<p>Does anyone know a really, really good book or software program for a person who is just beginning French. If there is any combination of the two that comes as or package or something that would be great.</p>
<p>I'd like a suggestion here too. It would be nice to learn French.</p>
<p>maybe the english-french dictionary?</p>
<p>Yeah...I'm sure a dictionary would work...right</p>
<p>It's really recommended that you start with an instructor before self study. </p>
<p>But if all else fails, try the Rosetta Stone program.</p>
<p>bump..............</p>
<p>How long would it take to learn French? I dont necessarily want to be fluent, but would it be possible for be to able to converse in French if I used a self-instruction book and worked for the entire summer.</p>
<p>btw, I'm going to Canada in August, so thats why I want to learn French</p>
<p>Pimsleur CDs</p>
<p>IF you go to canada, they'll speak English to you becuase they don't want you to butcher french. True story. </p>
<p>Pimsleurs CDs suck.</p>
<p>Canadians have already butchered French.</p>
<p>And you will most likely not be able to self-teach yourself enough French or good enough French to be able to converse. If English is your first language (and I'm assuming that it is), French will be relatively difficult to learn, as it is a rather complex language. Plus, the French are too proud of their language to let people make mistakes; I swear they will correct you at every single chance they get (I don't know about canadians).</p>
<p>Most people in Canada speak English as their first language besides Quebec, where it's French.</p>
<p>Before I started taking French in school, my dad got my software to get me started, Learn To Speak French, from The Learning Company. It wouldn't work on my computer, but my sister (who already speaks English and Spanish) has started using it. She finds it easy-to-use and helpful, but also thinks that could be because she's already bilingual. However, it's worth a shot!</p>
<p>I also really like French For Dummies and found that useful...and can be found in any bookstore!</p>
<p>bumpppppppppppppppp</p>
<p>You can try any of the books or computer programs, but there's basically no way you could be competent enough to hold up a conversation between now and August. Most people are in French III or even IV before they can actually have a conversation, and they still have to 'think' before they say some things.</p>
<p>What you COULD do is memorize some idiomatic, conversational French phrases.</p>
<p>And it's true that the Canadians (even in Quebec) would much rather speak English to you than have you attempt their language. For whatever reason, they don't find it charming (as many Americans do) when a foreigner tries really hard to speak their native language; it just sort of irritates them.</p>
<p>I don't want to become fluent or hold a conversation, I just want to prepare for French in the fall.</p>
<p>bumppppppppppppp</p>
<p>That's kind of retarded. Just learn it along with everyone else, you don't need to "prepare" for crap.</p>
<p>bumpppppppppppppppppppppppppp</p>
<p>Hmm. I guess you could go to the library and find some tapes and books and stuff. I'm cheap and so that's what I did for Spanish. Then again, I know French, which made learning Spanish 938475 times easier since the words and grammar are pretty similar. Bonne chance!</p>
<p>By the way, I realized my post is a bit misleading - I am by no means fluent in Spanish now (nor in French, but I CAN hold conversations that are pretty fluid and I don't need to think about how to say what I want to). Anyway, back to Spanish - if anything, I know basically the present, pretirate and imperfect tenses and many nouns and such. That's all - not enough to hold conversations, but enough to read very basic texts.</p>
<p>Many public libraries have online subscriptions to Rosetta Stone--check there first. RS is really expensive and not really good for grammar but really good for conversational skills.</p>