Where can I learn French in NYC? In my apartment??
September 1, 2013 9:27 AM Subscribe
I would like to learn French in New York. Difficulty: I have taken years of French at school, and none of it seemed to stick, besides the ability to read the back of aspirin bottles and cereal boxes.
I have looked into FIAF but it seems a bit disorganized and expensive, please let me know if your experiences have been different. Also, I feel that with the internet etc, I should probably be able to learn it on my own.
I have bought some basic "Practice makes Perfect" McGraw Hill books, and am looking into "DuoLingo" on-line.
However, even though I seem to know "some" French, when someone speaks to me, it just completely falls out of my head. Help! Aider-Moi! Thank you.
I have looked into FIAF but it seems a bit disorganized and expensive, please let me know if your experiences have been different. Also, I feel that with the internet etc, I should probably be able to learn it on my own.
I have bought some basic "Practice makes Perfect" McGraw Hill books, and am looking into "DuoLingo" on-line.
However, even though I seem to know "some" French, when someone speaks to me, it just completely falls out of my head. Help! Aider-Moi! Thank you.
Since you're located in NYC, there are lots of native french-speaking tutors who help the local private school populace with tests, etc., for college admissions. Maybe look into hooking up with one of those tutors for one-on-one help.
posted by dfriedman at 9:59 AM on September 1, 2013
posted by dfriedman at 9:59 AM on September 1, 2013
Yep, I've got that same thing but with Spanish. The only thing that helps is to do some regular talking with a native speaker. You just can't go from books straight to fluency.
posted by dawkins_7 at 10:20 AM on September 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by dawkins_7 at 10:20 AM on September 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: For the study at home option, the Assimil "New French with Ease" book and CD set really worked for me as a first step. It requires a fair amount of effort, and the method may not work for everyone, but if you work on it every day until you finish the course then you'll have a very good start on the written and spoken language -- in my case, enough that I could continue my self-study by reading and listening to French language materials with the help of a dictionary -- first children's books, then adult books and media.
Other resources I found useful were Anki for retaining the vocabulary I learned, Verbling for getting practice at actual conversation, and Coffee Break French and Le journal en français facile for listening practice. (This previous thread has more suggestions along those lines.)
Informal conversation is really the hardest thing for me (and I think for most language learners). It requires a whole additional level and set of skills beyond formal knowledge of the language, plus a certain fearlessness and willingness to make mistakes and be embarassed. The only way to get good at this is repeated practice, so do find ways to do that -- whether it's a class, a conversation group at your local Alliance française, a site like Verbling, or talking to a francophone acquaintance via phone or Skype.
The most important step for me, though, was planning a vacation in France. That gave me a goal and a deadline that really helped me focus on learning as much as I could in the months leading up to the trip. And after the trip, I wanted even more to improve so I could do better the next time. (On my first trip to France, I was pretty comfortable with the written language and with simple situations like ordering food in a restaurant, but I still couldn't understand a lot of what was said to me, or respond to questions in a reasonable time.)
posted by mbrubeck at 10:23 AM on September 1, 2013 [12 favorites]
Other resources I found useful were Anki for retaining the vocabulary I learned, Verbling for getting practice at actual conversation, and Coffee Break French and Le journal en français facile for listening practice. (This previous thread has more suggestions along those lines.)
Informal conversation is really the hardest thing for me (and I think for most language learners). It requires a whole additional level and set of skills beyond formal knowledge of the language, plus a certain fearlessness and willingness to make mistakes and be embarassed. The only way to get good at this is repeated practice, so do find ways to do that -- whether it's a class, a conversation group at your local Alliance française, a site like Verbling, or talking to a francophone acquaintance via phone or Skype.
The most important step for me, though, was planning a vacation in France. That gave me a goal and a deadline that really helped me focus on learning as much as I could in the months leading up to the trip. And after the trip, I wanted even more to improve so I could do better the next time. (On my first trip to France, I was pretty comfortable with the written language and with simple situations like ordering food in a restaurant, but I still couldn't understand a lot of what was said to me, or respond to questions in a reasonable time.)
posted by mbrubeck at 10:23 AM on September 1, 2013 [12 favorites]
For conversational training, NYPL is probably a good place to start looking, especially if you want to save money. Far smaller libraries in far smaller cities have meetup groups for language students who want to practice, and they are often organized with the help of volunteer teachers and/or native speakers. New York can provide communities of people who share almost any objective you might have, if you take the time to look; and whatever other course(s) you might take, language learning is made vastly easier with the help of others, whether they serve as teachers, students, or compeers.
posted by mcoo at 10:45 AM on September 1, 2013
posted by mcoo at 10:45 AM on September 1, 2013
Best answer: Idlewild bookstore has French classes.
posted by brujita at 10:53 AM on September 1, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by brujita at 10:53 AM on September 1, 2013 [2 favorites]
Am getting personal tuition via Skype at reasonable rates from www.italki.com - the exchange rate means I get a good deal working with a tutor from Colombia for my Spanish. I tried a couple of times to find language partners from www.mylanguageexchange.com but they always fizzled out, sometimes people would say they would be there for a Skype chat but not turn up.
posted by AuroraSky at 11:45 AM on September 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by AuroraSky at 11:45 AM on September 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
A French major from one of the local universities who would make house calls? I would call the French departments of Columbia, NYU, City Colleges, etc, and see if there are any student tutors who'd like to make a little $. You'd probably have to provide some sort of reference, but this would be a dream job for a lot of students. You could probably switch to Skype after a few in-person sessions.
posted by dovesandstones at 12:01 PM on September 1, 2013
posted by dovesandstones at 12:01 PM on September 1, 2013
Best answer: I agree with mbrubeck's prescriptions and I would add one: read French language books. Even if you can't.
While travelling in South America I wanted to learn some more Spanish without having to study or take classes. I had used a book to teach myself the really basic stuff and practiced basic speech with some of the more talkative people I met, but wanted to get to the next level. I spent a half hour in a bookshop looking at books in the young adult section looking for something really gripping. I ended up reading a book in Spanish (I was shocked), which seemed to be at something like a grade-7 level for a native speaker. (I don't pretend to have understood everything.) Wanting to know how the story ended gave me the incentive to look up the crucial words and structures, and the fortitude to ignore the rest. My experience has been that past a certain point of learning the essential basics, you pick up more by actually doing whatever it is you want to learn.
You've got school French and that's probably a good base to get started on some books. You may not understand everything but you will learn tons of vocabulary and how it is used in context. Sit down with the book and a smartphone on which to look up words (wordreference.com is excellent). Don't overuse the dictionary or you might get bored.
Personally I enjoy not only reading the story but also the process of puzzling out what things might mean by guessing and looking some things up. It's like doing acrostic puzzles in a way. At first unknown words that keep cropping up might bug you but after a while you will remember what they mean and move faster. The best part is probably that you are leapfrogging the hardest part of learning a language, which to me is the frustration of putting effort in without being able to perceive results. When you get through a page/chapter/book of French that is a bit above your level, you see improvement. When you blaze through sentences full of words or grammatical structures you had to look up initially, that's improvement.
The key is making it fun--your commitment to language-learning can only get you so far when you're living in NY and not Marseille or Quebec City. Find a way to put your interest in French together with some other interest. Also, try to select a book that is at the right level for you--something you can actually get through without spending an hour on each page. Books for youths are good because the language is deliberately kept simple.
I'm currently doing this for French, a language I'm better in. I've put away the big authors for now and I'm working on thrillers and other books that make the reading super easy (eg--Harry Potter in translation). (One drawback for your purposes is that the passe simple verb tense may be used, which is used in books and not orally. But it's good to know and anyway I don't think it should deter you.)
Seems to me that learning a language is about internalizing the rhythms of the language, learning words and structures and then memorizing them through practice and repetition, creating well-trod neural pathways. For spoken French this means finding a way to regularly and frequently converse. For listening this may mean putting the radio on (Radio-Canada and RFI and the other Radio France stations are good; movies are tougher in my experience). And for reading, it means reading a lot. Find a way to make it fun.
posted by Carton at 5:49 PM on September 1, 2013
While travelling in South America I wanted to learn some more Spanish without having to study or take classes. I had used a book to teach myself the really basic stuff and practiced basic speech with some of the more talkative people I met, but wanted to get to the next level. I spent a half hour in a bookshop looking at books in the young adult section looking for something really gripping. I ended up reading a book in Spanish (I was shocked), which seemed to be at something like a grade-7 level for a native speaker. (I don't pretend to have understood everything.) Wanting to know how the story ended gave me the incentive to look up the crucial words and structures, and the fortitude to ignore the rest. My experience has been that past a certain point of learning the essential basics, you pick up more by actually doing whatever it is you want to learn.
You've got school French and that's probably a good base to get started on some books. You may not understand everything but you will learn tons of vocabulary and how it is used in context. Sit down with the book and a smartphone on which to look up words (wordreference.com is excellent). Don't overuse the dictionary or you might get bored.
Personally I enjoy not only reading the story but also the process of puzzling out what things might mean by guessing and looking some things up. It's like doing acrostic puzzles in a way. At first unknown words that keep cropping up might bug you but after a while you will remember what they mean and move faster. The best part is probably that you are leapfrogging the hardest part of learning a language, which to me is the frustration of putting effort in without being able to perceive results. When you get through a page/chapter/book of French that is a bit above your level, you see improvement. When you blaze through sentences full of words or grammatical structures you had to look up initially, that's improvement.
The key is making it fun--your commitment to language-learning can only get you so far when you're living in NY and not Marseille or Quebec City. Find a way to put your interest in French together with some other interest. Also, try to select a book that is at the right level for you--something you can actually get through without spending an hour on each page. Books for youths are good because the language is deliberately kept simple.
I'm currently doing this for French, a language I'm better in. I've put away the big authors for now and I'm working on thrillers and other books that make the reading super easy (eg--Harry Potter in translation). (One drawback for your purposes is that the passe simple verb tense may be used, which is used in books and not orally. But it's good to know and anyway I don't think it should deter you.)
Seems to me that learning a language is about internalizing the rhythms of the language, learning words and structures and then memorizing them through practice and repetition, creating well-trod neural pathways. For spoken French this means finding a way to regularly and frequently converse. For listening this may mean putting the radio on (Radio-Canada and RFI and the other Radio France stations are good; movies are tougher in my experience). And for reading, it means reading a lot. Find a way to make it fun.
posted by Carton at 5:49 PM on September 1, 2013
If you do end up using Duolingo, there is a fairly active Mefi group on there. I am casually studying Spanish that way and it seems to be working ok. I have no real need to learn Spanish though, so am not sure how effective Duolingo would be for a highly motivated learner as any progress at all makes me happy because I have no actual goals.
posted by Literaryhero at 2:42 AM on September 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Literaryhero at 2:42 AM on September 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Carton's suggestion is very good; best would be a two-pronged approach where you read as much as you can in French (listen to podcasts, watch videos), and also talk in French with someone on a regular basis.
Your local craigslist is a good place to find language tutors. If you look, there are good ones to be found for $20 / hr .
posted by bertran at 2:23 AM on September 3, 2013
Your local craigslist is a good place to find language tutors. If you look, there are good ones to be found for $20 / hr .
posted by bertran at 2:23 AM on September 3, 2013
Response by poster: I have been using Duolingo, watched some "French in Action", I like "French for beginners" on "Slow News in French" and the classes at Idlewild seem wonderful. These were amazing suggestions, thank you so much. I continue also to watch French films but I definitely over rely on the subtitles!
posted by bquarters at 7:19 PM on October 5, 2013
posted by bquarters at 7:19 PM on October 5, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by whistle pig at 9:47 AM on September 1, 2013