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)