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Anyone got a recommendation for an app to learn French. I’ve got some basics can order a beer and food and be polite but not much more.
Ive tried several approaches (French and Spanish) and they are all useful to some extent and can be squeezed in alongside each other but other than living or spending long periods in the country with native speakers I have found the most effective is Michel Thomas.
Duolingo is great from a gamification aspect and keeping you hooked. Saysomethingin forces you into speaking. Having just switched from Welsh to Italian duolingo is better for more "popular" languages as they will get more regular updates. It's free so nothing to lose to try it out.
I've got a duolingo streak going. I was already 'OK-ish*' when I started it, and it can be good to at least keep at it. You probably do need to invest in the paid-for AI version though, which does allow you to converse a bit. It gets slated a lott, and there is an obvious game-i-fication aspect that you'll either like or dislike, but it'll work to a point
* when I order food, I don't get a small plaster-cast Eiffel tower covered in custard, so...
I can't recommend language transfer enough. Free, you can download the lessons, use it online or as an app, it's serving me great for greek. You just listen along to him teaching students and pause if you want to think and answer yourself. I just listen to it tho rather than keep pausing. I'm on about my 5th time round with the greek course, always picking up something I may have missed last time around.
https://www.languagetransfer.org/french
I've got a duolingo streak going. I was already 'OK-ish*' when I started it, and it can be good to at least keep at it. You probably do need to invest in the paid-for AI version though, which does allow you to converse a bit. It gets slated a lott, and there is an obvious game-i-fication aspect that you'll either like or dislike, but it'll work to a point
* when I order food, I don't get a small plaster-cast Eiffel tower covered in custard, so...
I think it gets undue hate, the AI conversation part is good.
The reality is that it’s one part of the jigsaw puzzle,it gives you some vocabulary and some grammer but you also need to supplement this with watching films/tv,listening to music,reading magazine comics and most of all actual conversation and doing a lot of it.
Learning a language isn’t a one app thing ,I’ve had real life conversations about pellet burners and quad bikes which are definitely not in the app but it does give you the tools to do this.
Another vote for Language Transfer for French.
I really gelled with the practical approach and quickly applied building blocks to cover Latin words etc.
My wife rates Duolingo but we will never agree so try a few
Thanks for the suggestions I’ll give language transfer a go. Not sure this is a good time I had a knee replacement on Friday so don’t know what the concentration will be like but not going anywhere for a while 😥
Language transfer is good but sadly the French course is only the introduction. I'm hoping he will do a full course soon.
Duolingo is okay but progress will be limited in the free version unless you want to be driven nuts by the adverts.
YouTube has lots of channels so worth a look.
I also found Lawless French very good
https://www.lawlessfrench.com/
My wife rates Duolingo but we will never agree so try a few
I've only used the super tier not the mega AI tier but I found it's good to get started with. But as soon as the grammar gets complicated, it's quite frustrating since you are basically learning it by trial and error.
The 'gamified' aspect of it is quite good at keeping you learning, I had a 500 day streak at one point.
I’ve a 890 day streak on Duolingo. I have to confess I only do it as a small mental puzzle - it feels very limited for actually learning. This morning was one of the “games” they have from time to time I think I’m “not the demographic” because it’s harder to work out what you’re supposed to than to actually answer the language question.
I do (claim to) speak passable French and one of the best exercises in learning was to listen to something on telly, or whatever, and write down EXACTLY what they said. Really sharpens up your listening skills!
I had a 1,500 day streak with Duolingo learning French and, frankly and rather upsettingly, really didn't feel like I improved much. I have since stopped, but would be keen to pick up with another app as I would still like to improve my (very limited) French.
A mate used to recommend "shagging French birds" as a good way to learn. As he's now married to one, has a couple of kids and lives in a small mountain town in the Pyrenees, I'd say it was pretty effective...
A mate used to recommend "shagging French birds" as a good way to learn.
There's that. Also - a bit less exciting - talking to old people who speak slowly and loudly and aren't in a hurry. I joined a photo club where most of the members were quite elderly and it was helpful that the vocabulary used was generally restricted - you could bet that they would be talking about apertures and f-stops and such like and not suddenly change the subject to football or TV programmes that you hadn't seen.
reading with interest as I'd like to improve my shite French without making any actual effort (watching the frankly weird Mixte with French subtitles not really being enough...) However...
"shagging French birds" as a good way to learn.
is probably a step too far. Not sure how I'd get them to form an orderly queue for one thing. And...
old people... would be talking about apertures and f-stops and such like
Are you certain they're talking about photography?
