to memorize easily.

I like to movie idea, but actually find it a LOT more useful to watch the movies in English with soreign subtitles. Many DVDs have subtitles as a special feature, so you may already have some you can watch. I find that when I try to listen to the foreign language, I can't catch much...but when I hear them and English and read the translation at the same time, that helps a lot. <BR> <BR>Also try the book "French in 10 minutes a day" (part of a series of many languages in 10 minutes a day). I did the Norwegian and Spanish, and actually learnt a lot. They come with little stickers to stick all over your house to help learn vocabulary words, and really useful exercises to learn to speak and write.

I rarely see anyone mention these, but I love the Vocabulearn tapes for vocabulary building and pronunciation. Alternating sections give the word in French or English and give you time to respond before providing the translation. They are easy to listen to in the car. You will often find them for sale on E-bay. There are probably much better tapes, however, for learning phrases.

I ordered the French for Dummies from the library. It has a CD and book. Can't say that I have spent much time on it yet. Check your library and see what they offer.

FYI: When you watch a movie that was produced in English on a DVD but listen to it in French with English subtitles, the English subtitles are actually the exact words that the person would be saying in English. Often the French words have to be changed so that the movie makes sense. <BR> <BR>For instance, when my daughter watched Rugrats in Paris, one of the characters mispronounced several words then said "see I already know French". When she watched it in French the character had to say, "see I already know Spanish". But the subtitles still said, I know French. <BR> <BR>Sometimes subtitles give you the wrong impression of what words are being spoken. Although, they do give you a generally correct idea of what is going on in the movie.

However you decide to learn, make sure to include audio in your lesson (via tape, CD, software, whatever). French sounds very different than it looks on paper!