Learning French the Dumb Way

[drewprops]

I took about four quarters of French language classes in high school and never looked back. While I was at the Costco yesterday I saw a 10 CD set of French Language CDs for $15 and on a whim I bought it thinking that I would load one in my new car's CD player every month and occasionally flip over and play it all the way through until I learned it like I learn songs on the radio.

What a stinker of a CD set this thing is so far....the first CD is full of a guy saying words in English which are shortly repeated by a woman speaking them in French. No context, just a laundry list of words and short phrases.

I haven't listened to the other CDs in the pack yet but I'm hoping they get better and provide some sort of context. Anyone else have a favorite audio learning series? I think the only way to learn is by total immersion or by sneaking into PowerDoc's house and living in his attic.

[thuh Freak]

i think total immersion is probably the best way. bart learned french in only two months in an ep of the simpsons. and irl, i met a coloradan chick over in sweden a few years back. she had moved to sweden about a year before that, without any prior knowledge of the language. and when i met her, she was fluent (well, i don't speak swedish, so i dont know how well she spoke. but the swedes seemed to understand her).

[stevegong]

I'd say try listening to radio channels in french.

http://www.rtl.fr/rtlantenne/emission.asp?dicID=89141

I like this programme a lot because they interview interesting people. What I do is I wiretap it and then put it on my ipod and listen on the go.


I've always wanted language cds though, tell me more about your cds.

I'm trying to learn spanish, any tips there?

[Crusader]

Yea, I bought Russian tapes and played them for a month in my car, hoping that somehow I would sublimitly recognize the language when I heard it. It works a little, but not much. Apparently I learned English grammar this way too :)

[stoo]

I think the only way to learn is by total immersion or by sneaking into PowerDoc's house and living in his attic.

With a glass pressed to the floor?

[stevegong]

We should make language forums, where we chat but in a designated language.

like, appleinsiderfr for french, or appleinsiderit for italian.

and we could also do av chats in the languages.

now that would be cool.

anyone like/dislike the idea?

[drewprops]

I'll have to find the packaging to tell you more...maybe I should listen to some of the other CDs before I totally talk trash about it.... :D