Tell me about French (yeah)

[Rainman]

Yeah, I posted a similar thread to this a lonng time ago on here. I actually have some questions this time though. Does anyone here speak French natively? Is it difficult to learn? How can I master the pronunciation of the words? Tell me about the grammar, tell me about idioms of the language. I'm already familiar with the concept of masculine and feminine words. I just would like to know about how I can learn and start speaking French. Where/how is the best place or method to learn french? -Rainman

[ninja9578]

Oui, je parle francais. No, it's not my native language, but it's not harder to learn than any other language, easier than english actually. The grammar is pretty easy, same as english except for most adjectives come after their nouns and questions mean that you invert nouns and verbs. That's the basics, there are much more weird rules, but those are basic ones. I speak real french, Canadian french is strange, they have accents and have some words that are different, it's like trying to speak real english in the US. School would be the best way, but I'm sure you could learn through Rosetta Stone.

[Spartiate]

I could post, but I bet I'd be repeating what I said 6 months ago . It's kind of hard to get started by yourself, but you can learn the basics either on your own (textbooks, internet, computer programs), or take a class. To master a language though, you really need to spend some time where you need to use it. French is a little special, in that it's very different from region to region (even within the same country). The main French areas are France, Switzerland, Quebec and North Africa. I'm from Quebec, so I typically have a canadian pronounciation, but I can speak some decent "international" French, so if ever you need help with pronounciation on some sentences/words, just make a list. I could also help if you have any secific questions. Also, check out this site.

[Oneiro]

Je parle couramment, mais j'ai eu onze ans d'études ici en Angleterre, et je voyage beaucoup en France. If you have a bent for language, french is not that difficult. The syntax is basically the same as english.. but the accent can be tricky. I had a great teacher who taught us to mimic the french accent while talking english. After a few months of that, he got us to do the same while talking french. Worked a treat. Practice practice practice..

[Xox]

Hmm, I was thinking about making the same exact thread. Anyways, what I plan to do is go live in France for a good amount of time.

[MrBeelzy]

I have a bilingual high school diploma, but for me taking French in school really sucked the fun out of it. It can be hard to grasp all the different tenses, and appropriately conjugate verbs. It is also hella lame that nouns are assigned gender. Lots of languages do this, but it is so arbitrary most of the time. French is fun to speak, and I can pretty much get by with any French Canadian in a conversation (couldn't tell you about France, but I'm sure I'd get by). The best way to improve your French (no matter how you learn it) is to practice with people who speak it fluently. As for pronunciation, I find it pretty easy (even though I can't roll my R's). You just have to get used to how different sounds are produced in different parts of the throat. Some sounds like r's and ng's are really back of the throat sounds, and others use the front of your mouth and your lips to really form the sounds. This comes natural to some, but I remember having to watch a video in high school that talked about this. As a remark, I tend to only speak French when I am drunk.

[Rainman]

Well I certainly appreciate all of the replies. I guess I should have mentioned that my native language is Spanish, and I'm quite used to what English-speaking folk would call odd twists in the language. Nouns before the adjectives, masculine/feminine, the works. I'm used to all that, I'm used to having different words/accents from regions, etc. I'm just worried about the pronounciation, because the few times that I've even looked into French, I ended up pronouncing French words in a Spanish accent The problem is I don't know of a situation where I'd have to learn French in America. Lol. Any suggestions?