Learn French Free of Charge

Learn French for Free ?

2007-12-27T16:17:00.000-08:00

Is that even possible ? Well apparently yes.

Hello folks ! My name is Alex and I’m a French-speaking Canadian. I’m not a French teacher nor any kind of teacher. I have no degree in education. I’m actually a microbiologist. However I have the will to teach you my native language as best as I can. Why I’m doing it for free ? Well since I’m not a professional I would have to be crook to charge you for learning from me. And because I think people should be given the right to try things for free before pulling out their credit cards. So if you are interested into learning the French language, please make use of my free course before you spend any money on any program.

Enjoy learning French !

Notice : Since this course is presented in the shape of a blog, you need to scroll down to the end of the page to get to the first lesson.

Podcasts help you learn French language

2007-09-06T11:42:00.000-07:00

A podcast is a digital media file, or a series of such files, that is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers. (Wikipedia)

Podcasts are very popular nowadays. They can be used as a very effective learning material. I just found a website where you could get French courses in the shape of podcasts. For free you get a daily podcast that features French lessons plus you will receive a weekly video podcast which is useful to learn vocabulary.

Try their free podcast or register to their free 7 day trial to see if this product is for you.

Visit DAILYFRENCHPOD

Asking for directions in French - Lesson 2

2007-09-05T19:42:00.000-07:00

Now that you know how to introduce yourself to somebody in French, it is time to learn how to ask for directions.

Let’s say your looking for a specific place but you have difficulty locating it. You ask a person passing by for directions.

Can you tell me how I can get to this place ? : Pouvez-vous me dire comment je peux me rendre à cet endroit ?

Tips : “cet” can be pronounced as set

Cardinal points :

North : Nord

South : Sud

East : Est

West : Ouest

Left or right ?

Go right : Aller à droite

Go left : Aller à gauche

To the left : À gauche

To the Right : À droite

Turn Left : Tourner à gauche

Turn right : Tourner à droite

Up or down ?

Go up : Aller en haut

Go down : Aller en bas

Are you lost ?

I’m lost : Je suis perdus

Can you tell me in which part of the city I am ? : Pouvez-vous me dire dans quelle partie de la ville je me situe ?

Cool software to help you learn French : Before You Know It

2007-09-04T18:19:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody !

First of all I would like to say sorry for not posting yesterday but hey it was labour day !! Nobody works on labour day ! Actually I had planned to make a post but then I realized I had too much things to do...yeah well university has started again so I'm pretty busy. But don't worry, I'll make sure you can read a new post each day of the week.

OK. Having said that I can tell you about today's post. I was browsing the net this weekend and found a really nice software that can be downloaded from the Internet. What this software does ? It makes you practice your French in a fun way.

It uses the old learning method of cards (old but still up to date) . On one side of a card you have a English word and on the other side you have the translation in French. The words are even read out loud so you can pratice their pronunciation. The cards can be use in four different manners.

- See the word in English and then flip the card to see the translation

- See the word in French and then flip the card to see the translation
- See the word in English, try to write in in French and see if you're right
- See the word in French, try to write in in English and see if you're right

Here are screenshots from the software:

You can earn points if you guess right. By tracking your score you can track your progress.

This software works on PCs and MACs, so no worries.

You can test yourself on different subject like animals, greeting/meeting, at the hotel, food...etc

All those subjects are regrouped in lists.

You can download the Lite version of BYKI (Before You Know It) for free at BYKI website.

Once you have downloaded the software and used all the lists that came with it, click here to download additional free lists in order to extend your practice.

How to introduce yourself (part 3) – Lesson 1

2007-08-31T14:51:00.000-07:00

This third part of the first lesson is meant to give you some phrases that you could use when engaging a conversation.

How are you ? : Comment-allez vous ?

Where are you from ? : D’où venez-vous ?

You can also say : D’où êtes vous ?

Do you speak English : Parlez-vous Anglais ? !

Sorry if there is not much in todays lesson but I had tons of things to do so I had to shorten the post. There will be no post until monday. Have a good weekend, study but not too much. It's much more important to free your mind by going out during the weekend than to try to study as much as you can. See you monday

Improve your learning of French by practicing it

2007-08-30T14:31:00.000-07:00

Don’t you wish you had a friend who was fluent in French and thus could help you with your learning ?

Practicing French as any other language is crucial in your education. If you practice often you could accelerate your training. Practice forces your brain to remember what you have learned. It makes your memory work. And the more you make it work the easier it is to remember stuff.

Internet regroups millions of people from all over the world who speak various languages.

FriendsAbroad is a website that gives you the ability to meet people from different countries in order to learn foreign language in an online language exchange environment.
So for example, if you speak English and want to learn French, you can find French speakers who want to improve their English - you help them and in return they help you.

Their service is absolutely free. FriendsAbroad is a learning network composed of millions of users in over 200 countries speaking over 80 languages.

Visit FriendsAbroad and improve your French today.

How to introduce yourlself (part 2) – Lesson 1

2007-08-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

Now that you know how to say hello in French, it is time to learn how to engage a conversation.

First step : Say hello to the person you want to speak with
Second step : Present yourself

My name is Dave : Mon nom est Dave

You can also say : Je m’appel Dave

Once you have said your name you can ask the person for his/her name.

What is your name ? : Quel est votre nom ?

Less formal would be : Quel est ton nom ?

You should also use this form if you are speaking to a young person (18 years old and less)

When the person has told you his/her name you can say…

Nice to meet you :
If you are a man you say : Heureux de vous rencontrer

If you are a woman you say : Heureuse de vous rencontrer

You can also say :
If you are a man you say : Heureux de faire votre connaissance

If you are a woman you say : Heureuse de faire votre connaissance

Or more simply (for both man and woman) : Enchanté

Fact : Heureux and heureuse are adjectives. In French, adjectives are different depending on your gender. You will learn more about this in further lessons.

Practice : Here is a little scenario that is going to help you review the content you have learned in lesson 1.

Dave is walking in the street and meets a good looking woman(smiley). It’s 3 pm.

Dave : Bonjour

Woman : Bonjour

Dave : Je m’appel Dave. Quel est votre nom ?

Woman : Je m’appel Jessica

Dave : Heureux de faire votre connaissance

Jessica : Enchanté

Tips to help you in your language learning

2007-08-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

Learning a foreign language is not an easy task. I found an interesting website where you can get free tips on language learning. Here are a few tips from the website that I found quite helpful:

° Study on a regular basis

Instead of spending 3 hours once a week studying, you should try to disperse your study sessions during the week. The best would be to allocate a certain amount of time (half an hour for example) each day.

° Review your lessons many times

If you want to make sure you remember what you have learned you should review your lessons regularly. When you complete a lesson, try to come back on it the day after and several days later. I’m not saying you should review the lesson completely. Don’t spend half a hour on it again. I think 5-10 minutes should be enough.

° Don’t discourage yourself if you think you are not progressing

Some days you’ll progress faster whereas some other days you won’t progress at all. That’s exactly why you should revise your lessons. Some words or some concept are more difficult to understand/learn. Remember when your where at school. Did you always understand what the teacher was saying ?

° Have fun learning

This is a tip that I find very helpful and I’ve been using it for a long time my study times. Let me give you an example. I study microbiology. When it comes to learning the immune system I try to picture the different element of this system as people who are interacting together. Maybe you could try to picture yourself speaking with a French. Make yourself a mental movie.

To get more tips on language learning visit Omniglot

How to introduce yourlself (part 1) – Lesson 1

2007-08-27T16:43:00.000-07:00

The first thing you may want to do when trying to speak to someone is introducing yourself. Makes sense…no ?

First step : Say hello to the person you want to speak with

There are 6 ways to say hello :

Depending on the time of the day you may want to say :

Good morning : Bon matin

Good afternoon : Bonne après midi

Good day : Bonjour

Whether it’s morning or afternoon you can use Bonjour.

Good evening : Bonsoir

Good night : Bonne nuit

Hi : Salut

Salut is usually used with friends of yours, not with people you don’t know.

To engage a conversation you should either use Bonjour (Good day), Bon matin (Good morning), Bonsoir (Good evening). So when you want to say hello to somebody you should use Bonjour (Good Day) when the sun is up and Bonsoir (Good evening) when the sun is down.

Bon après midi (Good afternoon) or Bonne nuit (Good night) are usually used to wish somebody a good afternoon or a good night.

Let’s say a friend of yours is going to sleep. The appropriate words to tell him before he goes to bed would be : Bonne nuit (Good night)

When the same guy (or girl) wakes up in the morning you could say to him (her) : Bon matin (Good morning)