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Ask HN: I'd like to learn French without enrolling in classes

6 points by scorpioxy ↗ HN
Some background: I'm a programmer with two jobs(day job and consulting), so my time is severely limited. I already know several programming languages and have no problem picking more up in a short time(picking up as in understand and write the syntax. "Learning" a language actually takes a long time). English is a second language to me(Arabic is the native one).

Now I'd like learn French to be able to converse in. Any helpful pointers?

11 comments

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rodrigo
The "Learn French with Coffe Break French" podcast. I listen to it in my conmmutes.
mahmud
you can't learn a language without the associated culture. to become a francophone you will have to be a francophile.

Or just move to Algeria, you will learn excellent French will still hating France :-P

Failing that, move to Quebec!

TrevorJ
One thing I thought of doing was finding an MMORPG that is localized in the language you want to learn, as well as in English. Play it in English and then switch over to French and join a guild. A couple reasons why I though this could work:

-Because the context is limited, you should be able to intuit more meaning on your own in much the same way that people learn languages from birth.

-You can start with written words and move up to spoken language (Teamspeak, ventrillo, etc.)

-You are subverting the carefully designed rewards placed in all MMO's for your own needs. -the better you know the language, the better you can play, and the better you will be rewarded.

Possible downsides - a lot of the language will be slang, or be particular to the game itself.

DanielStraight
Just one: The ultimate source of all knowledge on language learning.

http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/

DanielStraight
I really wish people would comment with downvotes.

To clarify: Despite the name, this site applies to all language learning (and in fact all learning). Khatzumoto is a very good writer and has some very good insights. If my comments don't convince you, consider this. He learned Japanese (which I think almost anyone will agree is harder than French) in 18 months. When I say learned, I mean well enough to move to Japan and live and work there full time.

All Japanese All The Time is well-known throughout language learning communities and if you take the time to read some of what Khatzumoto has posted, I'm sure you'll be pleased. If not, I'll take a downvote on this too.

alexkearns
Ignore the spammy looking website and the quiff but Michel Thomas's audio language courses - http://www.michelthomas.com - are brilliant. He has a very unusual but extraordinarily effective teaching style and within an amazingly short period you find yourself saying things in a foreign language that you would have thought would take years to learn. Seriously brilliant.
noss
He is good. Or was. He is dead now. But his recordings live on.

His strategy seems to be to teach languages in how they're similar to what you already know.