Archive for November, 2008

Learning French Like a Kid

Monday, November 17th, 2008

Isn’t it strange how we pick up our mother tongue without any hassle at a ridiculously early age, yet we seem to struggle hopelessly just a few years later to master even the basics of a foreign language?

Ever wondered why that is?

The easy answer is to accept defeat and simply go along with the idea that it’s normal to be embarrassingly bad at trying to communicate in French or any other foreign language. However, this would be doing our capacity as French learners a great disservice.

If you really are determined to learn French (and determination is required!) consider going back to basics and looking at how kids acquire languages. Fair enough – maybe an adult’s mind doesn’t have the same sponge like qualities as a child’s – but we can certainly learn a thing or two from little ones

Watch TV

Just observe a two year old interacting with the ‘Teletubbies’ and you’ll have a good model of language in action! They’re babbling away in what to the untrained ear is complete gobbledygook, but which will soon be transformed into perfect English.

Likewise, adults can help themselves to a bit of the old vin rouge (don’t try this with your 2 year old!) and put on a French learning video and babble away in the privacy of their own home! Online courses like Rocket French offer a truly interactive viewing experience, and you can learn French whilst playing games! Don’t worry if most of the language passes you by at first – just let it wash over you and join in when you can. Once you get the hang of it, try closing your eyes so that you can’t guess what’s being said just by looking.

Vocab Vortex

Kids just adore having cute little stickers and labels everywhere, so try turning your home into a wonderful web of French words! Find yourself a good French / English dictionary, label everyday objects with post it notes, and on your next trip to the frigo for une bierre, smile to yourself smugly as you say the French words out loud!

Hide the post-it notes as you learn things and treat yourself once you’ve reached a certain target. One note of caution: don’t label clothing which you’re planning to wear unless you want to look rather silly!

Get a Little Silly

There’s no Naughty Corner chez vous, so delight in your dippy errors and laugh at your languished initial efforts to speak French. Talk to inanimate objects if this helps, as they won’t make you feel foolish in the slightest, then progress to real people as your linguistic skills flourish.

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Learning French With Michel Thomas

Thursday, November 13th, 2008

Star Studded Testimonials

One name that seems impossible to ignore if you’re looking to learn French is the ubiquitous Michel Thomas. Just one look at the testimonials on his website will have you thinking you’ve landed on the red carpet in Hollywood – from film stars to high flying politicians, they’ve all learned a language with Michel!

However, we don’t all have a gold card which would cover the cost of private tuition for a couple of weeks with this foreign language phenomenon, so just how good are his CD audio courses?

Teacher Power

Michel Thomas’ system relies upon his ability to teach, rather than your ability as a student, and contrary to most methods where the ball is very much in your court when it comes to interacting, the Michel Thomas way requires you simply to relax and take things in!

There seems to be a mysterious aura surrounding this method of learning French. For example, most French learners have at some stage or another tried out language CD’s which require the listener to respond out loud to the recorded conversation, and then followed up with the corresponding written activity in the accompanying book, yet Michel Thomas actually instructs his students not to try to learn or remember anything and not to write things down.

On the CD’s, you hear Michel talking to two of his students in a rhythmical, almost hypnotic voice. It’s amazing how much more relaxing and less annoying this is than the CD’s where you hear snippets of improbable role-plays, and I have to confess that I was quite taken in by the whole process. The CD’s were really enjoyable, so much so that they earned a dedicated 30 minute slot every day for a few weeks.

What’s It Worth?

Michel Thomas is definitely not one for the kinesthetic learners amongst us, but for those for whom the “listen and imbibe” philosophy works, it can be useful. If it all sounds a little too good to be true, you might be better off checking out Fluenz French or Tell Me More. Whether you’re of the opinion that this is some sort of hypnosis mumbo jumbo remains to be seen, and I reckon that if it was good enough for the likes of Grace Kelly and other cinema greats, it’s alright by me

**Update: Based on reader feedback I don’t think I was clear with this review. Michel Thomas is great if you want to brush up on the French you know. But I’m not sure it will teach you much new French. For that, you’ll have to shell out the big bucks and get Michel to teach you in person! That said, I did enjoy the hypnotic approach – it was very relaxing!**

Posted in French Lesson | 4 Comments »