Sunday, February 7, 2010

French sites que j’aime

With the vastness of the Internet, it’s too facile de perdre beaucoup le temps, as a beginner, in all the possible Web sites offering French language or culture aid.

There are many wonderful sites and resources out there, but these are a few I have tried and liked myself in my own wanderings, or at the suggestion of wonderful amis.

French grammar and vocabulary
BBC languages
Vocab for kids—but good for beginning adults too
Enchanted Learning (activity sheets for kids)
French conjugation trainer online

French radio
NRJ French
Rires et Chansons  -

News and lifestyles in French
Le Monde
Itele Direct
Femme: Le Journal des Femmes
France Amerique

Cross-cultural connections and language courses
French Embassy
Alliance Française  (this is the U.S. site, but I visit the Seattle Alliance site for upcoming events and classes)

Literature:
The poetry of Charles Baudelaire
The poetry (fables) of Jean de la Fontaine

For translation and verb conjugation
Reverso

For conversation groups
Meetup (our lively Spokane group ,a great Seattle group, and many others are just waiting for you )
Facebook (search French and French conversation or find event pages like this:)

For help or advice on traveling to France
Paris Apartments

Some of my pet favorites:
Comedian Eddy Izzard's French lessons
The music of Gerard DePalmas, Stefan Sanseverino, Louise Attaque

If you come across others you like, let me know and I'll check them out and add them to the list.

Bonne chance!


Flag of France image courtesy of 4 International Flags

Monday, February 1, 2010

Conversation—et café—sont mes amours!

Sometimes my friends joke that I’m trying to meet with French groups in all 50 states…but the truth is they aren’t far off from la raison.

And the reason is that the fountain of French language is in speaking it, hearing it, and in having fun with people you enjoy talking with.

Groups meet at coffee shops (mais oui!), but also bars or dance clubs. They meet for lunch, dinner, and special occasions. They meet for Scrabble nights or movie nights or wine tastings or potlucks. they direct and watch plays, they discuss books, they organize lectures. In French, les choses sont si plus amusants.

Most of the groups I’ve seen have a variety of speakers, from beginners to natives, and people who speak or want to speak French come from all walks of life. What’s more, since everyone goes to practice conversation, these varied and entertaining crowds share their interesting stories freely.

A fundamental flaw in earlier iterations of language instruction, I think, was that they contained too much bookwork and too little conversation. Most people want to learn a language in order to travel somewhere and speak to the natives, so though I love grammar and study it, I think conversational practice is primary—and super amazingly entertaining! Also, I know for me, hearing and using a word, such as hypothèque, (a loan) in conversation is a much better way to learn what it is and assimilate it into mon vocabulaire. Sometimes, to complete the connection, I ask someone to spell a word for me.

So, yes, I visit French groups wherever I happen to be. When I’m going somewhere, I hop on the Internet (man’s new best friend) and search for French conversation groups, Francophone events—anyplace where people who speak French will be congregating. Then I go to the events that are most interesting to me.


Now, I only wonder, with all these meetings over coffee, if there’s a French group to help me overcome my coffee addiction.