Quote: Originally posted by angieb on 04/07/2005
Hi Jane
Last year all keyed up to go I thought I would take a short course on french for beginers at collage I bought loads of books went every week and guess what passed the course and when we got to france it all went right out of my head  . So I just smiled sweetly and pointed ..........
For anyone seriously interested in learning French in a little more depth, in a very easy way (no study, no writing) I cannot recommend Michel Thomas strongly enough. But, the courses are not cheap and the 'absorbing' does take time.
They are nothing like the other large courses I've bought ..... Linguaphone, Hugo etc which were the usual strict teaching method ....... Michel has a unique method of getting you to 'absorb' the language, without trying to learn anything - and it really does work. (The other courses I got fed up with very early on and stopped .... not so with Michel).
I've bought his full main course (8 CDs) the Language Builder (2 CDs) and Advanced (4 Cds) for both French and Spanish and I'm also getting the Italian. My French has improved dramatically (but I do play the CDs most of the time when I'm driving around on my own) and it's given me a lot of confidence to start a conversation. It's not so easy to understand the replies, but eventually we get there, usually without having to resort to English! :-)
Michel taught many very famous people during his life (he died earlier this year) ..... and their comments can be seen on his website http://www.michelthomas.com/
The CDs/tapes are available at great prices on Amazon or second hand on ebay - but they are still not cheap.
Obviously, you're not going to learn everything ...... that takes time and wider reading/conversations. But they will give a greater understanding and make trying to speak in French much easier.
Has anyone else used Michel Thomas' tapes/CDs? Your views?
BTW, anyone looking for a laugh (and a 'sexist' view of France!) "A Year in the Merde" by Stephen Clarke is worth a read. My daughter bought it for me for Father's Day, to take away in August on holiday ...... but I started it and couldn't put it down! You won't learn any French but you might gain some insight into how the French think!
I've also found the books by George East to be a good read about the French and their ways. Not particularly the first one in the series as that's mainly about buying a house in France, but his other stories (e.g. Rene & Me about living in France) are funny and entertaining.
The above are all available on Amazon if anyone's interested.
HTH.
Oozat
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Topic: French phrases to print off
Although Je Voudara did come in handy ( I would like) husband said it was because it meant I could spend money so true
