French help

[MercyBookoo]

I am learning French with the help of various resources; Coffee Break French podcast, Duolingo, YouTube videos etc.

I dream of being fluent-ish (i accept I’m probably too old at 50 to reach real proficiency) but I’d love it if anyone who speaks really good French could help me with the odd grammar query? Sometimes you just can’t beat having a real person to ask stuff - even if it’s just “What’s it like being fluent in another language? It must be SO COOL!!” 😊😁

I’m learning French too - trying to teach myself French a level at the moment! Would be happy for a thread in French lol.
I’m terrified of speaking though. I’m sure I sound ridiculous

I quite enjoy speaking it but admittedly I’ve only spoken it to myself and in front of dh and the kids so far!

What I’m finding is that pronouncing French words “properly” starts to feel much more “right” than pronouncing them in an English accent.

Honestly if you really want to get good at French you should do an evening class, join a French club, get a French tutor - something which involves regularly talking French to at least one person face to face.

You also need to go to France (or a French speaking country) to accelerate your learning by immersing yourself and experiencing the rewards of speaking French. Obviously this depends how much time and money you have but even if you can't do it often or soon, you should plan a trip to work towards.

You could even combine the two and book a French language course in France.

Have started 'Conversation en français' thread in Chat!

Yy to that, Mercy. People (especially kids) are a bit scared of trying to do a full-on French accent at first. Sometimes I make them speak English in an OTT French accent first, in order to prove to themselves they can do the accent! And then point out that it sounds a lot less silly when you're doing it in the right accent!

I have a degree in French but have barely used it since i graduated many years ago. I really regret letting it slide.

Well come on and join the chat on Conversation en français!

Geraldine's online resources are useful https://www.commeunefrancaise.com/blog/french-vocabulary-words-names?infcontactkey=d63ce739ddad1e1713a0de990f308baa680f8914173f9191b1c0223e68310bb1

Conversation with French people is the best way to learn/practise. Sorry to be harsh but if you chat French with other non-native speakers you'll just pick up each other's mistakes, unless it's in the context of a French class or club with a teacher.

Is your travailler issue just translating from french to English or in both directions? I’m having the same issue and I’ve come to the conclusion it’s duolingo.

Ok Girls ( well women ) ; Imma reply in French to you. See how hard it is to understand lol.

@lazylinguist : Si je fais vraiment attention ; j'arrive à faire la difference. Mais il faut que je me concentre ( Enfin ça dépend aussi du context , personne ne va dire " Je vais à la p*te ou tu es vraiment une sale plage"! Impossible sinon. C'est comme " chick" et "cheek". On dirait le même mot !

Le son en et an sont les mêmes ; y'a que "on" qui est différent ( enfin en tout cas dans ma région). J'ai remarqué que les anglais avaient du mal ave les "eu" ; "ou" et "u". Peur ; Pour et Pure. Mon mari dit le même mot loool.

Tu as oublié les fameux cul et cou

When my daughter was taking Japanese lessons she Skyped a native speaker who was learning English, so it was mutually beneficial. Would that be something you might consider?

Can anyone recommend a Learning French podcast that they like?

I like Coffee Break French 🙂

@anotheremma Quelle esprit mal placé tu as hahaha

Quel* Putain ça fait chier de pas pouvoir modifier les réponses

Wesh!

Popping in to recommend the news in simple French on RFI: savoirs.rfi.fr/fr/apprendre-enseigner/langue-francaise/journal-en-francais-facile

Hi OP good for you. Never too old. Talking of pronunciation I remember on our French exchange we had great fun getting our pen friends to say ‘ship’ and ‘sheep’, or see if they could say ‘sheet’ - tee hee. I speak French - did it at uni and worked abroad for a while - I speak French with my DD now (since she was a baby) - often get both my kids to watch Caillou en français on YouTube. Nice simple French - a kids programme but good to listen to. DVDs, often on the back you’ll find that you can play them in the French language. Just try and listen as much as poss. My Spanish is rusty - so at work I wear headphones and listen a lot to Spanish audio books on YouTube.

I like coffee break french too.

I also use news in slow french. You can pick whether you want beginner/intermediate/advanced.

I think Duolingo do a French podcast but I haven’t used it.

I mainly look for podcasts in Spanish because that's what I'm learning and I'm a bit obsessed with it atm. But really I should be constantly listening and reading in French and German too, to keep my vocab current and my fluency up. I've always been a bit lazy about that tbh, but learning a new language has renewed my enthusiasm for all things MFL!

I need native speaker level podcasts for French and German and intermediate for Spanish (I'm really almost only a beginner in Spanish, but I'm more advanced than I should be because French helps me so much that I can understand very well).

If anyone else is interested in intermediate Spanish podcasts, I highly recommend Español con Juan. He's a funny guy who waffles about all kinds of random stuff, but he's engaging and a great level for me.