Language Helps? Specifically French

[perfect2afault]

Beginning next month, I will be taking French for my language requirements for my degree. While the prospect doesn't terrify me, it does make me a little anxious as I need to complete this requirement to graduate and get into grad school. ;-) I was just wondering if anyone here could recommend some websites or books that might be helpful to a

Comments

[eastertheatre]

Definitely ask in learn_french and linguaphiles :)

[bananainpyjamas]

I asked about learning a second language while out of school in linguaphiles and got a lot of helpful responses. Our situations are different but you still might find some of them useful:

http://community.livejournal.com/linguaphiles/3930870.html

[piblokto]

Might want to try www.livemocha.com. I can't say how well the beginner level French is set up, as I've only played around with the German lessons, but from what I've seen it's helpful, fun, and interactive.

French is both beautiful and fascinating. I hope you love it. Bonne chance.

[grark]

I second livemocha.com
I've been using it to learn Spanish, so I don't know how active the French community is either.

[phenein]

I don't know of a lot of language helps for French specifically, but that's because I'm a native speaker. If it's just a language requirement you probably won't need a great level, but I tend to just find easy reading material (not textbooks) and try to get through them with the help of a dictionary. You can pick up a lot that way - I started learning English very young, but when I wanted to get fluent I read news stories and chick lit. If you need a good grasp on pronunciation you can pick up the basic sounds from French songs - I personally find French much easier because we have very pure vowel sounds and a rather flat pitch in natural speech. Writing French is harder. If you can find French audiobooks that's also a good starting point to get used to the sounds.

[sallysynapse]

I studied French from fourth grade through completing my minor in it this year. I think the best thing you can do is just practice it as much as possible and immerse yourself in it. So participate in class as much as possible and try to get involved with a french club or something like that, if your school has it. Usually they will give you a chance to practice speaking and maybe go watch french movies. You could always get french movies from the library on your own, or read simple things like comics (great for the pictures). Try TinTin...it's for kids I think but that's great when you are just starting out!