Tag Archives: Learning

Learn French Fast – 7 Easy Tips

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Learning a new language – especially French – can be a daunting task. If you want to supercharge your French learning abilities, consider the following seven tips on how to learn French fast:

1. Immerse Yourself in French – Nothing can accelerate your French learning like being totally immersed the language. Can’t afford a trip to Paris? Don’t worry! One hour a day, listen to French music, read a French newspaper, or watch a French movie. Consuming French media will help you get comfortable with the language – both how it is written and spoken.

2. Online Tool – Tools like Rocket French and Tell Me More French are specifically designed to help people trying to learn French quickly. Although there are a lot of tools available, my favourites are Rocket French, Tell Me More, and Fluenz.

3. Take a French Class – Many community colleges, public libraries, and adult education centers offer French classes are affordable prices. The hassle here of course is that you have to build your schedule around the class – instead of studying when you have the free time (my preferred method).

4. Watch Your favorite DVD’s in French – Most DVD’s come with multiple language translations available, including French. Watching your favourite movie in French instead of English can be a great way to pick up on the language. You may also consider leaving the English on but adding French subtitles which is a little easier.

5. Chat with French People – The internet can help you bridge language barriers, and talking with actual French speakers can really help you learn French fast It’s easy to find a chat partner who is as eager to learn English as you are to learn French. Email, message boards, instant messaging, and webcams are all great ways to communicate with the French.

6. Know the Difference Between French and English – When I first went to France, I kept comparing it to everything at home. Just like traveling, learning a new language will have to marveling in the differences. Being aware of the differences between French and English can help you flatten the learning curve and let you wrap your head around the language quicker. For example, both English and French have silent letters, but they are different in each language.

7. Learn at Your Own Pace – Nothing hinders my learning like stress. This is why I always tell people to take their time when they are learning French – find your own pace and stick to it. If you have the time to study French 8 hours a day, great. But most people don’t, so don’t feel bad if things feel like they are going slowly.

French Learning Software to Learn How to Speak French Effectively

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French learning software is perhaps the best way to learn how to speak French quickly.

There are obviously other methods for learning to speak French as well, and each approach has its advantages and disadvantages. However, when you weigh all the alternatives French learning software rates most highly as the method to learn how to speak French in most circumstances.

Why is this? In most cases the objective is to get to the conversational level in French as quickly as possible. And if this is the goal, French learning software has a number of distinct advantages. But only the right French learning software has these advantages and I will discuss this in more detail later in this article.

The first advantage is that language software encourages and facilitates daily practice, and more importantly daily structured practice. This daily practice works well with the way our brains retain information. You see if you can practice for an hour a day each and every day, this is vastly superior to devoting one whole day a week to the task.

Perhaps the reasons for this are obvious, but they have to do with the way the brain retains information. With daily practice, you are building your knowledge each day and reinforcing the information you have previously absorbed before you forget it. That boosts the volume of relevant information you retain and places it in your long term memory.

This advantage exists with any approach you choose which facilitates daily structured practice. If that is the case, why is French learning software the best approach?

I said earlier that a French software learning approach is superior only if you choose the right program. And this brings us to the second potential advantage of this approach.

What many French programs overlook is the importance of sentence structure in their approach to help you learn how to speak French. This is a shame, because it is probably the factor which causes most people to fail. If you have tried to learn how to speak French before then think back to the teaching method.

I will wager that you were not exposed to complete sentence structure and instead were guided to learn individual words to add to your vocabulary as well as many rules related to conjugation of the verbs in various tenses and persons.

Naturally, these are important to learn, but it is better to learn them naturally instead of trying to memorize them out of any conversational context.

Accordingly, you must make sure that the French learning software you choose has modules which include interactive audio sessions comprising exposure to complete sentences and conversation. That is the component which will help you learn how to speak French most effectively.