Feeling a bit behind on french, how to get myself up to speed?

<p>Basically, I'm required to take AP French since I must take a foreign language class each year at my school and I already took French 5 last year.</p>

<p>I have a somewhat weak French background because my first two French classes were during middle school, and they weren't so great. My problems include vocabulary, reading comprehension, listening (I've ALWAYS had trouble comprehending what someone says in French if they speak at their normal speed, which sounds very fast to me), and grammar issues, particularly very picky stuff. </p>

<p>I can form sentences and comprehend things if I know what every single word means, but I find that if I don't know what a few words mean in a sentence, it makes me not be able to understand what's going on at all. In French movies, I find myself having to read English subtitles to understand what is going on. What can I do to rectify these problems (what books to read/buy, which sites, techniques, etc)? I wish to get a good score on the exam, hopefully a 3 or higher (a 5 is nice but I recognize that it is extremely difficult to get a 5 on this exam) as well as be able to understand the language better for its own sake.</p>

<p>I would go with Assimil French with Ease. It’s one of my favorite books. Also, if you’re willing to spend a bit more, you could always get Ultimate French Beginner-Intermediate.</p>

<p>Last summer I taught myself two years of French so I could place into French III H, and then I took the AP at the end of this year and got a 5. I"m not saying this to try and show off, I’m trying to show how effective those methods were. However, I still think the most important thing is to speak with natives or at least other learners (try sharedtalk.com or interpals.net), watch movies/tv in French, and read a lot. </p>

<p>If you want any more specific suggestions let me know. I can give you links to things or help you with anything else.</p>

<p>I tried watching french movies with English subtitles, but they talk so fast that I end up just reading the English subtitles. I will look into these two books, though, thanks a whole bunch. </p>

<p>I am noticing in reading comprehension that I can know a majority of the words composing a sentence but not know the meaning of an entire sentence. Also, my reading of French articles, etc is VERY VERY slow (I have to read and comment on 2 articles for French summer homework, and it’s very frustrating), as I have to look up words I don’t know and such. I just feel really confused reading french articles and such. I feel like I have to translate in my head rather than truly thinking in French. </p>

<p>Here is one of the articles I’m attempting to read:
[Grande-Bretagne</a> : police, Twitter, prison - LeMonde.fr](<a href=“Technologies - Actualités, vidéos et infos en direct”>http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2011/08/13/grande-bretagne-police-twitter-prison_1559477_651865.html)</p>

<p>I have one specific thing that’s really bothering me:
“La police de Manchester n’en est pas a son coup d’essai en matiere de reseaux sociaux…” (4th paragraph) What is the “en” referring to? And what does “coup” mean in this sentence? Google translate seems to translate thi as basically meaning this isn’t the first time the police is using social networking, but I’m not sure how coup d’essai means first attempt (I know essayer means try, not sure about coup).</p>

<p>Out of curiosity, how does the difficulty of the AP french passages compare to that article?</p>

<p>To be honest, I can’t really remember how hard the passages were XP. Probably about the same difficulty…if not a little harder.</p>

<p>Coup usually refers to a single instant, for example “je vous donnerai un coup de poing”, which means I will hit you. I’ve never translated the word “coup”, but I think it’s one of those words that you just need to “feel”. It’s hard to translate some words exactly, but this is sort of saying: The Manchester Police force isn’t experimenting concerning social networks, as they’ve already done a lot. The “en” seems to refer to social networks, les reseaux sociaux. </p>

<p>Let me recommend to you a method called L-R, which may help with your comprehension: [Listening-Reading</a> system (Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies) Language Learning Forum](<a href=“http://www.how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6366&PN=3&TPN=1]Listening-Reading”>http://www.how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6366&PN=3&TPN=1)</p>

<p>De toute fa</p>