June 2, 2012 at 9:06am
French Pronunciation: The Sounds of French (aka “How to learn lots of new vowels”)
January 8, 2012 at 8:34pm
Learn French with Bouletcorp
Bouletcorp is a superb French comic blog, with a combination of mind-expanding topics, humour and great artwork. The French is quite challenging and idiomatic, which makes it great to study but tricky to look up. But luckily most of the comics are translated into English. So open up both versions in your browser and get reading.
The image is taken from the French and English comic called Kitchen Darwinism.
November 2, 2011 at 4:04pm
Le Lotus Bleu in French. I read Tintin a lot as a child. This one is set in Japanese-occupied China which is a sensitive topic at the best of times. Some of the depictions and stereotypes are very dated if not borderline racist. Interesting though. Merci!
February 14, 2011 at 5:29pm
Le Français
I’m trying to learn French again. Here’s how I’m studying.
Web Comics
I came across one of these via Twitter, and from there a whole bunch of others. They’re all cute, funny and introduced to me a lot of naughty words I won’t get from my textbooks. I went through most of the backlog of them and learned loads. I’ve got them added to my RSS reader too. In order of awesomeness:
This is nothing new, I’ve been using Twitter to practice Korean for over a year now. I made another account for French and it’s helping a little bit. Although people are less forthcoming with corrections. I think that says something for national character if anything ;)
Workbook
I’m using Grammaire Progressive du Français - Niveau intermédiaire and I can’t recommend it enough. I studied French in school for 6 or so years so it’s more for revision than learning fresh. But it’s helping me understand stuff I just guessed at for so long. The difference between que/qui for example, is summarised in a page and then there are exercises to practice with. If you do get it, make sure to get the answer book too, it’s usually sold separately.
Lang-8
Along with Twitter, for me this has become a core tool for learning a language. I write a diary entry and within a day there’s usually at least one correction. People point out where you made mistakes in an easy-to-read way, and then it’s your job to go and learn from it. I usually try to look up the grammar points behind why I made a mistake. It’s more self-driven than having a teacher but it’s good for practicing your writing skills nonetheless.
Interesting words learned so far:
- tu pues = you stink
- chelou = weird
- mdr = mort de rire = lol
- faire gaffe = pay attention
- les conneries = bull-poop
What next?
More of the same I guess. I’m going to look for a conversation partner so I can put some of this to good use. I’m more interested in being able to speak and show off than just read/write well.
