Learning French
 

Does anyone have suggestions on cd's for learning French?

Parlez vous Francais? is the title of another current post. You might check it out.

I used the Pimsleur program. It is great. Now I am using the Italian one. I got my Pimsleur from the Lingo Shop. Often the libraries have them too.

Another vote for Pismleur. I got through all three series prior to my Paris vacation. It was four days before someone spoke to me in English when I spoke to them in French, and that was at a museum. I'm about to purchase Italian now as well.

I'm going to bore OPS who've seen this from me before, by recommending Michel Thomas - the best language tapes/discs, IMO. I've learnt spanish and italian with him, and am using him to help my son with his german course. He works by building the language in a very simple way that you can use in any situation. I listen in the car on my way to work. good luck whatever you choose.

I don't know where you live but I took a language class from our local community college before we went to Italy. That really helped me the teacher gave us all a copy of her Italian cd. I know you wanted French but our local community college has that too. Good luck!!

I recommed going to an Alliance Francaise if there is one near you.

I took the Intensive French sequence in New York, 56 weeks of five hours per week classes.

Danna...I have a problem..when they ask something in Italian I answer in French!! I think I will have to listen more.

Barnes and Noble has a free 4 week online French class starting Monday. But, you need to purchase CD/bk for $20.

not that relevant to the original question, but apropos hearing italian and replying in french, last year I was practising Spanish for our trip to Granada, while my daughter was learning italian for her college course. They are just too similar, and we frequently found ourselves mixing them up. How do others manage when visiting countries with very similar languages?

Another vote for Michel Thomas. I found it a great way to build and unlock the grammar. However, it is not particularly good for vocabulary, but you can get that from other sources such as the Hugo "French on the Move".

Shame you're not in the UK as one of the daily papers (Daily Express) have been giving away a free Michel Thomas French CD every day this week until you collect all 8. Not a bad way to get a collection worth £70 for 40p a day! Another paper is going to start the Linguaphone "All Talk" French CDs on Saturday. And they've only just finished giving away the Spanish CDs as well! Probably be Italian next.

Danna, did you start from "scratch" with your French lessons from Pimsleur? How long did it take before you felt at ease in conversation?

I have taken French in hs and college but have lost the art of conversation. I can still read it passably, but would like to pick it up again. Would you recommend your series for that purpose? k

loisco... I was thinking that might happen. Let me know how it goes, I'm going to start Italian after daylight savings ends, and our evening walk is no more.

kswl... yes, this is my only french. It took me about 2 years of 30 minutes before work. I knew it was working when I began speaking french in my dreams, rudimentary but french nonetheless. I don't have the breadth of vocabulary that I think Rosetta Stone offers, but I can negotiate most travel situations. So, if you already speak french I'd go directly to Level 3 and it's faster, with instructions in french and has the back and forth conversation, but they all do that.

I want to sound like Sylvia Pugolli of NPR! LOL

Thanks for the reply, Danna. And I love Sylvia, too. Her name just rolls off the tongue! And I LOVE the way she pronounces "Silvio Berlusconi." To die for!