Learning French?

Learning Verbs

2006-04-04T22:13:00.000Z

Salut!

After finding the Thinkquest site earlier today, I have been looking at basic verbs. The site lists a few essential verbs. Today i have concentrated on two. Etre and Aimer or 'to be' and 'to like'.

Etre (to be)

je suis
tu es
il est
on est
elle est
nous sommes
vous etes
elles sont
ils sont

Aimer (to like)

j'aime
tu aimes
il aime
elle aime
on aime
nous aimons
vous aimez
elles aimont
ils aiment

They are quite tricky as different verbs can have very different endings. The Thinkquest site although visually unappealing is probably the easiest site I have found so far.

Victoria (ma petite amie) has offered to test me on the essential verbs on Thursday at midday. Hopefully I will do well!

Au revoir

500!

2006-04-04T11:52:00.000Z

Salut!

Just a quick post while on my lunch today to say thankyou to everyone has visited the site so far. I have had over 500 unique hits so far and by the looks of it a lot of you are coming back again and again. . The blog is also ranked highly on www.blogtopsites.com in the academic section. Feel free to rate me and leave comments on there too! Thanks for all the support so far. Especially Victoria, ma petite amie :-)

Au revoir

P.S. I am just making a shopping list of food in French for when i go shopping later. It is going quite well so far. I've also added another link on the right hand side. Check it out here.

Basic Food

2006-04-03T21:27:00.000Z

Cafe au lait. One of the phrases I have learned today. Mmm looks tasty :-)

Salut!

Haven't done as much French this weekend. My dad (mon pere) visited on Saturday (samedi) and I was too tired on Sunday (dimanche). Have just been downloading some more podcasts off Sebastien's French Pod class.

At work, one of my colleagues has decided to buy some French tapes to listen too. Salut michael! ca va?

I was reading on the BBC website and someone recommended buying a magazine of something that interests you and reading through that. This got me thinking and I want to start following a French Football team. Has anyone got any suggestions? I don't mind really though i would prefer a smaller team (not Lyon, Marseille, etc).

I have started learning about some of the names for foods and drinks using the Squizzes site, which despite far too many adverts is quite useful for picking up new words. I have also found the Talk French section of the BBC site, that seems to be clips of a television series.

I'm off to ASDA tommorow night so i can hopefully practice some of my new words there!

Au Revoir!

Day eleven (and ten)

2006-03-31T18:03:00.000Z

La Goulas, Najac in France. The house I will be staying at for my holiday this summer.

Salut!

Sorry for no update yesterday, I gave myself a night off yesterday. I've been enjoying listening to the French Pod classes on my way to work. I'm even starting to enjoy some of the French songs!

Thanks for people's help and recommendations, I haven't looked through them all yet but I have a couple of day off work now so I can have a proper look through them. I've been reading through the reviews for Michel Thomas on Amazon and it sounds very good, I will perhaps invest in them when I get through the pod classes and the BBC courses.

Mon Pere is visiting tommorow so I'll do another short update tommorow and a big update on Sunday.

Au revoir

P.S. I want to make the site as functional and easy on the eye as possible, has anyone got any suggestions for improving the site? eventually i might get a 'proper' domain name as well, anyone any suggestions for that? Merci

Day Nine

2006-03-29T16:52:00.000Z

I quite like this photo off Flickr. Despite the fact i hate pigeons.

Salut!

Today, i've been learning the French days of the week and months by listening to the second French Pod lesson. The months are easy in French as they all sound very similar to the English words. Here they are-

Janvier
febrvier
mars
avril
mai
juin
juillet
aout
septembre
octobre
novembre
decembre

As you can see they all sound quite similar, the trickier ones are in the summer like Juillet and Aout but as my birthday is in August, I hopefully should remember them!

The days of the week are (starting from Monday)

lundi
mardi
mercredi
jeudi
vendredi
samedi
dimanche

These have little resemblance to the English words but repetition has helped a lot and i am pretty comfortable with these now. I have been looking at French textbooks on the internet, can anyone recommend any that would be useful? any donations of books you don't want anymore would be much appreciated, (if you don't ask you don't get! :-)).

I'm off to the Theatre tonight to see 'a flea in her ear' at Liverpool University.

Au Revoir

Day Eight

2006-03-28T19:04:00.000Z

Michael Caine, star of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Salut!

Today I purchased an Mp3 player to listen to my French pod classes. After twenty minutes trying to work it all out, it is now all sorted. The first pod lesson covers pretty basic things like Bonjour etc. but it is helping me with my pronounciation a lot already as before I kept pronouncing things in a weird French accent (and getting it completely wrong!).

I have added some more to my biography.

Je m'appelle Neil. Je suis ne Coventry mais J'habite a Liverpool en Angleterre avec la petite amie, Victoria. J'ai Vingt ans.

It's not much but a lot of little steps will hopefully go a long away!

Some of the key words I've been learning today are

avec / with
mais / but
et / and
la petite amie/ girlfriend

By learning key words like 'avec' and 'mais' I can hopefully make more advanced sentences than I am at the moment. The worksheets at Happy Child are very useful but it would be much better if you were able to do them online too!

Has anyone got any suggestions for topics they believe it would be good for me to learn? At the moment I am just covering the basics but once these are finished then I want to focus on particular topics. All suggestions welcome!

As you may have guessed from the Photo above, today i watched Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I watched with French subtitles and I was able to pick out some of the words I have learned. It was useful to see them in sentences. I will probably do this again with other films.

Au Revoir

Day Seven: Sebastien

2006-03-27T19:12:00.000Z

This is Sebastien, webmaster at www.frenchpodclass.com. Apparently he always dresses like this :-)

Day Seven

2006-03-27T11:27:00.000Z

Salut!

Just listened to the first pod lesson from Frenchpodclass.com , Sebastien from the site has kindly offered to help with my French. I think the next thing i need to do is get a cheap Mp3 player (My girlfriend doesn't want me to borrow hers as she wants to keep all her gym songs on it!).

I think that by listening to these pod lessons, it will help me with my pronounciation of the language. Something I think i am likely to struggle with. My aim is to listen to them on the way to work, seeing as there is nearly 40 already it should take me a while to get through! I found sitting in front of the computer and listening to it okay, but i kept on surfing and not concentrating as much as i could.

I have now added Amazon ads at the bottom of the page, so if you buy anything of their site, click through my site first! it also comes with some French Language recommendations from Amazon.co.uk. Whether they are any good or not, i can't comment.

The pic for today is Sebastien, I hope he doesn't mind me using it, but i'll give him another plug anyway..... www.frenchpodclass.com.

Au revoir

Day Six: part deux!

2006-03-26T20:52:00.000Z

Salut!

Just reading the comments that have been left on the blog so far. Only just read the comment from yoyo now so have been trying to translate it. Can someone let me know how i've got on with it, s'il vous plait.

The original message is...

Bonjour Neil,
si vous avez besoin d'aide pour vos exercices de grammaire française, je veux bien vous assister de temps en temps

I believe it to be

Good day Neil
If you would like any help for your exercises in French grammar. I would like to assist you from time to time?

I Hope this is correct and i must say thank you (i mean merci!) to yoyo for his/her offer. I was trying to think how other people could help, possibly by having conversations on MSN messenger together in French? Don't think I'm quite ready for that yet but hopefully soon!

Au revoir

btw if i have translated the message wrong, please let me know in the comments! :-)

Day Six: The Pink Panther

2006-03-26T20:27:00.000Z

This is the Pink Panther. His eyebrows seem to be floating above his head. Very strange.

Day Six

2006-03-26T20:07:00.000Z

Salut!

It's been a really hectic weekend is finally drawing to a close. After work yesterday, My two nieces from Coventry came to stay with me, so i've been taking them round Liverpool today and making rice krispie cakes with them last night. I've just done a bit more on my French Steps course. I decided to do the one about the family today.

It was ok but it could do with having a list of all the words it's going to use in the section because sometimes it asks you to introduce your husband and hasn't ever gave you the word for husband in it! Using the website i don't want to be flicking to other sites or dictionaries to find the answer.

Never mind. Over the coming weeks i want to be introducing more and more French into the blog as i try to develop it. For people who already speak French please point out when i am making mistakes else it'll keep happening and for people who don't I think it will be good to try and learn with me as hopefully you'll see what i'm trying to say (As long as it is right in the first place of course!).

I was unsure of what image to put at the top of the blog today so i've decided to go for the Pink Panther to celebrate the release of the new Film, even though it looks non bien?

Au Revoir!

Day Five

2006-03-25T10:08:00.000Z

14:50

Harry bien Kewell fait. trois un Liverpool dans le derby d'aujourd'hui. Vous remercier le neville de phil aussi !

Well done Harry Kewell. 3-1 Liverpool in today's derby. Thank you phil neville too!

Sorry i thought i'd use today's match to improve my French, Unfortunately it was off a free translator so it is probably complete rubbish.... a bit like a certain scouse side!

10:07

Salut!

I'm just at work at the moment so just a quick update this morning. Flower (Not real name, i guess?? :-) ) off the france mag forum has recommended the Happy Child site with worksheets on French. I've had a quick look at it and it seems very good. I'll add it to the links later and i'll update the blog again later.

Au Revoir

Day Four: Roller and Dodu

2006-03-24T19:40:00.000Z

This is Roller who along with his dog Dodu (Who would call a dog that??) has been helping me Learn some French today. Roller is into sports, especially Skateboarding according to the BBC, if your interested. Your not? Oh well... :-(

Day Four

2006-03-24T18:48:00.000Z

Salut!

Been doing more work on the BBC site today, though thought i'd do a bit more work on the basics like numbers and days of week etc. So instead of working on the French Steps site i went on the BBC schools site. Its alot more fun than the French steps site with songs and games, although the audio is not always clear.

You'll have noticed that we now have Adsense adverts, hope you don't mind them, apologies for random colours at the moment, like i mentioned previously i want to change the colours on the background to represent the French (And British ) flag.

I thought i'd write a short biography of myself today.... in French of course. Its pretty simple but if you don't understand any of it... get on the BBC schools site (I've learned it all on there!). If anyone else wants to write a short biography in French in the comments it would be cool. I will add to my biography as i find more things to write about.

Je m'appelle Neil. J'habite a Liverpool en Angleterre (Je suis Anglais). J'ai Vingt ans.

Thanks to the members of the Living France Magazine Forum for their advice on learning French. I will be sure to put their tips into action in the future! There is a thread here for anyone interested, any advice added will be appreciated!

Day Three- Momo's Back

2006-03-23T22:32:00.000Z

Momo Sissoko, He is only a few months older than me, plays for Liverpool FC, earns thousands of pounds a week, he even speaks French..... some people have everything!!

At least i have better glasses than him!

Day Three

2006-03-23T22:04:00.000Z

Salut!

C'est bon le BBC 'French Steps'......

Ok, i'm not quite there yet, (no where near to be precise!) but so far i am enjoying the French Steps course. I've got another tick on my progress sheet. Woohoo!! i hear you scream! I'm finding it hard matching up what i read to what they say on the audio. I am going to have to be very careful not to get into bad habits of mis pronouncing words.

I found another good website today called French Tutorial, as recommended by good old Aunty Beeb. As I've already started the BBC course I will complete that and perhaps move on to this course. It seems quite a professional site and quite popular... always a good sign with websites like these.

Other news today is that i now have my photo on the blog, hope you all like it. My girlfriend picked as i look 'deep in thought'. Also I have decided to put an image up again... this time not of badly dressed French students. Instead the vaguely linked photo today will be of Liverpool footballer Mr 'Momo' Sissoko, who was brought up in France but plays for Mali. The photo above is him with his new glasses.

Yes I am a Liverpool fan if your wondering. :-)

Day Two: Badly dressed French Students

2006-03-22T22:22:00.000Z

These are some french students, to me they all look badly dressed, especially the woman (i think) in the middle with the jumper. Do a lot of French students dress this badly? Apologies if you are the people in the pictures.

My Girlfriend wants to know how to say 'you dress stupid' in french email me here if you know

Day 2

2006-03-22T21:02:00.000Z

21:07

Bonjour!

day two of my task to learn French. After learning un to dix yesterday, i have decided to try the BBC's beginner French course Bonjour. I haven't loaded it up yet and i'm unsure whether it will be any good, at the moment it's bringing back memories of the old videos I used to watch in French lessons at school. Are all french kids so badly dressed???

Au revoir for now, i'll let you know how i get on later

P.S. my girlfriend has informed that Salut means hi in french, Thanks Victoria :-)

21:25

Salut!

Just completed the first section of the BBC's french course. I actually got the name wrong and it's called French Steps and not Bonjour. Anyway, it was quite good fun, though i do feel a bit stupid talking into a computer so I'm glad im not doing this section at work. I've learned a few basic words but the sly devils are putting in other words in the sentences which I'm finding a bit of a pain at the moment. I guess these are to make them more familar for when they do come up.
I like the way it gives you a scorecard to see how your doing, so far i've got two ticks!! sadly i need another 130 to complete the course!
As i was talking about badly dressed french children i thought i better post a picture for your amusement....

21:33

As I'm new to this blogging game it doesn't want to work yet so no images at the moment, sorry. I also want to turn the colours of the blog into red white and blue (like the French flag), anyone with any advice on how to do this please email me. merci.

Au revoir

I'm off to have some dinner!

Hello / Bonjour

2006-03-21T22:55:00.000Z

23:00

Hi, this is my first post on my quest to teach myself french. So far it's not going great - I've just had to ask my girlfriend whether bonjour was hello or goodbye! In this quest I will be aided by my girlfriend and any other help i can find.
I did five years of French at school but literally can only remember three things

1) Bonjour (and i didnt even remember what this actually mean't)

2) 'voulez vous couchez avec moi'

or will you go to bed with me.... i think... this is thanks to Pink and Christina Aquilera and nothing to do with my old french teacher (shudders!).

3) oui

it sounds funny (hehe hehe!)

Ok. down to business, first of all i think i better try to learn the numbers... here is my guess at what one to ten is....

un
deux
trois
quatre
sanc
six
sept
oct
non
vix

I'll now try and find the correct ones on the internet. Wish me luck!

23:19

Ok, i've just looked on the BBC website to see if there newly launched education site Jam could give me a hand. its a very well designed site but its asking me to play an interactive game in Marseille. I'm off to try Google.

23:22

Ok, so i go on Google and it tells me to go to BBC.... to the Tots Tv site (Wasn't this on CITV years ago?? ). Well after listening to that annoying french bird and the other two here is how i got on. My girlfriend thinks i'm a prat for doing this at this point.

heres what i originally and here is the correct list

un un
deux deux
trois trois
quatre quatre
sanc cinq
six six
sept sept
oct huit
non neuf
vix dix

I'm quite pleased with my attempt of the ones ive got wrong, i am going to try and remember by thinking of huit as 'wheat' and think of 'nearly enuf ' for neuf as it is nine so it'll be nearly enuf til im at ten. or dix.

I cant think of anything to remember dix by, i'm just hoping i remember this.

My girlfriend has advised by that i need to pronounce quatre as 'cat'. If she is wrong please email me!