Seven years ago today, a certain Frenchman came into my life…well the truth is I drunkenly fell over this certain Frenchman. I never would of considered he would still be in my thoughts (and heart) seven years on. Oui Oui these feelings are not returned and they never will be. But the positives of this one sided friendship is - France and all things French. Time to get back to the books…podcasts…CDs…films ( watching Seraphine has I type).
My French classes finished a month a go and don’t start again until the middle of September. For the last month I have neglected my studies, so for August I need to get back to learning French before I forget everything I have learnt over the past 10 months and I would like to get abit of a head start when (or if depending on the rising course fees) I start the next level.
So what is the best way to learn? Looking though a few old magazines articles on learning new languages, they all come up with the same ideas:
1. Take a trip - mix with the locals, go on a language learning holiday.
Oui Mais I have no money to take a holiday blah blah.
2. Immersion - French films (see above), music (abit of Vanessa Paradis & Sinclair on my ipod), books, magazines and newspapers (lots of Voicis Monsieur X used to send me).
Need to stop watching English and American repeats and need to watch more French Films. Starting with Point Blank tomorrow.
3. Online courses - More expense!
But I have found a few free ones (www.bbc.co.uk) along with a few podcasts.
4. Learn the 100 most spoken words - as they make up 50% of all conversations. One magazine article stated that if you are learning French (German or Spanish) you already know 40% of the vocab. For example ’danger’ is the same in French and English and all words ending in ’ion’ are the same.
So if I learn 10 new words a day - 10 days later I should have learnt half a language.
5. Use pictures/Flash cards - Spend 10 seconds studying a picture or draw a picture, naming all the things in the scene. For example drawing a picture of a café starting with words ’manger’ then ’le sandwich’ ’fromage’ etc. www.thinkbuzan.com thinks that drawing ’a mind map’ of words associated with each other will help the brain to match and group words together with colours, pictures and associations.
Drawing a few pictures a week - could help. Starting with le bureau, as I spend most of my time there.
So a few ideas I need to be getting on with. And maybe just maybe I might be able to have a French conversation sooner rather than in another seven years!
See Number 7 & - Blogpost - Numero Sept - leçons de François
No comments:
Post a Comment