La grande aventure de Thomas dans le monde des francophones.
Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 4:28 pm
2016
2017
2018
2019
Well, as William Shakespeare wrote,
"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more ... "
For more years than I want to think about, I wanted to learn to speak and read French. I had a number of false starts, a lot of periods when I did nothing, and a nagging sense that I was no good at learning languages. Back in the early sixties when I was in junior high school I wanted to take a French course. Unfortunately that class was full and I was put into a Latin class. The poor woman who taught it was one of the most boring teachers I ever had. I was miserable, did poorly, and had a years long aversion to studying languages.
After high school I moved to Montréal (I'm a dual-national, Canadian-American). I did pick up a bit of French, but is was mostly street slang with a very thick joual accent. Being young I thought it was hip to use the street slang and try to sound like I came from the east end of the island. My boss, who was an Acadian from New Brunswick, gave me a hard time about it and always told me to learn "normal" French. I should have listened to him.
Over the next decades I would start and stop learning French. I took adult-ed classes at community colleges and a few university courses. The adult-ed classes were too simple for me and seemed as if they never got beyond basics such as, "Bonjour" and "comment-allez vous" ? The students in the university courses only wanted to get a passing grade and the teachers accommodated them.
So, I worked as a manufacturing engineer, got married, and retired. Two years ago the Marlborough (Mass.) Public Library offered a free beginners French course. It was taught by a wonderful woman named Narcisse who has a real love of the language and teaching. The classes were small (five to six students) and that gave us a lot opportunity to interact and speak in French.
We used a textbook named, Grammaire Progressive du Français, Intermediare. I found it a very demanding text because it is all in French. And being from France it is for students who grew up in a French speaking environment. Still, I learned more in that class than in any other class that I ever took.
Then last year life got complicated. I started having kidney stones and was diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease. Also, my wife went into a nursing home. That meant I spent a lot of time dealing with nursing home bureaucrats, lawyers, Medicare and insurance companies. My studies fell by the wayside. My wife passed away in February.
I did take one more course with Narcisse this summer, but that is the last course she is teaching. So, now I'm studying on my own again. Some us students from the class meet twice a month to practice speaking French with each other.
The courses that I am using on my own are:
French in Action. If you live in the United States you may remember seeing this on public television. It consists of fifty-two half hour videos that introduce different parts of French grammar, and a fairly cheesy love story between Mireille and Robert. I purchased the text book, workbook, study guide and audio that goes with the course. You need these to really get the most out of the course. I don't see how anyone could learn French from simply watching the videos. This is expensive, but no more so than signing up for a university course.
Pimsleur French. This is an audio only course that takes you through basic French. The biggest advantage of this course is that it really helps with listening and pronunciation practice. It is expensive to buy but you can borrow the CD's from your public library.
Duolingo. The creator of this online course wants to provide free language education to the world. I like this course a lot.
Memrise. This app is kind of hit or miss. I like using the flashcards, but quality of each course on Memrise can vary. The courses are created by users and can have mistakes, vulgar answers, or be simply incomplete. The three courses that I use on Memrise are : Beginners French A1, Complete Duolingo French Vocabulary, and The 450 Most Common French Verbs. Both Duolingo and Memrise have settings to remind you to do a minimum of practice each day. I find that helps me stay on track. I'm logging my progress in my signature and hope to update that once a week.
Those are my top resources. I also subscribe to TV5Monde on cable and leave that channel on most of the day. I listen to Paris Chanson and Radio YéYé on my computer. I recorded about six hours of French songs from YouTube and listen to them in my car.
That's it for now. I hope to update this on the weekend.
Tom
2017
2018
2019
Well, as William Shakespeare wrote,
"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more ... "
For more years than I want to think about, I wanted to learn to speak and read French. I had a number of false starts, a lot of periods when I did nothing, and a nagging sense that I was no good at learning languages. Back in the early sixties when I was in junior high school I wanted to take a French course. Unfortunately that class was full and I was put into a Latin class. The poor woman who taught it was one of the most boring teachers I ever had. I was miserable, did poorly, and had a years long aversion to studying languages.
After high school I moved to Montréal (I'm a dual-national, Canadian-American). I did pick up a bit of French, but is was mostly street slang with a very thick joual accent. Being young I thought it was hip to use the street slang and try to sound like I came from the east end of the island. My boss, who was an Acadian from New Brunswick, gave me a hard time about it and always told me to learn "normal" French. I should have listened to him.
Over the next decades I would start and stop learning French. I took adult-ed classes at community colleges and a few university courses. The adult-ed classes were too simple for me and seemed as if they never got beyond basics such as, "Bonjour" and "comment-allez vous" ? The students in the university courses only wanted to get a passing grade and the teachers accommodated them.
So, I worked as a manufacturing engineer, got married, and retired. Two years ago the Marlborough (Mass.) Public Library offered a free beginners French course. It was taught by a wonderful woman named Narcisse who has a real love of the language and teaching. The classes were small (five to six students) and that gave us a lot opportunity to interact and speak in French.
We used a textbook named, Grammaire Progressive du Français, Intermediare. I found it a very demanding text because it is all in French. And being from France it is for students who grew up in a French speaking environment. Still, I learned more in that class than in any other class that I ever took.
Then last year life got complicated. I started having kidney stones and was diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease. Also, my wife went into a nursing home. That meant I spent a lot of time dealing with nursing home bureaucrats, lawyers, Medicare and insurance companies. My studies fell by the wayside. My wife passed away in February.
I did take one more course with Narcisse this summer, but that is the last course she is teaching. So, now I'm studying on my own again. Some us students from the class meet twice a month to practice speaking French with each other.
The courses that I am using on my own are:
French in Action. If you live in the United States you may remember seeing this on public television. It consists of fifty-two half hour videos that introduce different parts of French grammar, and a fairly cheesy love story between Mireille and Robert. I purchased the text book, workbook, study guide and audio that goes with the course. You need these to really get the most out of the course. I don't see how anyone could learn French from simply watching the videos. This is expensive, but no more so than signing up for a university course.
Pimsleur French. This is an audio only course that takes you through basic French. The biggest advantage of this course is that it really helps with listening and pronunciation practice. It is expensive to buy but you can borrow the CD's from your public library.
Duolingo. The creator of this online course wants to provide free language education to the world. I like this course a lot.
Memrise. This app is kind of hit or miss. I like using the flashcards, but quality of each course on Memrise can vary. The courses are created by users and can have mistakes, vulgar answers, or be simply incomplete. The three courses that I use on Memrise are : Beginners French A1, Complete Duolingo French Vocabulary, and The 450 Most Common French Verbs. Both Duolingo and Memrise have settings to remind you to do a minimum of practice each day. I find that helps me stay on track. I'm logging my progress in my signature and hope to update that once a week.
Those are my top resources. I also subscribe to TV5Monde on cable and leave that channel on most of the day. I listen to Paris Chanson and Radio YéYé on my computer. I recorded about six hours of French songs from YouTube and listen to them in my car.
That's it for now. I hope to update this on the weekend.
Tom