I want to start french this fall in college, but I don't want to waste a year on Intro to French ( I and II). Will a month of dedicated self-study before fall help me reach the INTERMEDIATE level? What do you think?
Want to take French - PLEASE HELP
Not a good idea,Fast is slow,
Why so hurry?
Leaning a language should be a joy not a tast
Why so hurry?
Leaning a language should be a joy not a tast
Mark : est-ce que tu peux rédiger (sans aucune aide) un texte court en français ?
I wouldn't recommend it... You'd really have to study hard... Maybe six months or so would actually prepare you for the tests you would take and bring you up to the vocabulary level for third-semester French...
Of course, you'd be ridiculously more prepared for conversation than most of those who have come out of your school with a French major... lol
Of course, you'd be ridiculously more prepared for conversation than most of those who have come out of your school with a French major... lol
I just recommended this on another thread, but if you're really dedicated, try French in Action--without waiting for the once-a-week broadcast on your local PBS--at:
http://learner.org/resources/series83.html
(Some libraries have the videos, too.)
If you do two half-hour shows a day, you can finish the course in a month. And if you can buy the book with the transcripts (http://www.amazon.com/French-Action-Beginning-Language-Textbook/dp/0300058217/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-5160430-4076116?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186028596&sr=8-1), you can go over the story part of the course in depth.
If you can't get French in Action, try Assimil, or Ultimate French, or something else that is all in French and all (or mostly all) dialogues. I know a number of people who got themselves up to a decent level in Mandarin in a relatively short period of time by listening to each dialogue of a course over and over (20 to 50 times, depending on the person). By the time they were through, their understanding was excellent, and since they had inadvertently memorized so much, there speaking was pretty good, too. I can't imagine that French is more difficult for most people than Mandarin.
One month is a short time, and you may not pass a standard grammar test, but why not go for it if you have the time. 100 hours of study (for example) is 100 hours, whether you do it in a month or 6 months--and the intensity might make it more efficient.
http://learner.org/resources/series83.html
(Some libraries have the videos, too.)
If you do two half-hour shows a day, you can finish the course in a month. And if you can buy the book with the transcripts (http://www.amazon.com/French-Action-Beginning-Language-Textbook/dp/0300058217/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-5160430-4076116?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186028596&sr=8-1), you can go over the story part of the course in depth.
If you can't get French in Action, try Assimil, or Ultimate French, or something else that is all in French and all (or mostly all) dialogues. I know a number of people who got themselves up to a decent level in Mandarin in a relatively short period of time by listening to each dialogue of a course over and over (20 to 50 times, depending on the person). By the time they were through, their understanding was excellent, and since they had inadvertently memorized so much, there speaking was pretty good, too. I can't imagine that French is more difficult for most people than Mandarin.
One month is a short time, and you may not pass a standard grammar test, but why not go for it if you have the time. 100 hours of study (for example) is 100 hours, whether you do it in a month or 6 months--and the intensity might make it more efficient.
It depends. If you have not seriously (and I mean seriously) studied another language before, then it probably will not work. If you have, then it might be possible.
The big difficulty that language learners have at first is overcoming the obstacles that your own native language presents. Different word orders may seem alien, as can concepts like preterite versus imperfect, and so on. One thing you might want to do is flip through a French grammar book -- it doesn't have to be a big and complex one -- and see how well you understand what it says. I'm not fluent in Spanish, but I can understand almost everything that a Spanish grammar book tells me... the hard part is actually memorizing it, as well as correctly applying the rules to situations that aren't presented (or haven't been fully studied) in the book.
- Kef
The big difficulty that language learners have at first is overcoming the obstacles that your own native language presents. Different word orders may seem alien, as can concepts like preterite versus imperfect, and so on. One thing you might want to do is flip through a French grammar book -- it doesn't have to be a big and complex one -- and see how well you understand what it says. I'm not fluent in Spanish, but I can understand almost everything that a Spanish grammar book tells me... the hard part is actually memorizing it, as well as correctly applying the rules to situations that aren't presented (or haven't been fully studied) in the book.
- Kef