Private lessons at the Alliance F. in Chicago are $60/hour for up to 5 lessons, if you do 12 lessons its $50.

robjame, thanks for sharing your experinces with myplt! After I brush off my rusty high school and university French by working my way through the Michel Thomas French CDs recommended on a previous thread, myplt seems like the logical next step.

Thank you robjame. I checked out the site and am very interested in the program. I will look into it this fall. I live in a small city and have no way to practice the conversation part.

IMO a french boy friend (or girl friend); if that doesnt work Alliance Francais.

For software, I see a lot of advertisements at malls, etc. for Rosetta Stone; anyone know anything about this program?

Pimsleur won't take you very far because the vocab is so limited, but it's a good way to get your head in the French mindset before moving onto something else. Check your local library--they probably have a set. If the library doesn't have it I don't know that I'd recommend it with the hefty price tag, though.

My favorite book/cd set is the Living Language--it was great for Italian (of which I started with not a word). I didn't like the French one as much, but that had a little bit to do with how frustrated I was at how much I had forgotten since studying it in college.

Thanks so much for all your details, Robjame. It sounds like you are really getting alot out of it - and $20/hr is really a steal. I just may try it!

I agree with the remarks about Pimsleur - mostly. I do think you would need a little background in French before using them. However, it was well worth it to me to purchase the whole set, especially if you have the time do it some everyday - OUT LOUD - all alone!I faithfully worked with the tapes every morning with my morning coffee, and really improved my pronunciation. I love having the tapes to refresh my French.

I also bought a set of do-it-yourself Berlitz "Advanced French", which is also good, (with tapes, and exercise books) but has alot of grammar and written exercises - so takes a more disciplined approach. I still haven't finished all the lessons on that! This set was inexpensive - I think only around $50.00 a few years ago - a real bargain. But requires a great deal of dedication. Pimsleur is different - a cinch to do.

I think Robjame's online tutor will be my next step - I need to talk to a real live person!