Language learning programs?

[MountainLaurel]

I'm thinking of trying to learn French for a variety of reasons (it's a beautiful language, it would be handy in case Mr. Laurel and I need to flee across the border into Quebec, you know). My public library has a couple of online language programs available for free: Rosetta Stone and Pimmsleur (audiobook, I think). I was wondering if any DUers had thoughts one way or another on them.

My main concern looking at the beginning materials is that I'm a very visual learner who needs to know the whys of what I'm doing: When an accent is used and why, what the tense of the verb is in that canned sentence, which word is the verb in that canned sentence, etc. I'm hoping it gets better in the later lessons, but I don't know. I've had traditional language courses in high school and college (which I'm starting over soon as a refresher and to continue), which seemed to fit that need. But this would be self-directed.

Anyone have comments to share?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. Take a two-pronged approach

With a language where spelling and pronunciation don't match up, you definitely need the audio portion. However, you appear to be the type of analytical learner who wants to know exactly what you're saying. There's nothing wrong with that--that's the way I learn best, too.

Your local Borders or Barne's and Noble will have a foreign language section with shelves and shelves of foreign language textbooks and audio programs, especially for common languages like French and Spanish.

You may want to start with the Teach Yourself Series, which comes with a CD. For the common languages, they have Teach Yourself Beginning____, Teach Yourself More _____, and Teach Yourself _______Grammar. They're good for self-study because they give the answers to the exercises in the back.

Once you have a little French in your head, start renting French movies. Of course, you'll need the subtitles at first, but you'll get used to listening to natural spoken French, which is very important.

If you have access to French-language newspapers or magazines, try to read them. Since a lot of English vocabulary came from French, it's actually easier to read than to understand by ear, in my opinion.

[MountainLaurel]

2. Thanks for the tip

The range of products out there always makes me wonder which to pick, particularly because I need the visual learning more than the aural. (My background is in writing and editing, so I'm much focused on the written word and grammatical rules.) I will definitely take the two-pronged approach you mention -- nothing beats seeing and hearing the language in use.

I may try that series for refreshing my Spanish as well, since there's not many continuing ed opportunities in the area where I now live. (There are no evening courses at the local community college or university. Bah.)

:hi:

[rickrok66]

3. Learning French

I love to study French too. I use the Rosetta Stone program - I can access it free through my work. The Rosetta program builds on what you have already learned and forces you to use your intuition to learn new words. It seems like it is always building on itself. If you can use it for free, then use it - it costs like $300 dollars. It is much better than the little CD set you can buy at Borders or Barnes and Noble.

Other ways I learn:

1. Sign up for the free course on About.com. You receive free lessons at least weekly. Plus, the guide's website has a lot of language and cultural information. There is also a free about.com site on France too.

2. Watch French movies. Watch DVDs and put on the subtitles in French or play it in French.

3. On Myspace, I joined a lot of French or Paris related groups. Some members post in French and it is a way to really translate. And you can see current French slang - how French people say "Thanks for the add".

Some other links:

http://www.frenchtutorial.com/ (Free language course)

http://fr.news.yahoo.com/publictv.html (Free French entertainment new videos on Yahoo)