Now living in France and in the process of buying a house. Desperately need to learn the basics of the language and I wonder if anyone knows of language classes near to Montcuq. I har also heard that there may be short courses held free of charge specifically set up for foreigners! I cannot trace anything in this s area.
Goodness yes - especially knowing which tense to use etc etc will be much easier, also vocab should be easier even if there are some false friends just as there are with English - but as about 30% of Engish words are of French origin you can always cobble things. I end up using the right tense in Italian & Spanish intuitively & invent lots of vocab because of French and it seems to work!
when we moved to France four years ago we went to the Mairie in our little town and signed up to the Cours et Ateliers (courses and workshops) programme - i think it was 10 euro for the year - that gave us a little card so we could attend anything (for another small fee) including french language classes - at 3 euros each.
In the end we found the classes too easy and also just a group gossip in English - great if you wanted to network other ex-pats but not for us!
So now we have a private lesson at home with the teacher each week - it's fantastic!
So go to the Mairie and ask
x teresa
Can I support the mention of the Duden book. We were advised to get it as soon as we arrived and it has been a life saver, particularly with the terms required for anything other than ordinary shopping. Ours is the Oxford Duden Pictorial Dictionary.
If you've already studied italian then french won't be a problem - I started with italian and it helped my french no end - the grammar is so similar. Véro's outlined some sources (and given sound advice as ever ;-)), I'd add some good grammar references and study books that you can work through yourself. Just dive in and see what works for you, a bit of everything isn't bad either ;-)
Thank you Veronique. I have studied Italian and lived there for a while, I still find I remember a lot and could get by in that language even now. Your comments are v useful so I will look into the help you have given, thanks again.
Have you never done any French at all? Have you studied other languages? (I'm asking because it is easy to transpose skills from one language to another and if you have never learnt any foreign languages at all it is a bit trickier for the person teaching you as well as for you).
There are sometimes courses (cours de FLE = Français langue étrangère) provided by the Mairie in bigger places ie not Montcuq, so look further afield, otherwise look at Acadomia or other providers of academic support even though they are often aimed at schoolchildren rather than foreigners.
See if there's a retired french teacher who might take you on as a pupil...
Use duolingo online and français-facile.com as well, there are of course other sites. An illustrated dictionary (like the Bilder Duden) is useful because you may find it easier to remember words with a picture.
Hi Nina,
I know this is some years ago now but I was wondering if you found any language classes. We have just moved to near Montcuq and are looking for a teacher.
Thanks.