What is the best value CD-based French course for improving conversational skills?

Have recently returned from our first trip to the Alps and had a great time, but I was felt like a moron due to my inability to speak good French. I could get by for camping and asking for stuff in restaurants but that was about the extent of it. Conversational French is very much lacking as I haven’t learnt since GCSE many years ago…

Did you try just speaking English very loudly and slowly, with an “Hello, Hello” accent?

Works for me and they seem to really appreciate the effort.

Hi there, a few years ago I did a evening college course in Conversational French, before our planned vist to France.

It was a great help and our tutor made it a lot of fun, we had food nights and role playing situations which helped your confidence.
There were no exams to get stressed over it was very casual.

A word of warning tho’ if you intend to do a course with your partner be aware that drop out rates are really high with couples. It seems when one gets fed up or bored they both stop going.

Hope this is of some help?

Regards Matt.

For CD ones, Michel Thomas is fantastic. I’m learning right now.

They work with you being the third member of a class taking the course, great for the car, or when you’re just doing stuff around the house, I listen to them when walking to work. Needs to be somewhere you can speak it out loud, even if just quietly under your breath. And its not just you repeating lots of things either, you try to say them before the others do.

Michel Thomas +1

If you can find a native willing to talk you’ll get a lot out of it too. A LOT of people come undone when it comes to speaking as they don’t have an ear tuned to the real sound of the language rather than language CDs which tend to be spoken clearly and slowly. Real French (like real English) is spoken much quicker as a rule.

Last time I was in Morzine I couldn’t for the life of me remember the French for ‘receipt’.

My mate advised it was ‘poisson’. 🙂

What Atlaz said +1, my next task is to find a native, or sit and watch lots of Spiral.

While in Morzine I found it easier to just speak English with a heavy Mancunian accent.

If you want to do some proper learning, the open university language courses are very very good, and give you a qualification that may one day be useful.

tbh The only language courses I’ve found useful are those that are face-to-face.

Last time I was in Morzine I couldn’t for the life of me remember the French for ‘receipt’.

I suffer from brain-lock sometimes too. Recently I forgot how to count in French which made it hard for me to give the lady at the French embassy (when I was getting my new French passport) my phone number. In the end I wrote it down 😳

Best one though was when I was in Mexico. Tried to point out a parrot to Mrs Atlaz. First attempt; pigeon. Second attempt; penguin. Third attempt; colourful bird. Don’t know what’s wrong with me there, there’s just a bit of shoddy wiring in that part of my brain because I still have to think carefully about that.

Another vote for Michel Thomas.

But of course, you only need to know one word:
Putain! (YouTube link)

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5hrUGFhsXo[/video]

Just watch ‘Allo ‘Allo on repeat 🙂

I did ok for the first few days then suffered from the brain lock problem. We’re off to stay with friends near the Pyrenees in October and I’d like to improve my French before then, but at least will have a translator on hand for those embarrassing moments! They’re English but both fluent.

I’d love to do an evening class but don’t have time this Autumn so CD is the way forward. I’ll look up the ones suggested.

Thanks for your help folks!

Might have the full Michel Thomas course on MP3…

The Coffee Break French podcasts are good and free on itunes

Last time I was in Morzine I couldn’t for the life of me remember the French for ‘receipt’.

My mate advised it was ‘poisson’

In Chamonix years ago and my mate wanted to ask the waiter for salt and pepper. I kindly told him the French way to ask

“Va te faire foutre”

Much hilarity ensued.

Michel Thomas seems good but the track breaks are in infuriating places- so if, frinstance, you lose track in the very first lesson and want to recap, you need to listen to him blabbing on about how many english words are just french, <again>. Annoying if you’re in the car and don’t have a rewind button, just a skip button.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxUm-2x-2dM[/video]