Learning French
I'm planning to take an evening course in French but as it doesn't start again until September thought I'd try a CD based course to see if I can learn at least some French in the time I spend going to and from work.

First stop was linguaphone simply because I'd heard of them and heard a couple of good reports in the form of a friend of a friend learning language X with them. Their CD course is £100 so I'm looking at cheaper alternatives but don't really know what to look for.

Can anybody recommend a course or suggest what I should be looking for and what to avoid?

I'm not really interested in CD courses with accompanying books as I know I'll never do any of the work in the books.
( Captain V, Wed 11 Feb 2009, 13:10, 12 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

First: Google Linguaphone torrents
Second: MAN THE FUCK UP AND STOP WHINING!
(Bazongaloid, Wed 11 Feb 2009, 13:15, Reply)

Third: Man the fuck up
Fourth: I shall monitor this thread with interest as similar thoughts have crossed my mind...
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Wed 11 Feb 2009, 13:20, Reply)

@ V
Al's right - torrents are the way to go on this one... I'd reccommend Rosetta Stone courses personally.

My Dad re-located to France with his job last year and with Rosetta Stone managed to become proficient enough within a year that he can work in French, in a French office, full time (he's an engineer as well so he's obviously fairly competant).

Before his job paid for his language course, he was the most bumbling, awkward foreign language speaker you could ever have the misfortune to meet. He'd regularly combine up to 4 foreign languages in the same sentence thouroughly confusing whoever he was speaking to...

Yeah, Rosetta stone.
(Colonel Santiago Introduced surprised kitty to the world., Wed 11 Feb 2009, 13:22, Reply)

google...
In case you don't do torrents:

'rapidshare' "rosetta stone" 'french' 'audio' Download, and open with winrar.

or just go to shareminer and see what comes up.

Dr Tugnut does not condone acts of kopywrite violation or any form of piracy - because that is wrong.
(Tugnut Ex of this parish, Wed 11 Feb 2009, 13:29, Reply)

AARRRRRR Jim Lad!

(Bazongaloid, Wed 11 Feb 2009, 13:44, Reply)

The Radio Lingua Network on itunes is free.
I used them for German lessons - not bad.
I think there are other free choices on itunes.
( thealternativefact, Wed 11 Feb 2009, 13:32, Reply)

How about the library?
Usually lots on offer and free. You could probably even copy them onto your pc (not that I'd advise that, obviously).

Bonne chance!

Also, tune into French radio on long wave. Once you can follow the drift, you're three quarters of the way there.
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Wed 11 Feb 2009, 13:44, Reply)

Well I'd rather not get anything pirated tbh
But I wont get into that because it's another discussion.

Hadn't thought of the library, will have to check that out and I'll see if I can get my sister to show me how to use itunes to have a look at that too. I'll also have a look at Rosetta Stone later. Thanks guys.
( Captain V, Wed 11 Feb 2009, 14:29, Reply)

I learned to speak French by drinking lots of wine.
Admittedly, I was in France for a year when I started.
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Wed 11 Feb 2009, 16:59, Reply)

Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?
The only French you need to know really : )
( girlinthehole, Wed 11 Feb 2009, 19:55, Reply)

get the basics first..
..pronunciation (the very first thing to get right) then a bit of grammar (present tense and whatever you can learn of the past/future tenses, along with basic adjective stuff) and some vocab. I'd prefer doing this with a book, but other people prefer audio.

The next step is to ideally get to know a native French speaker and speak the language as much as possible. Better, go to France and immerse yourself. After a few days of confusion you'll be surprised at what you absorb.

Then you can order dual-language books, with simple stories in French and English on either side of the spine. You can then progress to reading whatever French takes your fancy, with the aid of a dictionary (though don't use the dictionary too much - you need to develop an intuitve understanding too). At this stage your French should be approaching pretty damn impressive.

Don't hang round French chatrooms. There's more obscure French slang than English. A favorite streetwise way of expression is to swap syllables in words and even say words backwords and then abbreviate them. Most confusing.
(raymond "three griddle pans" luxury yacht lovin' the christmas action, Thu 12 Feb 2009, 18:04, Reply)

Got to be
Michel Thomas - I tried loads of CDs etc... Linguaphone, Pimsleur (which were pretty good, once you get past the very annoying and patronising American accent), but I learned the most from the Michel Thomas CDs.
(dchurch bah, Mon 9 Mar 2009, 17:18, Reply)