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Learning the lingo!

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Hi all!

So I'm planning to spend this winter in the Alps. Although my plans are not finalised it will probably be France.
My French is pretty bad at the moment and limited to ordering drinks/meals etc. I don't want to be *that* guy!!!!

So.... any suggestions on techniques or tools to help me learn the essentials? And pretty quickly at that?
(BTW I have an iPhone if anyone can suggest a good app too!)

Thanks
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I've lived and worked in France for the best part of 18 months, and I still speak at approximately the level of a below-average French toddler.

Good luck!
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Michel Thomas Learn French sets are a good start
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I suggest downloading every episode of 'Allo 'Allo to your iPhone, and working on your accent.
You will also pick up handy hints on German and Italian.

Do this and you'll be spocking lick a nitive in a coople of doos.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Jimbo Read, trouble is you start trying to speak French and they rescue you in English. I think you need more of a run up than you've given yourself.
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
Richard_Sideways wrote:
I suggest downloading every episode of 'Allo 'Allo to your iPhone, and working on your accent.
You will also pick up handy hints on German and Italian.

Do this and you'll be spocking lick a nitive in a coople of doos.


ROTFL!!! I could learn a lot from Joey Barton too!
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Bode Swiller wrote:
Jimbo Read, trouble is you start trying to speak French and they rescue you in English. I think you need more of a run up than you've given yourself.


I'm not expecting miracles! I'd like to come home at the end of the winter feeling that I've got the basics nailed and made the most of my time learning the language.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Depends where you are too. There are far less locals in some resorts than others. I ended up with the totally wrong drink in L2A last year through ordering it in french from a waitress who was actually dutch Embarassed
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Colin B wrote:
Depends where you are too. There are far less locals in some resorts than others. I ended up with the totally wrong drink in L2A last year through ordering it in french from a waitress who was actually dutch Embarassed


How could you get "trois bières s'il vous plaît" wrong Laughing
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Jimbo Read, in many French resorts you'll find yourself speaking English most of the time anyway.
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Colin B, my pal did the classic in Austria - ordered dry Martini and got three Martinis
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Coffee Break French is a good series of podcasts
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Jimbo Read wrote:
How could you get "trois bières s'il vous plaît" wrong Laughing


If you say it in a 99.9% correct accent, you will be completely ignored and deliberately given the wrong thing, as a kind of citizenship test - to see if you can be bothered to argue.

Which you won't. You'll just sit there pretending to enjoy whatever it is you've been given, whilst they laugh at you.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
dobby wrote:
Coffee Break French is a good series of podcasts


Nice...thanks!
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Mr Piehole wrote:
Jimbo Read wrote:
How could you get "trois bières s'il vous plaît" wrong Laughing


If you say it in a 99.9% correct accent, you will be completely ignored and deliberately given the wrong thing, as a kind of citizenship test - to see if you can be bothered to argue.

Which you won't. You'll just sit there pretending to enjoy whatever it is you've been given, whilst they laugh at you.


Did you come into my bar when I worked in Zurich Toofy Grin
wink
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Saying "s'il vous plait" is a dead giveaway. The French don't bother with it.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Bode Swiller wrote:
Colin B, my pal did the classic in Austria - ordered dry Martini and got three Martinis


Lol
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Jimbo Read, Well done for wanting to try but the French really don't make it easy... The Michel Thomas series is a good start though and it gives you the confidence to try and speak it! Highly recommended - it will give you a good enough base.
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Find out if you have a local Alliance Francaise group. While they do evening classes and more 'formal' methods of teaching, albeit in a relaxed manner, many of them also run social events which focus on the language and can help considerably. The Cambridge one does a 'cafe francaise' on a Tuesday evening, for example, which is just a couple of hours in a cafe with maybe half a dozen other people in the same boat, all trying to speak french for the duration. There's normally at least one native speaker there who helps things along, but I find that far more suited to me than sitting in a classroom, and is a good way to develop your ear and ability to think on your feet within your knowledge of the language than expecting scripted replies.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
I have a great app on my iphone called 'translate'. It's brilliant - you can either write or speak a sentence into it in English and it will write or speak it back to you in French (or your chosen language)! I don't know how it would be for any really technical stuff but for the basics it's great. The added bonus is if you use the speech part you actually get to hear the correct french pronunciation.
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Get yourself a GCSE (or similar level) vocabulary guide. Select 5-10 words a day and learn them DAILY. Despite all the chat about grammar, accent, phrasing, etc., having a big vocabulary will help you no end. Once you know the words, habit will let you string them togther. Take the time to learn the article too - it's "une bière is a beer" not "bière is beer" otherwise you'll come unstuck as you get better.

There's no easy way to do this - most of the naff language course books/cds/etc just teach you to repeat phrases. To be honest, you won't get too far like that. If some frenchie/german/whatnot went into a British pub and said "beer" and pointed to a tap, they'd get one. Same goes for you in France.

Good luck with it - it'll come quite quickly if you do a little and often (ten words a day) rather than trying to learn the whole language in a month. Provenance for this advice? I married a French bird.....
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
I can get the Pimsleur language courses from the local library, so use those and would recommend them if you can get access to them that way.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
loatie wrote:
I have a great app on my iphone called 'translate'. It's brilliant - you can either write or speak a sentence into it in English and it will write or speak it back to you in French (or your chosen language)! I don't know how it would be for any really technical stuff but for the basics it's great. The added bonus is if you use the speech part you actually get to hear the correct french pronunciation.


Now I really like this!!! Can you quote whole produced the app so I can track it down in the plethora of apps?
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 You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Jimbo Read, you could also start listening to French radio and watching some French TV (if you can bear it) on the internet. When I was doing French at school, my teacher made us listen to a recordings of the news and weather reports on French radio (the weather is easier obviously). We had to write down, in French, every word that was said, and look up words we didn't know to make sure we got it right.... it was excruciating as sometimes you'd have to listen to the same passage of three or four words a million times until you got it... but it really did help in training your ear to understand French and pick out words in what otherwise seems like gallic white noise. You could do the same now that you have iplayers with pre-recorded programmes that you can pause, rewind etc. on the internet.
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
I think it's called 'google translate'
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
pimsleur and michel thomas are good at basic vocabularly and phrases but its a lot better if you can add some real converstation - Alliance Francais have a good rep - or just try to understand the TV. Dont worry about perfect grammar, its really about getting over what you want to say and understanding what peole are saying to you (which is much harder !!).
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Just do what Joey Barton does - http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/video/2012/nov/26/joey-barton-english-french-accent-video
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
I think putting on an accent always helps and even if you dont get the words rights at least makes out your are making the effort. However the OH is convinced I use and Indian accent when talking French.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
I was in the same position as you, heading out this season, but I have been using http://radiolingua.com/shows/french/coffee-break-french/ I got them all on itunes (free), easy to follow and builds up your French in easy to manage steps.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
I'm cramming German vocab using www.memrise.com

It's free and there are all sorts of different courses. Not particularly useful for learning pronunciation or grammar but is strangely compelling and easy to get into to.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I took the advice of an Australian in Chamonix who used to run "La Cantina" many moons ago. He said,

"The best way to learn French is in bed with a French woman" Smile
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Funnily enough... trying to speak French with a supposed 'French Accent' is actually better than an English accent.

I remember having a guest who could speak almost fluent French, but he did it in a thick Yorkshire accent. It sounded hilarious. None of the French could understand him.

I told him to try it with an 'accent'... how he imagined the French sounded. He tried it...and it worked.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
spud wrote:
Funnily enough... trying to speak French with a supposed 'French Accent' is actually better than an English accent.

I remember having a guest who could speak almost fluent French, but he did it in a thick Yorkshire accent. It sounded hilarious. None of the French could understand him.

I told him to try it with an 'accent'... how he imagined the French sounded. He tried it...and it worked.



lol. That will be me, i'm trying to learn french now and i have wondered how it will sound with a yorkshire twang. Laughing Laughing
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Tirol, +1 for memrise, using it to polish up my german too and my oh is trying to learn rumanian so she can talk to our daughters boyfriend. I take it you read the guardian the other week too.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Coffee break french is a worthwhile podcast. It's free - or you can buy the extended materials.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
www.duolingo.com - free and brilliant
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Hi. I have Mosalingua French downloaded on my Iphone (it is pretty cheap) that gives flash cards for words and phrases. Quite useful for to use when you are commuting (although I do get smoe strange looks on the tube when I am muttering French words to myself).

I also bought Collin's French with Paul Noble. I find that very useful and not overpriced.

I know a lot of words but my pronunciation is still very poor (I have been learning for 3 months).
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Quote:

I know a lot of worst

saucisse, old chap. wink
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 You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
I'm using Michel Thomas CDs at the moment. It is excellent for - but then a million years ago when I was about 10 or 11 I was fairly good at French being at (the old) A level standard and not quite fluent but reasonable. Roll on a few decades and I've forgotten virtually all of it. However, listening to the lessons is helping it filter through!!


I agree that you don't 'need' to speak French in resort. You can manage with Google Translate, a Franglais accent and hand signals.

But after two seasons of this I feel pretty bad to still not speak half decent French. My main thing is embarrassment. I'm scared to try to speak French in case I get it wrong. But I WANT to learn. I plan to try and get the guys in the village shop and the bar I use to speak slower to me so that I stand a chance of understanding. Then hopefully I'll build up my confidence and learn Very Happy



Good luck
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Touchguru wrote:
Michel Thomas Learn French sets are a good start


Yeah I would second that!

After a slightly embarassing visit, involving me butchering the language, I decided my GCSE Spanish was not much use there!!!

If my French speaking was rated as a piste, I'd say I'm on tricky reds, after two of Michel's box sets (16 hours)
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