Despite an love of the French culture and four years of the language way back in school, my ear fails me every time. After a long hiatus, I'm going for my fifth visit in mid-May. I know I can get by perfectly well without much more than a Bonjour and a Merci, but I want to do better this time. What method/tapes/whatever have you found to be the best for cramming?

Since I have started studying French again I have been looking for good online resources for basic French and came upon thse two which have audio clips.<BR><BR>This one is free: http://www.cortland.edu/flteach/civ/<BR><BR>This one charges, but there are 4 online sample lessons that look quite good. There is also an online placement test which is fun to take:<BR>http://www.parlo.com/fr/learn/diagnostic/diagtest.asp

You should give credit where credit is due - David Sedaris's book "Me Talk Pretty One Day" non? Personally - my fave book by him is "Barrel Fever " - the Christmas Letter is hilarious.

Sally, it is so nice to see you back. You have been missed.<BR><BR>Yes, please give credit to David Sedaris, yet another talented gay person we can all something from.<BR><BR>I think the best way to learn a language is to find someone who speaks that language and just have conversations with them. This is how I learned to speak some Greek, from talking to my friend, Eva.

Sorry, of course I was intentionally quoting David Sedaris. Didn't mean to plagerize; just thought everyone would know that--like if I named something "Much Ado About Nothing", would I have to credit Shakespeare?<BR>But thanks to those who replied. I do have the Pimsleur tapes which don't go much beyond how to say "I am an American". Not exactly what I was looking for.

Meander -- you say you have the Pimsleur tapes. You must have the very basic set. I got the Pimsleur "Quick and Simple French" last year and it doesn't teach a whole lot but is just an intro. I bought the Pimsleur French I this year (from Amazon.com). It is must more in depth and pretty good. I really like the Pimsleur teaching method and listen to the CDs on my way to work. It's not cheap but is an excellent set. Next year, I think I'll spring for the French II.

Hello, Meander. First, I applaud you for asking "Where can I learn more?" rather than "What is the least I can learn to get by?" I am a retired French teacher and have recently begun to teach a "French for Travelers" course at a nearby college. Since we have so little class time (2 hrs. per week for 8 weeks), I have recommended some supplementary websites to my students for extra practice outside of class. As you can see, one is good ol' Fodors. (They also have a book/tape version available in most any bookstore, "French for Travelers.") Both the book/tape version and the website do not go into much depth and there is little or no grammar, but it is not bad if you just want to brush up on some useful phrases. Some of the other sites offer more in the way of real communication and language study.<BR>If your French is already pretty good and you just want to train your ear and improve your listening comprehension skills, try listening to/watching French news broadcasts on www.tf1.fr/news/ Click on "Les JT a la carte" on the left of the page. Of course, to get the sound on any of these you need Realplayer or Windows Media.<BR><BR>My recommended websites:<BR><BR>http://www.fodors.com/language/<BR><BR>http://www.francekeys.com/english/french/<BR><BR>http://french.about.com/library/begin/bl_begin.htm<BR><BR>http://www.travlang.com/languages/<BR><BR>http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/languages/french/lj/index.shtml<BR><BR>The French Tutorial http://www.helio.org/education/french/index.html<BR><BR>I particularly like the last two. Bonne chance!

Wow, Betty--you rule! to the top!

To my new best friend Betty: <BR>Mille merci! I imagine many will benefit from your generous response.

I had so-so luck with Pimsleur as my first intro to Italian. This because I don't have a great "ear" and for example, for the longest time, until I looked in a dictionary, I thought they were saying "morto" when they were saying "molto." However, since then, I've taken intensive Italian and can speak fairly well. Now, I too would like to learn French. But again, I'm concerned about these tapes. French terrifies me! Because it's not a WYSIWYG language like Spanish or Italian, and because the sounds are so different from the English language. Can anyone tell me the difficulty level of learning French vs the other languages? Merci!

To Sue: Merci, Madame! Si je ne me trompe pas, vous aussi, vous etes (etiez?) prof de francais?<BR><BR>To Meander: Glad to share. Some of those sites I've known about for a long time, some I found while doing research for my course and at least one, the bbc site, I lifted from a poster here just a week or two ago. Sorry, I don't remember who it was or I'd give credit.<BR> <BR>To x: No foreign language is "easy" to learn if you learn to speak it well. Most people do not appreciate how difficult it is and think that after 3-4 years of high school or college French, a person should be fluent. It just doesn't happen that way. After 6 years of study in high school and college, I was nowhere near fluent. Only after spending a year in France did I feel comfortable carrying on a conversation in French. Even now, after nearly 40 years learning and teaching the language, I sometimes miss the nuances or say things in an awkward way.<BR>Despite all of that, it is possible to learn enough in a relatively short while to be able to communicate your wants and needs and to establish some rapport with a native speaker of French, Spanish, German or whatever.<BR>I think a lot of English apeakers find French intimidating because of the pronunciation. Yes, there are sounds in French, such as the "r" or the "u" that are difficult for speakers of English. But it doesn't have to be perfect to be understandable. And French pronunciation (unlike English!)is really very consistent, once you learn the phonetic "code." Some of those sites offer help with pronunciation that is quite good.<BR>As for listening comprehension, it's like getting to Lincoln Center: "practice, practice, practice!" Just keep trying.

Meander, I think it is wonderful that you want to improve your French. My poor husband had a deaf ear for languages, but he loved somehow making himself understood to the French. (I think the most frustrating times were when he would order "un kir" only to have the waiter look quizzically at me, and I would say "un kir." Upon which the waiter would brighten up and say, "Oui, monsieur.") He got so immersed that he even had a dream in French where at Brasserie Balzar he threw himself in front of Chirac to take an assassin’s bullet and when asked by the journalists why he would do this, he replied, "Je suis am&eacute;ricain, mais dans mon coeur je suis fran&ccedil;ais." I do think the effort is worth it.<BR><BR>Betty, oui, tu as d&eacute;j&agrave; remarqu&eacute; nos ressemblances (on peut se tutoyer, quand m&ecirc;me, &eacute;tant amies fodoriennes)—-en fait, on est presque jumelles.<BR>

John,<BR>Just curious. Why the reminder that David Sedaris is gay? Does that have any more bearing on the quality of his work that, say, information about his nationality, cultural heritage, height, age, or any other attributes? It seems to me that in an age where one's sexual orientation is no longer an issue, and where there are so many examples of influential, high achieving and admired people of all orientations, that to mention one's sexuality as you have cheapens their accomplishments.

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