As of now, I speak, read and write three languages, Danish, English and German; I am able to read Latin although I have no real proficiency in writing the language (thanks to Danish educational system) - and also Greek.
This september, I am going to begin my Indo-European linguistic studies at the University of Copenhagen, in conjunction with which it is demanded that courses in Vedic Sanskrit and Gothic be taken.
I have long wanted to learn French, and so far my school has taken up the time I could have used learning this language - now I have in the vicinity of two months until I have to immerse myself in new languages, so the time is now!
Do any of you have suggestions for a complete beginner, enabling me to become proficient at least in reading in a few months’ time? In time, I would want to be able to write and of course use the language orally.
I would be, too, had I simply chosen to study Latin, which is why I decided this was the only choice I really had.
Luce: Your suggestion seems reasonable, however, I don’t have the more than thousand dollars this costs. I was rather seeking something along the lines of Ørbergs Lingua Latina, a simple (but preferably brilliant! ) book that will get me reading.
A few months ago, I bought a used grammarbook called “A Complete French Course, by Andre Parreaux” from abebooks.com and found it to be a very good grammar. If you wish to try it, there is a copy here for only $4.00.
I’ve been using “Beginning French: A Cultural Approach” by Hendrix & Meiden. It’s a reading-based (direct method) text from the 60s which was quite successful for a while but now out of print. It moves very quickly from simple sentences to a fairly high level of complexity. You would need to find some audio system to supplement it, however.
I think that what Spiphany suggests would be the best option but, if you couldn´t find it out, maybe you´ll find useful this: http://www.fsi-language-courses.com/French.aspx
I am using FSI Modern Greek course and it works fairly well. So, you could try with French by means of such a course.
The French in Action videos are really great. For practice in reading, I used to read articles in Le Monde about which I had some background already, i.e., for me, American news and politics. That way I already knew the situation and context, many of the people involved, and could guess at most of the words that I didn’t know. It helped me to read and acquire new vocabulary quickly.
Did you just use the videos of French In Action to learn French, or did you also buy some of the books? This method looks very promising, I think I’m going to use it when my time comes to learn French.
It is a shame one cannot download them, just stream them.
I didn’t realise that was a possibility - I just saw the prices of the DVDs. I’ll look into them as soon as I have the time, some time during the week.
Since my new son-in-(common-)law is French, I decided to check out your French in Action site. Sadly, all I got was this:
Due to licensing agreements, viewing of the video French in Action - Planning and Anticipating I is restricted to network connections in the United States and Canada. Your connection appears to be based outside this area.
For information on purchasing this program please see our list of international distributors.
I have been keeping my thoughts to myself for a while but if those interested in learning French -or other language- have not problem using p2p file-sharing programs, then try to find out Assimil French course.
) book that will get me reading.
