Learning French

[shirogane]

So I gonna learn French soon. It's gonna be a new exprience. But I also feel nervous. Can any French-learner tell me some difficult in learning or some story about your leaning ?

[meridannight]

it's easy. but it would also depend on what language you grew up on. i've seen that it tends to be a bit more difficult for the English-speakers to get the French pronunciation right, than for Italians, for example. and the Asian might have problems with maintaining correct stress.

for someone who already speaks one Romance language, learning French is a cakewalk. the grammar is a copy-and-paste. all you gotta do is learn the vocabulary.

[BlueStar]

I'm officially a Francophone, since my childhood though. I still find it a quite difficult language to learn, especially in conjugation and spelling. But I love it because the vocabulary is very rich, comfortable to hear speaking. The most used letters in French language are: R, N, S, E, L, T. Any other questions you got on learning French, just PM me.

And honestly, French is the sexiest language ever

[shirogane]

it's easy. but it would also depend on what language you grew up on. i've seen that it tends to be a bit more difficult for the English-speakers to get the French pronunciation right, than for Italians, for example. and the Asian might have problems with maintaining correct stress.

for someone who already speaks one Romance language, learning French is a cakewalk. the grammar is a copy-and-paste. all you gotta do is learn the vocabulary.

Thank you, apparently I'm Asian so maybe I can have problems you told. But I'll try my best :biggrin:

[shirogane]

I'm officially a Francophone, since my childhood though. I still find it a quite difficult language to learn, especially in conjugation and spelling. But I love it because the vocabulary is very rich, comfortable to hear speaking. The most used letters in French language are: R, N, S, E, L, T. Any other questions you got on learning French, just PM me.

And honestly, French is the sexiest language ever

Thanks for your help. I've done some research and OMG, it's vocabulary is huge ( they have gender for things ? :eek. My problem here maybe I'm also learning English ( of course I'm in high level ) and it could make me confuse word from French to English. I will ask you if I need any help. Hope it not annoy you

[MountLogan]

Many words are similar in french in English or exactly the same
I do agree a however learning two languages at a time is challenge.

Yes french have gender but DONT bother learning it until your advanced. I never understood why in school is English Canada they teach that. Unless you are born French gender don't make sense so it's pointless to find some kind of a rule. We just know with the sound of words and even sometimes it's hard for us frenchies.

By exemple a sofa with three places is masculin but a sofas with two places only feminine ... NOT MAKING ANY SENSE. A pillow is feminine but not a bed. NOT MAKING ANY SENSE. A cup is feminine but not a glass ... Again not making any sense!

Learn the vocabulary and if you want to learn English and French at one time why not buy a book showing you the thousands similar words with both languages. This way you will learn two languages at once.
EX: Orange (french also)

[shirogane]

Yes french have gender but DONT bother learning it until your advanced. I never understood why in school is English Canada they teach that. Unless you are born French gender don't make sense so it's pointless to find some kind of a rule. We just know with the sound of words and even sometimes it's hard for us frenchies.

I know it's hard and sometime make us become crazy ( gender will and always make us crazy ) but in the other hand, it makes me excited. So it's gonna be a long and hard path, but I'll walk it.

[MountLogan]

I agree gender makes french a fun languages however don't be bump out if you makes mistakes. It's kind of cute when a guy say the right words but not the proper gender. Pronunciation and vocabulary are the key to be understood. Gender is the cherry on the cake.

a good way to learn french is to watch tv... a movie in french... however this have the disadvantaged to be watch in the language origin.

I don't know if you you can access that website from your country. But tou.tv offers from Canada many shows from online streaming free (The quality is good because tou.tv is from CBC/Radio-Canada the national broadcaster in our country. So I hope you could access it. 30 vies could be a good how to watch and I hope you can access it from your country

http://ici.tou.tv/30-vies

[princealbertofb]

Thanks for your help. I've done some research and OMG, it's vocabulary is huge ( they have gender for things ? :eek. My problem here maybe I'm also learning English ( of course I'm in high level ) and it could make me confuse word from French to English. I will ask you if I need any help. Hope it not annoy you

I am French, Shirogane... to GaySpeak. Let me know if I can help you practise what you learn.
Yes, French nouns are either masculine or feminine, (sometimes both) and you have to make nouns agree with their adjective forms (ie add an S for plurals and an E for the feminine, sometimes double the consonant)

Here! Look at this pronoun - MINE!
It can be masculine because the object you are talking about is masculine:
c'est LE MIEN (for example, un MARI, a husband - masculine.)
it can be feminine because the object you are talking about is feminine:
c'est LA MIENNE (for example, UNE VOITURE, a car - feminine)
if they are plural objects they have to agree with the feminine or the masculine and the number
ce sont LES MIENS (for example: des LIVRES, books, - plural masculine)
ce sont LES MIENNES (for example: des LIVRES, pounds - feminine plural
Masculine and feminine are some of the difficulties of French, especially when, like LIVRE, the word can be masculine or feminine and have a different meaning.
LIVRE (book) or LIVRE (pound)
another word like this is LE VOILE (veil, masculine in French) or LA VOILE (sail, feminine in French), in the plural it would be LES VOILES and only if there was an adjective with it would we know if we're talking of sails or of veils. The context can also help.
Des grandES voiles = big sails
De granDS voiles = big veils
the addition of the E in the adjective shows us which following word is feminine, and which one is not.

For pronunciation, note that most final letters in French are in fact silent, and we don't pronounce them, except to operate certain phonetic liaisons.
for example the singular verb and pronoun IL PRONONCE, is not pronounced differently from the plural form ILS PRONONCENT because the final letters (in orange) are silent.
If the verb begins with a vowel, then the liaison might be heard: IL ADORE and ILS_ADORENT (only the NT on the verb is silent, you would hear the S on ILS)

[princealbertofb]

I agree gender makes french a fun languages however don't be bump out if you makes mistakes. It's kind of cute when a guy say the right words but not the proper gender. Pronunciation and vocabulary are the key to be understood. Gender is the cherry on the cake.

a good way to learn french is to watch tv... a movie in french... however this have the disadvantaged to be watch in the language origin.

I don't know if you you can access that website from your country. But tou.tv offers from Canada many shows from online streaming free (The quality is good because tou.tv is from CBC/Radio-Canada the national broadcaster in our country. So I hope you could access it. 30 vies could be a good how to watch and I hope you can access it from your country

http://ici.tou.tv/30-vies

Moi, je n'y ai pas accès depuis la France en tout cas.