h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

bnojour loup

can you please tell me what will be the best way for me to learn French and what is the most important things i should learn first.

merci beaucoup

kat

hi kat...

to start with there woud be a need to learn some basic vocabulary... some of the most used verbs in everyday life and two of three tenses for the verbs......

a phrase book to start with would be a good idea as it's got sentences used for normal situations...

tuning the radio to a french station is a good way to get used to the language, you don't have to listen to it, just hearing it...

i think there is also a BBC link on the page which might be useful as well..

and of course, all that being on top of going to adult education french classes [which i understand you are going to do anyway]...

good luck..


loup

thank your helpful ideas loup. i did not think of listening to a french radio station. the most help i really need is help in building my confidence as in the past i have not done very well in learning new languages which i have tried in the past. apart from the french at school i have tried to learn to speak german, polish and italian.

kat

confidence is something they will help with at the adults education french classes.. so you won't have to worry too much about it...

talk soon..

loup

thank you loup for your help.

kat

twas meant to be not

kat.. no problem...
talk soon...

loup

thanks loup for your very kind help. i will do as you suggested listen to a French radio station.

kat

that's the thing, you don't even have to listen to it... don't try to understand what they say.. the idea is to hear the way they say things, getting used to hearing the words in a way... so you can do other things at the same time..

depending on what telewest package you have, you could watch TV5 [french channel] time to time... the movies are subtitled so it's not a bad way either...


talk soon..

loup

loup i have just listened to one of the french radio station and it was suprising how many words i could understand. oh and the french accent is so sexy.

kat

i will have a check and see if there are any french channels on my telewest package.

kat

thanks loup, i have checked and i have the french TV5 channel on.

kat

i've finished getting ready for my french tutoring now...

so i'm on way to the agency... talk soon..

loup

take care loup and i hope you will soon get more students.

kat

TV5 c'est fantastique!

I *have* found a good site...
http://www.word2word.com/coursead.html

See if that helps

Lou

If you want help, I'm always here

lou... yep.. we might become busier soon [] so your offer to help will/is definitely be appreciated ...

i will add the link to the page when i've got some PC access time.. thanks... the more things having to do with the language the better...

talk soon...

loup

thanks lou for the link for your help, i'll look it at the library.

thanks loup for your help that you have given me. here is my little attempt at a french joke: ben too (bien tu) why not anne (too) tu.

kat

please can you translate this for me: je cannot troie ton denier post! Ou dans france es-tu.

thank you for your help

kat

loup i have been told only to use a dictionary to translate in the franglais thread. but i thought it was a fun thread. it would take all the enjoyment out of posting if i spent all my time translating out of dictionary. i thought it was for those who where not fluent in french. i can understand a few words but not a whole paragraph. it makes it sound i am doing homework. i have not met any other contributors who only know very little french most of the people posting have at least gscse standard.

kat

kat.. don't worry about the franglais thread... the idea is to use french and english words together but i don't think it really matters if people understand everything...

anyway here my attempt to translate the bit in franglais...

"je cannot troie to dernier post! Ou en france es-tu?"
[i think troie was meant to be croire by the way]
would be roughly translated like that:
"i cannot believe your last post where in france are you?"

talk soon..

loup

thanks loup for the help and translation.

kat