The Energon Pub

I'm trying to teach myself French. Anyone else doing this? Or have done this?

I used to take French in grade school and up until grade 9/10 in high school when my parents were told to take me out (essentially, I should give up on it) when they did a psych evaluation and found my brain was actually rejecting what I was being taught.

Anyway, I'm back at it and giving it another shot with some workbooks, a Dummies book, a "Teach Yourself..." book, and some audio stuff.

I have a friend who swears by the Rosetta Stone software.

Between that and the French courses he is taking at his university, he is almost fluent in the language.

Eh, never had an interest to learn French, would rather learn a language that would be useful to me.

Like Sand script, or some other dead language.

However I do hear several good things about the Rosetta Stone stuff, my roommate was trying to teach himself Japanese, and he used that program.

Senor Hugo wrote:Eh, never had an interest to learn French, would rather learn a language that would be useful to me.

I'm not doing it because I want to. I'm doing it because it increases my chances of getting a job I really want and need. Well, I *do* want to, but this job is stepping up my plans.

In Ottawa, Canada, if you don't know French, you're nobody. Ottawa is an awful, bureaucratic city and that's chiefly one of the reasons, but it's a harsh reality here.

I took many years of French in high school. My mother was under the impression that a lady MUST know French in order to be a "proper lady"......*burps and drinks Pepsi right out of the bottle*

excuse' moi, s'il vous plait.

So now I can be rude and inconsiderate in TWO languages!

Just say something nasty about Americans after every 4 words or so and you'll be fluent in no time.

I took it in high school and failed horribly. There are 6 different ways to say the same thing and none of them are right, everything has to have a gender, and after a while it all sounds like you're trying to talk while gargling a big glob of peanut butter.

robofreak wrote:Just say something nasty about Americans after every 4 words or so and you'll be fluent in no time.

Sounds like you don't know much about world history.

GetterDragun wrote:

robofreak wrote:Just say something nasty about Americans after every 4 words or so and you'll be fluent in no time.

Sounds like you don't know much about world history.

I was trying to crack a joke. Apparently it failed horribly.

I've got nothing against the French. In fact they helped us obtain what is now the US. Without them, we would'nt have won the revolution. Also, the food is good.

I would recommend the Rosetta stone...but first I would get a book called "Learn French in 10 Minutes a Day". It is by far the best learning a language book. I have been through three of the books nd when I go to a country that speaks the language I learned, I can actually get around pretty good.

Here is a link to the book:
http://www.amazon.com/French-10-Minutes ... 0944502164

I'll definitely check these books out. I'll see what they have at the library. Right now I'm up to my ears in books, DVDs, and CDs, but the more the better.

Oh, but this thread is too perfect to parade my new old signature which I haven't used for years.

have relations,and dialects..school as well.

where,sources..yas have to find..for you:)..

basics,easy..le..man,la lady..

merci,thanks..avant mon ami...later my friends, bon chance ..good
luck..

very easy,friendly language...have the understanding..you'll
be ok. learn the good as any..people will like yas,help yas
learn the language.

all zen,karmic...avant..grem:).......

GremlinGrimlock wrote:very easy,friendly language...have the understanding..you'll
be ok.

No. Everyone`s right. This language is a crock. I`ve been studying it for the last few weeks and I`m no closer to learning it than I was at the start. It`s so disorganized that you have to be born with it or it`s hopeless.

learn italian i know some italian(my mom grew up in italy) (i have to see the word to tell you what it means) but french and italian are close at the basics (ex. computer is almost identical in spelling, not sure about pronunciation)


edit http://www.freerice.com is where i learned some italian

GremlinGrimlock wrote:have relations,and dialects..school as well.

where,sources..yas have to find..for you:)..

basics,easy..le..man,la lady..

merci,thanks..avant mon ami...later my friends, bon chance ..good
luck..

very easy,friendly language...have the understanding..you'll
be ok. learn the good as any..people will like yas,help yas
learn the language.

all zen,karmic...avant..grem:).......

What language is this post?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGqxb3vL ... annel_page

Your first french lesson...and the most-fun one ever!

I had a tip for speaking French once... you can never make too phlegm-scraping a KCKKCCHH when you talk.

Me, Grimlock! wrote:

GremlinGrimlock wrote:very easy,friendly language...have the understanding..you'll
be ok.

No. Everyone`s right. This language is a crock. I`ve been studying it for the last few weeks and I`m no closer to learning it than I was at the start. It`s so disorganized that you have to be born with it or it`s hopeless.

Nah, once you learn the basic genders and sentence structure of French its pretty straightforward and remarkably similar to English in places, but the only real way to learn any foreign language properly is by going there and practicing it.

Their weird cheese-eating customs are far harder to master. Who the hell has hot chocolate and bread for breakfast? No wonder they were so easily conquered.

It still sounds like a chainsaw on a black board to me.

Holy crap! I just found out I met the requirements for the first two tests! All that studying actually paid off!

It's a weird point system, but for reading/comprehension, I got a 42 where the passing mark is 38, and for writing, I got a 34 where the passing mark is 33.

Now I just have an oral test on February 6th. If I pass that, I'm officially bilingual in this country. Then I am sanctioned to drive like a maniac and turn my nose up at everybody.

Failed French in High School, never really worried about it. However it would be good so I know what My GF is saying when she talks to her family in Ottawa.

Editor wrote:Failed French in High School, never really worried about it. However it would be good so I know what My GF is saying when she talks to her family in Ottawa.

Even though it pains me to say this, you might want to try it. This city is built on French.

I know, and I figure I'll have to brush up on some basics for when I talk to to her Dad some time later this year, if everything goes to plan. (The right thing to do, after all)

But seeing my family is split between Vancouver, Winnipeg, and England. French just wasn't a high priority. Just shows you don't know what fate has planned for you.