Have you ever gone back to school to learn French?

knowledge

knowledge

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I was in french immersion when I was younger but didn't care for french, and I've been regretting it these past couple of years.It didn't really start bugging me until I started workign for a French company/with french co-workers. The last straw was losing out on an amazing job opportunity because I can't speak French.

So I'm thinking of going back to school/taking courses for it again. Has anyone done this? Any recommendations? I want to be able to at least carry on a decent conversation in French. The lady said to call her if I ever learn French, but I'd like to learn it for any other future opportunities (that and 'cause french chicks/people are so cool. haha).

I wish I took in how big of an asset it was when I was younger.

And if there are any students on here: take your french seriously ;)

TIA
 
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i read somewhere it takes about 10 years to speak another language fluently. say you are a fast learner and can do it in 5 years. that's still a long time.
 
knowledge said:
I was in french immersion when I was younger but didn't care for french, and I've been regretting it these past couple of years.It didn't really start bugging me until I started workign for a French company/with french co-workers. The last straw was losing out on an amazing job opportunity because I can't speak French.
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Just had the samething happen to me. I could've gotten such an amazing easy/good paying job if only I spoke french... but i hate french... FML
 
I was in the same situation as you. I have now finished two terms (out of 14, each 12 weeks, one night a week) at Sheridan College. They offer it on weekends or weeknights at both campuses. Think its about 285 per term. You can look into it more on the website under continuing education. Its a great class so far. i
 
I also went through immersion, and then... when I couldn't find a summer job... worked in Quebec City for one summer on a provincial exchange. Surprisingly, it was career-related (I was an engineering student, it was for Transports Québec), AND it was the best summer of my life. I accounted for a lot of Unibroue and Belle Guelle's revenue that summer :D

Almost 10 years later, I could get by speaking French but I've really lost the accent and a lot of the vocab. I guess that's what happens when you neglect a skill for a decade.

But I digress...

I know a number of colleges offer french courses. I'm not sure of how good they are. Here's a few things I would suggest...

1. Once you get better, watch TV and/or movies in French. Especially without subtitles;
2. If you pick a French college or language program, figure out whether it's Québecois or... French from France. They are the same language, but the slang and accent are quite different;
3. Once you get good enough, take a trip to a French-speaking place and interact with people. If you go to Quebec, try to go to a rural place outside of Montreal or Quebec so people won't know English. Necessity is the mother of invention.

Good luck, hope it works out.
 
I'm currently in the process of becoming fluent in French in order to get a job.

I highly recommend College Boreal.

I started with courses at UWO but didn't find them intensive enough.

I'm in class every Saturday (only session offered) and have found this course to be much better. While the other was geared more toward conversational French, this course is a good balance of conversation, grammar, listening skills, and vocab. It's probably exactly what you're looking for.

The hardest part for me is speaking. I can understand a lot and can "get by" with speaking, but immersing yourself in French (if you can) does wonders. I watch a lot of French TV and listen to nothing but French radio.

In my opinion, French from France will serve you much better from an employment standpoint.
 
I was thinking about it as well. I know Seneca has some French courses. I assume most of the Colleges will offer language studies. I'd just go to whichever was most convienient location.
 
I went to Alliance Francaise for a while and while it was pretty good, I didn't find French all that interesting. After a while I quit.
 
I havent taken french since high school but I was really adept at languages so i could speak it very well at the time...now i can only read it. But i found french to be a pretty easy language and the grammar rules are pretty easy whereas english, they can be very different in certain situations.

i am currently thinking of taking some patois lessons so i can understand what they are saying in the dancehall chunes
 
CrazyKell said:
In my opinion, French from France will serve you much better from an employment standpoint.
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Agreed, but for more than just an employment standpoint. French from France would be the most adaptable anywhere in the world where French is spoken.

Also, like CrazyKell mentioned, immersing yourself in French media helps. I would recommend finding a news feed from France, and watch/listen to that. You might find one here: http://wwitv.com/television/73.htm
 
SkyRider said:
i read somewhere it takes about 10 years to speak another language fluently. say you are a fast learner and can do it in 5 years. that's still a long time.
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And I read somewhere that the tooth fairy rides unicorns in her time off. This is so wrong for so many reasons. First of all, how long it takes to become fluent depends on what language you're learning and what your native language was. English to Arabic, for example, is going to be harder than English to French. It also depends how much you immerse yourself, your aptitude, your age, etc. And 5 years to become fluent is an absolutely glacial learning pace.

As for me, I took French in elementary school and didn't like / understand it. Looking back I am amazed that I was able to pass because I don't even remember understanding it at the time. I thought I would never use it. I took a year of Italian at my first year of university and liked it.

And then I joined the military. And the military likes it when you're bilingual. So I took a 10 week beginner French course over summer between class as part of my military training. And what do you know, I both found it easy, and enjoyable. Since then I've been reading books, watch TV shows, etc., and have become rather functional. I've also just started taking a course at the Alliance Francaise to help polish off the edges, as being an autodidact has its limitations.
 
Is alliance francaise worth the $$? I really wanna become bilingual but never took it outside of the mandatory high school one... Has anyone tried out rosetta stone? I was thinkin of doin some of self taught before goin to a college/ alliance so im not learning days of the week in a class setting and burning more $$ than needed?
 
knowledge said:
I was in french immersion when I was younger but didn't care for french, and I've been regretting it these past couple of years.It didn't really start bugging me until I started workign for a French company/with french co-workers. The last straw was losing out on an amazing job opportunity because I can't speak French.

So I'm thinking of going back to school/taking courses for it again. Has anyone done this? Any recommendations? I want to be able to at least carry on a decent conversation in French. The lady said to call her if I ever learn French, but I'd like to learn it for any other future opportunities (that and 'cause french chicks/people are so cool. haha).

I wish I took in how big of an asset it was when I was younger.

And if there are any students on here: take your french seriously ;)

TIA
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I'm currently a student at http://www.alliance-francaise.ca/

I enjoy the classes, it's practical setting and the learning environment is to try to immerse you in the lifestyle as well as teach you the grammar through conversation and practice

Book an assessment with them, and they'll give you a quick test to see where your french is at, which class you should start out at, and explain the whole class level structure to you (I couldn't understand this by looking at their site)

It's Parisian french though, so admittedly going to Montreal after was a bit of an adventure with all the different slang...I still don't understand the c'pas vs. je ne sais pas *shrug*

Personally, i'm taking lessons to transfer positions in the company. There was an opportunity in France, but now there are different goals..

Good Luck!
 
I went to work for Bonbardier in Quebec and they put me into a french class, I was paid to go to class and do the homework on my own. It would take about 1.5-2 years to do all the classes.
 
For me, I find that it's more about confidence to be comfortable speaking French. I try to practice with others to build my vocabulary and refine my accent.

Other than that I feel I've learned a lot from school and more courses isn't gonna make me fluent. Let's go riding and we'll speak French!
 
If it's to be used here, try to learn Canadian french. It's amazing the differences between our french and our "cousin's" one.
 
La prochaine fois que nous rencontrons, nous parler en français!
êtes-vous heureux maintenant rfid?!?
 
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