So how do *you* learn a language?

[frogbeastegg]

Some good ideas here

I shall have to improve a lot before I can attempt any of the ones involving writing. I am incapable of writing in the language at all. I can add the French Total War forum on .com to my internet reading list until I can find some other sites.

After a bit of digging I found a recommendations for RFI's radio news channel 'Le journal en français facile' or 'the news in easy French'. Sounds very handy. Getting past the various French version error messages in order to get it to work with WMP12 was educational. I wonder if "cretins American" means what it sounds like? Considering that they were talking about Fox News, possibly it does.

When it comes to languages, I feel that being English is a handicap. Unless we come from a mixed race/culture background, the only other language we are exposed to is American English. When we are supposed to be learning other languages at school it is (or was in my day) done with the tacit understanding that whichever country we go to, many of the locals will speak English. No real effort is put in to impart an understanding. My French lessons consisted of a whole 2 hours per week for 4 years. We only reached important concepts like past and present tenses in the final year.

Bonjour. Je te voudrais introduire. Je m'appele Kralizec...

That's a good example. Seeing it written here I understand precisely what that means, as easily as I understand it in English. Having seen it, I could say it, no doubt horrifically mangling the pronunciation in the process. If you had asked me to say that exact same 'idea' without the written version present I couldn't manage anything more than the most basic form; the middle section would be missing. Ask me to write it without this example to copy from and no chance! I need to copy it letter by letter.

[Fragony]

Do I really got to point out that Krazelic did it all wrong

[Arjos]

Is it like:

Good day, I'd like to introduce you (XD), my name is Kralizec? :D

[Fragony]

Is it like:

Good day, I'd like to introduce you (XD), my name is Kralizec? :D

That but I would just give an apple

'When I was writing my masters' paper for my university study'

His master' (his) paper.

[Peasant Phill]

On peut commencer à parler en français dans ce fil. Et vous, dame grenouille, vous pouvez répondre aussi en frainçais.

[frogbeastegg]

On peut commencer à parler en français dans ce fil. Et vous, dame grenouille, vous pouvez répondre aussi en frainçais.

Let's see. Minus any kind of aid, I get: In a bit(?) [I?] will start to speak in French [something]. And you, lady frog, will reply also in French.

Oui? Non?

EDIT: Someone sneaked in while I was attempting my translation!

Thanks for the link to Le Monde, Viking. I hadn't thought to see if they were also online. Of course they are - everyone is.

I think I may have figured out how to switch my DS to French mode. That should then put all of my games into French as well. Got to test it to see. Other games remain difficult; a lot of them don't seem to have language options.

[Drunk Clown]

More like: We can start speaking French in this thread.

[Peasant Phill]

Let's see. Minus any kind of aid, I get: In a bit(?) [I?] will start to speak in French [something]. And you, lady frog, will reply also in French.

Oui? Non?

Close

Like Drunk Clown says: We can start speaking French in this thread and you, lady Frog, can reply in French also.

[EXPLENATION]
ON can mean we or they. Mostly used when you have no specific group in mind
PEUR from the verb pouvoir, meaning can
FIL literally means thread what fabric is made of. I don't know if there is a beter term relevant to an internet thread.

In a bit translates to dans un instant, dans un moment, ...
[/EXPLENATION]

I'm sure Louis will point out a huge gramatical mistake somewhere.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Exercise. Reading and listening come with knowledge of the vocab, and knowledge of the vocab comes from repetition. Repetition in turn leads you to understand the finer distinctions of idiom and grammar, which in turn lead you to master idiomatic expressions more readily. Accent, you're English so we must pity you: the English have a very poor system of sounds which is effectively an impairment in your ability to break up & assemble the words, sounds and muscular movements required to speak and understand pretty much all continental European languages. So you don't get our head start, which means you'll have to apply yourself. Dating someone French or well educated Belgian, might be an answer? Living in France? Watching Doctor Who in French? (Seriously, that's great fun. Just like how Bond movies improve tenfold by being broadcast on the German networks!)

[Kralizec]

Is it like:

Good day, I'd like to introduce you (XD), my name is Kralizec? :D

That but I would just give an apple

'When I was writing my masters' paper for my university study'

His master' (his) paper.

Pfff. Whatever

Nobody's commented on my use of "introduire" yet...

[Arjos]

French is used to hook up anyway, grammar doesn't matter :D

[Viking]

Personally, I believe that most of my English abilities do not come from school, I didn't do much of my English home work...yet I often got top grades (unfortunately, the lenght of a text also weighed a lot, not just the command of the language..).

I think that frequently reading online newspapers in French; e.g. Le Monde with a comprehensive dictionary at your disposal (preferably French-French) would help a lot.

If you play any games regularly, try switching the preferred language to French. I guess that could make you learn many words and formulations in "one sweep", since you will have already have designated different meanings to the various buttons and functions. Same goes for other programs, such as web browsers or even operating systems (though I'll take no blame if turns out to be hard to get it back into English ), depending on how far one is willing to go.

Now, I haven't tried learning a new language for quite some time; so what I wrote above comes from my personal understanding of how I have aquired my English skills. My German is in pretty poor shape, and that is because I never got to work enough with it. English typically meant going straight to the source for more cases than any other language, so I've have a great personal interest in understanding the language well, so I have sort of just been coping with the challenges of going straight to the source - and this leads to me learning a lot of English in the process.