Learning to speak french?

Question

I would love to speak french/spanish. What is the best way to learn apart from living there. Tried a few CDs but didnt like them. They just teach you phrases. I want to be fluent.

Answer 1

same situation- did French for years, but not forgotten it like otehr person said they had, but i wanna be fluent in Spanish and Italian. However, i can't afford to go live tehre.

audio CD's don't work for me either...

So i got an interactive computer disc- (cleverly had brain malfunction and forgot correctname for them...CD roms?) which has the language of your choice on it- and is inexpensive. -Spanish in my case, and you can learn at your own pace- hear the language being spoken, recognize it in written format, practice words- i'd recommend it to anyone- the only thing i find that it doesn't really teach are the verb declensions, i am, she is, they are etc...but you can get those from the net. try www.bbc.co.uk and look under GCSE bitesize. it's an English revision site, but splits in into chunks and you can play game etc to help you learn.

I'm finding it easy to recognize words from English, and those with Latin roots and you can guess the meaning of them.

you really need to have a desire to learn it though- and a love for the art of language. (or a thirst to know what others are saying about you...!!!)

I wish you luck in your venture...

Answer 2

I'm sorry but I can't understand your question. Of course, learning the alphabet is not enough to speak a language. I suppose that's not what you meant though. Not all of the languages sounds are in the alphabet either. Many sounds are written by using 2 letters like on, eu, ou, an, etc. You'll need to learn hundreds, if not thousands of words, before you can actually have an intelligent discussion on anything. You'll also need to learn how to put those words together into meaningful sentences, which is called grammar.

Answer 3

You really need to be emersed in the language to learn it fluently. I would recommend taking Spanish, since you have more opportunity to converse with people who speak that language in this country. There are a lot of countries where you can travel to, in the future, where Spanish is dominant. I took French for seven years, forgot most of the French I learned, wish I took Spanish because I live in Chicago and there are a couple of Spanish speaking neighborhoods (it would be fun just to go there any day and converse in the language).

Answer 4

Hi
Read in french articles, magazins,on subject that u really like .at the begining you have to check quit a lot in dictionairy but with time ..
and learn evrything with a relaxed mind,eg before sleeping,early in the morning.
Try to learn 2 to 3 words per couple of days .write them in a pad.
looke for english words that are also used in french ,and see how much you already now.
Than learn carefuly how sentences are built.
yuo need about 1000 words for daily talk,ca. 3000 to understand a news paper.
It is a long term project.best wishes.
..

Answer 5

One really helpful way to practice your reading and writing would be to find a penpal program online. You will be able to write to native french and spanish speakers and they can help you too. I would suggest watching t.v. programs and movies in both languages too to work on the listening portion.

Answer 6

The best way is to sign up for a class and practice.

The CD's are good as a way to reinforce what you have learned, or for brushing up, but not to learn from scratch.

Answer 7

You should start with some classes check out the night schools where you live there's always some courses on an they are fairly cheap too

Answer 8

I'm in French 1, and it's awsome! If you're not in middle or high school anymore you can always take classes at a community college.

Answer 9

Only way to be fluent is to live there mate.