Want to learn French...

Hi all, who knows of the best/best and fastest way to learn French? I don't have time for classes so it's either reading, audio, or pc, or some combination.

I was just out at Amazon and there are only about 9 billion options...Learn to speak French, French in 10 mintues a day, Learn french in your car...etc, etc. etc.

Has anybody tried any of these? Hoping not to have to buy three or four products before I find a useful one.

Can anyone help?

My son is homeschooled and has used a computer software program to try to learn German. (tough language!)

It's kind of a conversational learning experience. They give you a story that you follow along and learn different phrases and words as you go. It's not available for retail, since it's for schools only.

However, I think that type of program is a good one. You can read it, hear it, and try to imitate the sounds as you go. Much better than just learning it in your car - it really helps me to read something instead of just listening to it.

And the story helps you understand a little better too, and keeps your interest up more than if you were just repeating words. If you can find something like that, that's what I'd recommend.

Good luck!
Kathy

I use Pimsleur (sp?) and play it at home. I miss turns when I'm listening to it in the car and end up having to travel extra miles to get headed in the right direction. This is also what my sister used before she moved to France.

Kathy, do you teach your son or does a teacher come to you? They have no such thing like home schooling here. Would you mind telling us why you chose this form of schooling?

Hi Hannelore. There are lots of different options for home schooling in the states. The one we chose is a state-funded public school, and we have a facilitator that provides us with our books and lessons.

Then Ryan does his work, I grade his work, and he goes in for tests on each subject at the end of each unit. (Every month or so)

He's 15, so he does most of it on his own. The only subject he really needs help with is geometry - gosh, I can't wait until that's over! I'm horrible at math, so my husband and Ryan's friend helps him when he needs it. They have classes and tutoring at the school, but he doesn't want to go there if he can help it.

I chose that form of schooling so we'd have less stress in our lives and so Ryan wouldn't be so bored in the classroom. (He just started this last October) It was a huge battle to get him up every morning at 5:30 - he had to catch the bus at 6:05am for a 7am school start time. Some may think we're taking the "easy" way out, but I'll tell you, we're all a lot happier now.

The public school he attended is very overcrowded with nearly 3000 students. There is no individual attention, the teachers have way too much to do, and then there are substitute teachers regularly and the kids end up watching movies or something. Huge waste of time in many ways.

Ryan gets lots of work done in half the time of going to school. He plans to get a part-time job in September when he turns 16.

Okay, now back to French lessons....

Kathy

Thanks Kathy. Sounds like it is working best for Ryan and the family. A high school with 3000 students. Wow, that is half as big as the town I live in.

ktr, have you tried to google French lessons? My DIL learns German for free over the internet. She loves it, because she sees the sentences and can hear them as well.

There is an online class forum at Annenburg Media. The bookmark is on my other computer, but if you Google Annenberg (not sure of the spelling) Media, you should be able to find it.

I should mention that I started learning Spanish with this site. I'll look it up and post the link.

Okay, here's the page for French. You have to sign up, but it's free. There are lots of resources here for many other subjects, too.

http://www.learner.org/resources/series83.html