User Panel
User Panel
User Panel
|
Posted: 4/15/2006 9:53:50 PM EDT
I'd like to learn (as my company is French, and it would do me good), and I'm considering the Rosetta Stone program.
How difficult is French to learn? My being fluent in Spanish supposedly helps, but I'm wondering... 
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/15/2006 9:54:48 PM EDT
[#1]
I surrender!
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/15/2006 9:55:54 PM EDT
[#2]
I was surpised at how much French I could understand the other day, when I was in a conversation that was taking place in French - although it has been something like 25 years since I took any French classes. I don;t know anything about the Rosetta program (other than the completely off-topic observation that I've seen the Rosetta stone in the British Museum  ), but I'd imagine that if you already speak Spanish, French would probably come quite easily to you. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/15/2006 9:56:10 PM EDT
[#3]
 
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/15/2006 10:01:29 PM EDT
[#4]
Je capitule!
Je capitule! Merde! 
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/15/2006 10:14:00 PM EDT
[#5]
Oui, je parle francais courement. Si vous voulez, vous pouvez me rendre un PM avec questions.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/15/2006 10:23:43 PM EDT
[#6]
let's see, I slept thru a year of french class after 5 years of spanish.
If you're fluent in spanish it will help. The common latin roots will give you a good starting point and help you around the basics concepts. They are sister languages so it will be much easier for you than learning something like russian. It's been a long time since I took the class, but in some ways it was easier becvause it didn't have as many formal and informal forms of me, you (polite) you (informal) them, all of you (ustedes) etc etc etc. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/15/2006 10:33:31 PM EDT
[#7]
Remember to pronounce your words nasally, to get the correct accent....otherwise you will sound like an American saying french words.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/15/2006 10:36:11 PM EDT
[#8]
Well my friend Sweet Jay took me to that video arcade in town, right, and they don't speak English there, so Jay got into a fight and he's all, "Hey quit hasslin' me cuz' I don't speak French" or whatever! And then the guy said something in Paris talk, and I'm like, "Just back off!" And they're all, "Get out!" And we're like, "Make me!" It was cool.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/15/2006 10:39:38 PM EDT
[#9]
If I did know how to speak French (I don't), I wouldn't tell anyone.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/15/2006 10:40:02 PM EDT
[#10]
Well, I can work on that later. As long as I am understood, and am able to understand, then I'll be happy. I just don't want their English to be better than my French. Their English is pretty bad sometimes... |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/15/2006 10:43:54 PM EDT
[#11]
If you all ready speak Spanish, French should be no problem...
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/15/2006 10:44:58 PM EDT
[#12]
-1
Espanol for me
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/15/2006 10:45:25 PM EDT
[#13]
Fromage mangeant des singes de reddition.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/15/2006 10:45:55 PM EDT
[#14]
French is pretty easy. Alot of french words are similar to English ones, so you will be able to pick it up fairly fast. Grammar is also pretty easy, as many aspects of the language fall into similar rules and such. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/15/2006 10:45:57 PM EDT
[#15]
I took French for five years (8th-12th grades). Generally, it's not too hard to learn... definitely easier than English, or so I've been told. It has a lot of commonality with Spanish, and a fair amount of commonality with English as well.
A few of the subtleties... It can be difficult for non-native people to nail the pronounciation down. You almost never pronounce the last letter of anything, the vowels are all slightly different, etc. Also, the structure of sentences is slightly different... i.e., if you translated stuff word-for-word from a native French speaker, the order of words would sometimes be kind of weird. But I guess all of this goes for learning any language. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/15/2006 10:46:16 PM EDT
[#16]
Que? 
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/15/2006 10:47:31 PM EDT
[#17]
Before plunking down cash (if you're spending your own) go get it from the library to give the first disk/book/chapter a spin. If your library doesn't have it, you can ILL (inter-library loan) it. If you had Latin, you'll find the romance languages easier to pick up. I find myself able to extract some meaning from French and Italian (among others) based on what I remember of Latin. Jim |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/15/2006 10:50:42 PM EDT
[#18]
Fortunately, my employer will apparently cover the cost.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/15/2006 11:00:36 PM EDT
[#19]
bad babelfish translation of "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" |
||
|
|
|
Posted: 4/16/2006 7:16:56 AM EDT
[#20]
|
|||
|
|
|
Posted: 4/16/2006 8:20:11 AM EDT
[#21]
In preparation for my second trip to France, I have been trying to learn a little French. After 3 years of class study and several years of informal German, French seems to be a little easier to learn. If you are fluent in Spanish, you should pick it up fairly easily.
I know the French get a bad rap, but if you stay out of the big cities (i.e. Paris), the French are really nice people and I was never treated bad when I was there for 2 weeks in 2004. People actually wanted to talk to me and would drag me into bars, buy me drinks and want to get to know me. Bad part was, not many of them spoke English and my French was real bad, so the conversations were tiring! They are a little more liberal than your average AFCOMer, but that aside, they seem alot like anybody else. It's funny to watch Europeans interact with one another. The English treat the French Funny, The French treat the Germans "funny" and the Germans think the rest of Europe is to unorganized! But that's just me looking in as an outsider. Au revoir Auf Wiedersehen & Goodbye!
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/16/2006 8:39:07 AM EDT
[#22]
quit working for the enemy and find another job. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/16/2006 8:47:28 AM EDT
[#23]
C'est facile. Parlez-vous Espagne? Le Francais sera facile pour vous.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/16/2006 8:49:21 AM EDT
[#24]
Zaphod's got a real choice job, and landed it pretty recently. Apparently he likes it so much he's brown-nosing the frogs. |
||
|
|
|
Posted: 4/16/2006 8:52:40 AM EDT
[#25]
I tried to learn French, but for some reason I had an irresistible urge to give it up.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/16/2006 9:06:54 AM EDT
[#26]
I had two years of French in high school.
Don't remember any of it.  ______________________________________  |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/16/2006 9:07:54 AM EDT
[#27]
Non, je ne parle pas...
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/16/2006 9:23:47 AM EDT
[#28]
Since you speak English and Spanish you have a good base to help you with French. The common latin base for all three will help a lot -- although English lost the concept of sex for inanimate objects, which is one of the harder parts for anyone learning from a purely English start. Spanish will have you familiar with that.
The real way to do it is to live in a French speaking country (same applies to any language). Not only does this force you to use the language, but you hear and pick up the accent -- and believe me, accent is a BIG part of being understood in French. Getting to the point of being able to communicate is not hard. Getting to the point of being really fluent will take more time. I learned French in France. My boss at the time was English -- I asked him for some advice on becoming more fluent. He thought about it, and said theire are basically two ways: One is to buy a TV and watch a lot. The other is to get a French girl-friend. I thought about it for a while ... and decided the TV was cheaper ... and safer ... if my wife ever found out 
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/16/2006 9:31:45 AM EDT
[#29]
Nope,and proud of it
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/16/2006 9:36:22 AM EDT
[#30]
 try this with them "I go wee wee in ze bath tub" ask one of your froggie bossess if the true intent of the eiffel tower is to have a high point to fly the white flag. oh, and another experiment, yell out "The Germans are coming!" and see how many duck and cover. God I hate the french |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/16/2006 9:38:43 AM EDT
[#31]
Jena sa qua? Ain't spelled right and don't know what it means but I throw it into conversations when I'm confused.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/16/2006 9:38:45 AM EDT
[#32]
So do I, but now I get paid by them, so I may as well play along.  Besides, if I can woo some hot French piece of (FEMALE!) ass when I visit Paris, well...... 
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/16/2006 9:43:40 AM EDT
[#33]
Not too difficult. Also, get a teaching CD for your car, it helps alot. hardest part for me was memorizing the verbs and masculine and feminine forms of the same word. You'll pick up a working knowledge of it pretty quickly if you already know a second language. |
|
|
|
Win a FREE Membership!
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.
