Why You Should Learn French on a CD
If you're like most people, you studied a foreign language in school.
And also like most people, you're probably not terribly fluent despite four or more years of continuous study.
Then perhaps you got an opportunity to visit France and decided, "OK, I'll pick up a French home study guide, phrasebook or audio program at the bookstore.
" Then when you reached Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris, someone asked you "Est-ce que je peux vous aider?" (May I help you?) and you had no idea what they said.
When you tried to reply, "Je ne parle pas pas français" (I don't speak French -- that's an encouraging phrase to learn, huh?), they barely understood you either, but your accent was so bad, they figured you didn't speak French anyway and so the problem was solved by deductive reasoning.
This is the typical situation that most people face when trying to learn French.
No matter how they apply themselves or how much they study, they don't seem to get the confidence and practice they need to bring their language skills to a useful level.
In fact, I have known people who majored in French at the university level or even lived in a French-speaking country and never reach the level of fluency they should have had.
The problem is (usually) not with the individual, but frequently lies in the approach used in the methods used to teach foreign languages.
Books clearly lack the ability to convey accurate sounds you should be aiming for; some audio programs seem to want to get you in and out of the conversation as soon as possible; and classes often get too bogged down in grammar, go off track because of the whims of other students or leave your questions unanswered so as to stick to a predetermined schedule.
In recent years, however, language programs have completely new technology at their disposal and many French language program creators are taking advantage of it to make the learning process easier.
The two basic choices are: you can learn French on CD or you can learn French online.
The most important feature of these language programs is that they provide an interactive format for learning.
Much of the learning is done on a computer.
A good program will not only have you clicking buttons to associate an image with a word the instructor is saying in the target language, but will also provide you with quizzes, culture lessons, vocabulary builders and review of material you have learned in previous modules so as to integrate all the lessons in a practical, easy-to-follow manner.
When you learn French on CD or online, you can do all this at your own speed.
You automatically eliminate the sense of embarrassment some students feel in front of other class members who seem practically fluent from day one.
You also will not have to slow down for that one person who still has trouble pronouncing "merci" (thank you) after 10 lessons (this was my roommate in France after 4 months).
These programs also allow you to precisely locate sections of a lesson to review as many times as you like.
CDs and downloadable mp3s are easy to take on the road.
I suggest listening while you are performing a mundane task such as commuting to work, cooking a meal or working out.
Even though it may seem that your attention is divided, your subconscious will actually be absorbing the information effortlessly.
Just remember to repeat the lessons out loud as there is no replacement for getting your tongue to say new and interesting things.
In the classroom, students are rarely taught common or useful phrases.
For example, many courses still teach, "Bonjour, comment allez-vous?" (Hello, how are you?) as the typical French greeting.
Today, however, "Salut, ça va?" (Hi, how's it going?) is actually far more common.
If you have been studying "Comment allez-vous?" and someone approaches you asking "Comment ça va?" you will certainly lose confidence not even being able to get past a basic greeting.
Since textbooks generally focus primarily on grammar, they can make it hard to build a decent vocabulary.
The same books also tend to spend several pages creating ridiculous scenarios such as in a German class I took where we spent 5 weeks pretending to be a pond talking to a fish.
Hardly a useful tool when you arrive overseas.
But then again, I can still order fish and get to the nearest pond whenever I go to Germany again.
On the other hand, portable French language products often feature modules that focus on developing a strong vocabulary.
They present sample real life situations, typical of human interaction.
This prepares you better for your trip abroad.
One last last benefit to the learn French on CD or online program is that they usually feature both men and women interacting.
This is important for many reasons.
First of all, generally having higher pitched voices, women tend to be attuned to higher frequencies.
Men on the other hand have deeper voices and can tune into the lower frequencies.
So a woman learning French solely from a female voice will have a hard time adjusting to the lower frequency of male voices when she meets a playboy millionaire on the beach in Monaco.
Alas, another missed opportunity! Having this flexibility to hear the nuances created by both high and low frequencies is important for learning a language.
Another important aspect of learning French is that, unlike English, adjectives and nouns are categorized as either masculine or feminine.
This is precisely why so many English-speakers don't understand whether or not to pronounce consonants at the end of French words.
So, for example, a female French teacher would describe herself as "grande" (tall - pronounced: grond, with a hard "nd") while a male would describe himself as "grand" (pronounced: gro(n), which sounds sort of like a nasal "graw").
Experiencing these differences early on makes the difference between simply getting around in French and speaking great French! As you can see, learning French on CD or online has many advantages over the classroom setting and all the other take home courses.
These newer programs teach you practical French in a way that fits your lifestyle and give you the confidence you need when reaching your French-speaking destination.
And also like most people, you're probably not terribly fluent despite four or more years of continuous study.
Then perhaps you got an opportunity to visit France and decided, "OK, I'll pick up a French home study guide, phrasebook or audio program at the bookstore.
" Then when you reached Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris, someone asked you "Est-ce que je peux vous aider?" (May I help you?) and you had no idea what they said.
When you tried to reply, "Je ne parle pas pas français" (I don't speak French -- that's an encouraging phrase to learn, huh?), they barely understood you either, but your accent was so bad, they figured you didn't speak French anyway and so the problem was solved by deductive reasoning.
This is the typical situation that most people face when trying to learn French.
No matter how they apply themselves or how much they study, they don't seem to get the confidence and practice they need to bring their language skills to a useful level.
In fact, I have known people who majored in French at the university level or even lived in a French-speaking country and never reach the level of fluency they should have had.
The problem is (usually) not with the individual, but frequently lies in the approach used in the methods used to teach foreign languages.
Books clearly lack the ability to convey accurate sounds you should be aiming for; some audio programs seem to want to get you in and out of the conversation as soon as possible; and classes often get too bogged down in grammar, go off track because of the whims of other students or leave your questions unanswered so as to stick to a predetermined schedule.
In recent years, however, language programs have completely new technology at their disposal and many French language program creators are taking advantage of it to make the learning process easier.
The two basic choices are: you can learn French on CD or you can learn French online.
The most important feature of these language programs is that they provide an interactive format for learning.
Much of the learning is done on a computer.
A good program will not only have you clicking buttons to associate an image with a word the instructor is saying in the target language, but will also provide you with quizzes, culture lessons, vocabulary builders and review of material you have learned in previous modules so as to integrate all the lessons in a practical, easy-to-follow manner.
When you learn French on CD or online, you can do all this at your own speed.
You automatically eliminate the sense of embarrassment some students feel in front of other class members who seem practically fluent from day one.
You also will not have to slow down for that one person who still has trouble pronouncing "merci" (thank you) after 10 lessons (this was my roommate in France after 4 months).
These programs also allow you to precisely locate sections of a lesson to review as many times as you like.
CDs and downloadable mp3s are easy to take on the road.
I suggest listening while you are performing a mundane task such as commuting to work, cooking a meal or working out.
Even though it may seem that your attention is divided, your subconscious will actually be absorbing the information effortlessly.
Just remember to repeat the lessons out loud as there is no replacement for getting your tongue to say new and interesting things.
In the classroom, students are rarely taught common or useful phrases.
For example, many courses still teach, "Bonjour, comment allez-vous?" (Hello, how are you?) as the typical French greeting.
Today, however, "Salut, ça va?" (Hi, how's it going?) is actually far more common.
If you have been studying "Comment allez-vous?" and someone approaches you asking "Comment ça va?" you will certainly lose confidence not even being able to get past a basic greeting.
Since textbooks generally focus primarily on grammar, they can make it hard to build a decent vocabulary.
The same books also tend to spend several pages creating ridiculous scenarios such as in a German class I took where we spent 5 weeks pretending to be a pond talking to a fish.
Hardly a useful tool when you arrive overseas.
But then again, I can still order fish and get to the nearest pond whenever I go to Germany again.
On the other hand, portable French language products often feature modules that focus on developing a strong vocabulary.
They present sample real life situations, typical of human interaction.
This prepares you better for your trip abroad.
One last last benefit to the learn French on CD or online program is that they usually feature both men and women interacting.
This is important for many reasons.
First of all, generally having higher pitched voices, women tend to be attuned to higher frequencies.
Men on the other hand have deeper voices and can tune into the lower frequencies.
So a woman learning French solely from a female voice will have a hard time adjusting to the lower frequency of male voices when she meets a playboy millionaire on the beach in Monaco.
Alas, another missed opportunity! Having this flexibility to hear the nuances created by both high and low frequencies is important for learning a language.
Another important aspect of learning French is that, unlike English, adjectives and nouns are categorized as either masculine or feminine.
This is precisely why so many English-speakers don't understand whether or not to pronounce consonants at the end of French words.
So, for example, a female French teacher would describe herself as "grande" (tall - pronounced: grond, with a hard "nd") while a male would describe himself as "grand" (pronounced: gro(n), which sounds sort of like a nasal "graw").
Experiencing these differences early on makes the difference between simply getting around in French and speaking great French! As you can see, learning French on CD or online has many advantages over the classroom setting and all the other take home courses.
These newer programs teach you practical French in a way that fits your lifestyle and give you the confidence you need when reaching your French-speaking destination.
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