Learning basic French
 

Has anyone found a good source for learning basic French for traveling, tape, cd, internet or other?? Pronunciation seems to be a little tougher than basic Italian. <BR>Thanks.

I get daily lessons from a website called Parlo.com It's really good!

Thanks, Kevin - I am all signed up. Have you taken any of their fee courses or just the daily free one?

I just signed up on your recommendation as well Kevin. Got caught by surprise in a chat room. I'm still laughing. Had to click off, looking around for my dictionary, because I had no clue what they were saying. Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting my daily lessons.

Kevin, <BR> <BR>Thanks for posting the website Parlo. I just signed up too! I just have to know tcc, which chat room were you in? I was in one too.......... <BR> <BR>Linda

Kevin, <BR>Maybe you can help us. Our machine says "Incorrect access permission" Then NO COOKIE. To access this site your browser must be accepting cookies. <BR> <BR>Thanks

Hi Linda- <BR> <BR>I'm not sure. I was just clicking around in the French language area since it was my first time on Parlo.com and got caught in a chat room. I'm at the VERY basic level so I had no clue what was going on and had to leave the chat room. My own fault, of course. Hope that wasn't you in there, I'd be so embarrassed. Still can't wait to learn my lesson for the day tomorrow though.

This looks a LOT like a group-advert promotional post. Fishy, fishy, fishy, when you get a cheering section all within a few hours saying "hey, what a great site, I just joined, it's great." <BR> <BR>How much do you each get from Parlo? Not that I expect an honest answer.....

Whoa there........no this is not a group advert. as far as I know. I had never heard of this site and when I checked it out, it looked like a great way to practice and learn more French as I will be in France next spring. I am sure that the others here had not heard of it either. I have no affiliation with them. <BR> <BR>TCC, yes I was probably one of the couple of people that were in the chat room. No need at all to feel embarrassed......the couple of us that were there had quite a long time between comments......I haven't used my rusty French in about 10 years so I was a little slow on the draw!! <BR> <BR>Linda

The CD programs by The Learning Company are excellent! They include a meter for measuring your pronunciation skills (assuming you have a microphone). Usually, you can find the previous version on the sale rack for $10. The "latest and greatest" is not worth an extra feature or two, unless there's a huge rebate. Also, Barron's "French At A Glance" is terrific to have along. Not only is it well organized and comprehensive (and includes lots of other useful information), it has phonetic pronunciations.

I think &lt;www.bparis.com&gt; has information on learning French. I know that they have French chat rooms. Good Luck

Whoa there- <BR> <BR>Why are people so cynical? Someone kindly suggested a website where you can practice your language skills and, since I've been helped in the past whenever I've had travel questions, I took him up on it and checked out the site. I happened to like the site and wanted others to know. This is a travel forum and people actually want to know how to speak the language of the countries they'll be going to. Not everyone has ulterior motives. <BR> <BR>Thanks Linda for your kind words. I was totally in over my head and I didn't want to mess up the conversation that was going on in the chatroom so I skedaddled. Better get back to practicing! Talk to you soon.

Parlo.com is a great site. I have absolutely no affiliation with them, but I just registered, took the diagnostic test and found that it seems to be a very expertly done and content rich site. Even if the original post was basically advertising, I at least benefited from learning about a great site that I would have otherwise never heard of.

Some questions about the parlo.com site: <BR> <BR>I registered, too, at your suggestion. I took the test, supposedly tested at Level 4, and was advised that it would be best to take a class with a teacher (costs $). Now, I love languages and was good once upon a time, but it has been 35 years and there's no way I'm Level 4. I was suspicious that the inflated rating was just to solicit business for their not-free classes. <BR> <BR>I signed up for the freebie instead and received the first "lesson" today. It appears to be only a collection of little readings. Did I fail to download something or is that all there is? There was no sound (I DO have Realplayer on my computer, so that's not the problem), no grammar points, nothing but these little articles. Can someone tell me what I SHOULD received? <BR> <BR>I also tried to get into the French chat room, but I couldn't get anything. I do NOT have a firewall on my computer, so I don't think that's the reason. <BR> <BR>Next I tried to sign up for a penpal in Italy to practice Italian, but it appears that everyone on the list was NOT from Italy, but was just looking for a penpal in Italy. <BR> <BR>P.S. Despite the above whining, I actually do think it's potentially a very interesting site.

Whoa there... I was the first who signed up based on Kevin's recommendation - signing up is free, the French music is free, the vocabulary is free, the daily e-mail lesson is free so unfortunately I don't think any of us will get a big kickback from parlo - I wonder if you checked it out before becoming suspicious and cynical? And I don't know any of these other people but I think it is neat they want to improve their skills. <BR> <BR>Thanks, Kevin. <BR> <BR>Donna - picked up the program you mentioned - haven't loaded it yet- will report back after playing with it

I suggest l'Alliance Francais, a French-run cultural institute. I don't know if they are in every city, and they are pricy -- but they sure gave me a darn good start when I went to study in France. Their classes were especially helpfull with the pronunciation. Even though I grew up here in the US my "native tongue" is Spanish, and since French has it's roots in Latin like Spanish, I thought it would be very similar and easy to pronounce. Not so. I began immediately mispronouncing je & j'ai and le & les among many others, and they helped me get it right and speak it correctly.

hi, <BR> <BR>I think www.about.com has good language information, for many languages. there is also some cultural stuff to boot! <BR> <BR>I would recommend getting a good basic primer (for travelers). I just finished Italian I & II and for I, the prof used a book called Conversational Italian in 7 Days : Break the Language Barrier the Quick and Easy Way! it was very helpful, especially as it covered a lot of things you would need to know to travel (hotel, directions, trains, etc etc etc) <BR> <BR>I looked on amazon, and the writers also wrote a book on french: (same series) <BR> <BR> <BR>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...196237-5954522 <BR> <BR>it is 13-14 bucks.