Vic, can we move on from that? Derek has left SFN presumably because he took offense at Peter's comment. It annoys me immensely when we lose members over such trivial matters so please drop the subject. If you have nothing to add on the subject of learning French then please add nothing.
Peter, it is an each to their own thing ultimately. There are those of us who just drift through life acquiring 'knowledge' who hold any form of classroom in absolute disdain. Given how I long I lectured that may seem contradictory, but actually it is not. School through to and including university classes were always wasted on me. I was not and remain not interested. Others learn from them better than other means. In between are many 'shades' of preference. I taught for those who need classes. Thus for you, perhaps, immersion teaching is perfect, for other folk it is a torturous waste of time.
My daughter and I went to get her bus card this morning. The proprietor of the transport company has to co-sign umpteen forms which include the reason why she is not starting at the local college. Because she is bilingual already, with bits and pieces of her mother's first language, Italian, and my other language, German, she wants to learn the latter at school. He thought that because she has English she should make that her first foreign language. He was full off advice. It was rubbish, so I did a little speech about us being a family with four everyday languages, parents who share one other in common and bits and pieces of others. His secretary was creased up laughing out of view. He then tried to tell me about immersion English to which I retorted by asking what that is? King's English, Oxford English, one of the roughly eight dialects spoken in London alone or what? His response was to lecture me about France and a good, solid uniform language. So I took the ball and threw it back by using the local dialect which is part Occitan and PeiregĆ²rdin and used it to chastise him for have pronounced 5 as 'senk' rather than 'sank' for starters.
I could not do anything like that out of classroom learning during which I would doodle, drift away in my mind or even doze off. I am nearly 66 and could not hack it at 14, so little chance now. But living in a neighbourhood where dialect is even more alive than standard language I had to be on my toes. Thus I can say what is good for you is an anathema for me. As said, each to their own.
I agree with the members who watch the french TV as you can pick up words that you hear everyday and then you pick up sentences even though you do not know how to write them but you can use them afterwards when you meet french people. Even more efficient is listening to the french radio (France Inter no ads !) and I have found a website that I advise to my english friends when the want to practice. http://www.tolearnfrench.com/ not very nice graphically spealking but the content is interesting if you want to learn the french grammar and the use of everyday french.
Most larger cities have a branch of Alliance Francaise that offer cheap French language courses :>http://www.alliancefr.org/en
James
I have apologised - see post - though I would add that there is a great deal of difference between a "Fascist" and a "Fascist mindset" something that seems to have passed everyone by.
We can learn from each other, which is why I like SFN, but I object to being told what I must do.
Derek
If you had written "this is how I learnt French" then no problem but you are saying you MUST do it this way which I find quite unacceptable. Your technique is analogous to the "immersion" method when after a few weeks at a very expensive courser one can come out speaking and understanding a language. Nothing wrong with that at all - though it has its drawbacks - but it is NOT the only way
As you do not like the phrase I used then I apologise.
I know exactly how you feel Deborah. I had great plans when we moved here to jump straight in and get my old brain working by talking to as many locals as I could. Obviously great plans are frequently doomed to failure - I'm attached to a computer all day listening to nothing but English so see few locals either. But the lovely lady in the tabac has said that my French is better than when we first arrived and she now asks me which are the correct words to use when she wants to say something specific in English. I think simply trying is greatly appreciated. I've been offered French lessons now which I think is somehow connected to being an AE and the fees will be reimbursed if I fill in the paperwork. I need to look into it much more thoroughly but at the moment I'm wondering how I could fit it in with everything else. If it is turns out to be legitimate I'd be silly to waste the opportunity really as my vocabulary desperate needs to extend beyond "Bonjour". My 9 year old is almost fluent and puts me to shame.
Yes, I described our UK office as a 'bordelle' to one French proprietor, she informed me quite primly that it was not correct for a young lady such as myself to use and suggested 'pagaille' as an alternative :-)
I have learnt to be careful of cafe language ha ha. I once thought Putain (which I'd heard many times in the cafe when the owner was cross at something) was the devil...I then went on to describe someone jokingly as the son of the devil...but in fact was saying he was the son of a whore...oops! It was very funny though as I'd told the story to at least 3 sets of friends before one of them pulled me up to clarify it.
Ps. Did you read about the guy who told his French neighbour he had hedgehog for breakfastā¦bought from the market? (In French)
Strange thing is itās easier to get a French course in the UK than it is here, no Courses available at all except private teachers, which I think can be a bit of a rip off. Luckily I ride with the local club, have helpful Bretton friends and neighbours and visit the local cafeā. I think when they realise your serious about learning, people are only to happy to help, anyway when Iām why I came I say it was to learn the languageā¦Kernavo, ha figure that out peeps.,ā¦
Deborah - do you belong to any local associations or groups? Sometimes being involved can mean you learn French by just being there and trying to get yourself understood or trying to understand. Obviously it would need to be one where French is the main language spoken or its too easy to resort to English...which is what happens whenever there is another English speaker at any of the asso's events I've been to. How about Yoga or Pilates or something like that but enroll in a French taught one rather than an Anglo one? Just an idea to help you along? It will be hard and funny at first but it will advance your language skills I'm sure!
Deborah - don't worry, just do the best you can, watch French television and try and read maybe La Provence. Languages is something that come easily to some and for others it is seriously 'a very different language' altogether! I'm far from fluent, but get on alright. Bon courage as they say here, do not give up and don't doubt yourself so much, as I think this might be stopping you moving on. Where in the south are you? :)
Very good point Suzanne, its all part of the learning fun.
Also don't worry about being corrected, I ask my friends to correct me and have had some very funny moments trying to pronounce certain words correctly. Like Egout...one mamie corrected my pronunciation outside the school gates about 10 times until I got it right, it was hilarious. It's how we learn though. Now my girls have started to correct my pronunciation (though that's in both English and French)...the Bath/Barth debate North/South pronunciation in English lives on to this day!
Speaking french is a matter of confidence. When a french person speaks to you, do you mind if they make grammatical mistakes. No you don't you just find it charming. My advice is however good or indifferent your french is, give it a go. The French enjoy your trying to speak the language and will help you. I often run out of vocabulary but they always rescue me. I do know the grammar but sometimes by brain is not working quickly enough to get it right and I think "ouch" that was wrong, but it does not matter. You are not at school now, there is no teacher frowning at you, you are just communicating. Try it, it can be fun and if the French have the time they will join in the fun.
PS Glad I missed the fascist bit, sounds nasty to me!
Yes, I've gone to the French version of the movie "Jersey Boys". Loved it! Have heard from friends who saw it in the States that it's filled with foul language. Of course, I didn't know that. I wouldn't recognize a curse word in French. Perhaps I should work on that first.
I know exactly where you are coming from. My old brain no longer soaks up information as it did. Went to evening classes had private lessons,I can just about manage but it is a struggle. Thank heavens for the internet and translation packages.
I was called a fascist for the first time in 1964 by a very left wing tutor at my college, simple because I was in the reserve forces. I told him where to stick it! I never been anything remotely like a real fascist but it's a sort of lazy term used by the left to describe anyone who doesn't agree with them (as with Putin's friends in the Ukraine). We mustn't be over sensitive but they should be more accurate. What some people describe as fascism should be more properly called Stalinism.
Strange how people get so upset about things. If you must get upset, why not do it in FRENCH that will improve your skills.....incidentally (and I hope you won't be upset, Derek Andrews, instead of ' Comment que vous aller me parler comme Ƨa.'..........try 'comment pouvez vous m'adresser comme Ƨa?' - it's better...!