Six things on your side when learning French
Bescherelle
French verbs look horrendous to us, but there’s a simple book that all French schoolchildren use (because they too sometimes find it difficult). Its called “Bescherelle La Conjugaison pour tous”. Its got all the French verbs, and is an essential tool/crutch. The blessing is that when you know all of Bescherelle you’ll have learnt more than most French.
pronunciation
Most people worry about pronunciation. Actually much of the time you will just sound a little odd. What does that matter – most French people sound a little odd, but it doesn’t prevent you undertsanding them. When we started learning French, we worried about pronunciation but our teacher said: “Don’t worry, your pronunication’s fine – it’s just that you’re talking rubbish”.
no phrasal verbs
Oh brilliant I hear you say, but what’s all this about ? Going back to English first, there are verbs like “put” which means many things when combined with other words. For example: put up, put down, put by, put up with, put up without, put through, put on, put off, put in, put out, etc……
French generally doesn’t have these forms, and verbs are much more dedicated to one meaning. More verbs to learn, but more reliably understood, and not as many alternative
meanings. You’ll find life simplere
French education system
Children are taught to correct each other’s mistakes in school. This leads to the bizarre habit in later life that they will correct what you say if you get it wrong. This is a fantastic learning aid and not a criticism of you. When people don’t correct you it is</> disturbing:-
Did I say that right ? or Was I so far wrong that it wasn’t worth correcting me ?
gender
The biggest single difficulty in learning French is really quite trivial; anglo-saxons like us don’t really get “gender” – whether masculine of feminine. Simple rules don’t work. For example, words ending in “e” are often feminine and my favourite instance against this rule is this pair-:
le probleme
la solution
Anyway the whole thing is alien to us, but fortunately it doesn’t prevent you from communicating properly.
books
Most language courses will concentrate on you learning to speak and to listen to French, but reading is an essential part of any modern language. There is an enormous amount of things you wouldn’t know without reading. So it is with French. We have found the “Oxford-Duden Pictorial French and English Dictionary” very useful – a super 700 page reference book. It is very good for getting the right words for things, and a joy to look.
through. As novels and so on the obvious rule is to pick the smallest, or pick “Bandes Dessinees” (cartoon strips) which are usually comic, or pick Maigret’s by Simenon.
The thing about learning French in France is that books are more integral to the culture and available widely in tabacs, and supermarkets.
Bon courage !
Follow this up by looking at learning French where there are suggestions and references for learning French. If you can provide other things on your side in learning French then please email us from www.ruelmain.co.uk The authors live near La Roche Bernard, Brittany, France
