I just moved to Canada and some places here won’t hire you unless you can speak French. I know basic French and I would like to be able to sustain a conversation with someone in French further than: Bonjour, ca va etc. What’s the easiest way? Can watching French TV help me?
#1 by ritushstar on June 9th, 2010
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anything you do that relates to french will help; read, translate, watch and a lot a lot of practice, you have to feel like its you first language. find people to socialize in french with
#2 by Wondercow on June 9th, 2010
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Listening to sources is good but it’s a slow way to progress since a large part of communication is demonstrative and non-verbal. You could here the word “moufette” a hundred times over, but would that help you to understand, especially with an accent and a quick pace of speech? TV and movies are good but without much understanding things go by too quickly and nothing is explained. I *strongly* recommend something that adults (assuming you are an adult–16 is close enough) never, EVER do (as a rule): watch children’s videos. They speak slower, they demonstrate the dialogue as they progress (which will help your brain tie the spoken word to the object), and they use a lot of non-verbal language.
They’ll say “voilà la moufette!” slowly so you can understand the words (well, better understand, anyway!), they’ll show you a skunk, then they’ll hold their noses as they say “euh, elle pue!”
Grab some kid’s DVDs—if they have captions you can even follow by reading. I *highly* recommend Passe-Partout, Annie Brocoli (any film, though the second and third are the best), Dragon, and Pocoyo. Once you’ve mastered those you can move on to more difficult sources.
Getting to know people who can speak French will also help. Practice as often as you can even when you only know a little, oh, and don’t be afraid to make a mistake.
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#3 by Lisa on June 9th, 2010
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Actually the best way is to speak with a French person, because than you automatically have to speak French. Do you have some friends, who speak French?
Tell them, that they only should talk in French to you.
But there is also another way how to learn it. There are CDs, where somebody speaks in French and you have to repeat.
Watching TV in French is also help full, because you get used to that sound, but reading is even better. Read a lot books, than you get better and better in French.
I did the same in English and I promise you, once you have started reading a book in another language, you can’t stop.
Good luck!
#4 by jorge c on June 9th, 2010
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have a look at http://www.frenchspanishonline.com and focus on sentences and conversations (not just the words), repeat them (taking into account the connection between words in a sentence), enjoy!
#5 by John Redcorn on June 9th, 2010
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Me thinks watchy French TV may help once you have a basic understanding of the language, however me thinks you’d be gooder off takey a French Class… or maybe buy a ‘learn French’ DVD, or CD-ROM where you could learn it at your own pace on the computer..!!
Good luck, and Bon jour.. or Ciao, or whatever!