LanguageGuide: Learning French

Learning French

Reviewing

When learning a language, reviewing is essential. I've heard it said that reviewing material the day after, a week later, and then a month later is ideal for optimal memory retention. Reviewing is especially important for vocabulary, especially those rare words you hear maybe once a year. . When I encounter a new word I place a post-it flag in my dictionary next to it, then I review that word periodically until I've mastered it.

Be Active

Don't try to passively absorb information or vocabulary. For example when learning vocabulary, try to make up sentences that use the word that you are learning- the stranger the sentence the better. Imagine yourself using the new word in a conversation and everyone being blown away by your verbal verbosity. When going through material like the interactive pictures try to guess the name of the object first. Imagine the voice you hear as that of a concerned tutor who is either correcting or confirming your guess.

Speaking or writing is the ultimate key of being active. Acquiring a conscious knowledge of grammar is important, but the ultimate goal is for these rules to become second nature - and it generally takes hundreds, if not thousands of hours of speaking for this to happen.

Conversation

It would be wonderful if everyone learning a language could sit down with a native speaker and converse for several hours a day, being corrected whenever a mistake was made. While few people could afford to pay someone to do this, you might try to meet with someone for a few hours a week. If you live close to a university, you might want to visit the French department. They will probably have a list of tutors. Try to find a native speaker. If you are tight in the wallet try to find someone with whom you can do a language exchange. One of the exciting things about our times is that long distance communications are becoming cheaper and cheaper; the Internet promises to make them virtually free. In the future, students of a Foreign language will spend much of their time exchanging languages with others who are learning their language - a kind of sharing that can foster close friendships. A new epic of mutual understanding and love will thus be ushered in. War will end and the disparate human societies will become unified and love will reign everywhere.

Oral Comprehension

One of the greatest challenges in developing speech recognition software is getting it to distinguish when one word ends and the next one begins. The same is true for the brain - it must be taught to make out the French words and this doesn't take place overnight. On this site the readings,are designed to improve oral comprehension. For advanced students, the Champs-Elysées Audio-Magazine can also be helpful. It focuses mostly on French current events and arts, and consists of an audio tape and a magazine with the tape's transcription. As your French skills improve, eventually you will want to expose yourself to actual French media. There are numerous French public radio stations which broadcast on the Internet. Through satellite you can get TV5, which features everything from documentaries and news, to movies and TV series. In the beginning, you might just try listening to the sounds. Overtime, you'll be able to understood words and then phrases. Through patience and persistence, one day you'll get to the point where you can understand it all even in your sleep.