Online Language Lessons

Pross

I’ve been thinking of trying to learn a foreign language (probably French) and wondered if anyone has experience of any free sites / You Tube channels etc. that are good sources for this?

Matthewfalle

let me dig out the name of the one that TDV's parents used to teach them sqelves Spanish. i'll get back to you in a tad.

mr_goo

DuoLingo

I guess you were also listening to Radio 5 Live on Tuesday morning....... Learning a foreign language helps stave off the onset of dementia.

crispybug2

I learnt my perfunctory French and Spanish through a CD course by Michel Thomas

This also available online and it worked for me

veronese68

My son has been using Duolingo. Found he could understand people but speaking it was harder.

ddraver

If you have an audible subscription, download the Collin's French course (make sure you get the whole one with your credit, they also do the seperate editions). I found it really great to remind me of stuff I'd learnt at school but needed refining...

I'm quite liking the innovative language course for Dutch too, which im learning from scratch...

shirley_basso

If you can get to the point you can understand a lot, the speaking comes with time, although you have to truly immerse yourself in the country. I was lucky when I spent some time on fronce that I had a really solid classroom background in French but it transpired that my accent was incomprehensible to the french. After 2-3 months studying out there barely being understood I was chuckled at by a French girl at a party for having a regional, Savoyard accent. Possibly the best compliment I have ever received.

Pross

Thanks all. I hadn't heard the Radio 5 piece, it was more being on holiday and whilst I make an effort with half remembered words from GCSE French I'd like to be able to get by in conversations without having to rely on the French person speaking decent English. Whilst I have obviously lost most of what I learned in school over the past 30 years the fact I somehow got a C in GCSE with my limited skills probably shows how poorly languages are treated in this country which I guess is the downside of having a native language that is so widely spoken by others.

graeme_s-2

Before our annual holiday to France my wife tends to listen to the Coffee Break French (I believe other languages are available) podcasts while driving to help brush up. Not convinced they'd be great for learning from scratch, but she finds them a really helpful refresher.

the_hundredth_idiot

Another vote for Coffee Break French. Download the podcasts from iTunes - be aware there are a lot of them. I try to listen to them in the car, although I go through phases.

I got an A in O-level French, but that was a long time ago and I also seem to have an incomprehensible accent to the French. Coffee Break French is great at filling in the gaps from O-level and refreshing my memory of the things I did learn.

the_hundredth_idiot

Oh yeah, and they have really basic courses for other languages - there is a really brief one on Dutch which I've used a few times when I've had to go to the Netherlands on business or pleasure. It's great for picking up the basics so you can at least be polite with please and thank-you, and so on.

robert88

Shirley Basso wrote:

If you can get to the point you can understand a lot, the speaking comes with time, although you have to truly immerse yourself in the country. I was lucky when I spent some time on fronce that I had a really solid classroom background in French but it transpired that my accent was incomprehensible to the french. After 2-3 months studying out there barely being understood I was chuckled at by a French girl at a party for having a regional, Savoyard accent. Possibly the best compliment I have ever received.

I believe that's their equivalent of someone who sounds as if they are from South Shields

Matthewfalle

Mr Goo wrote:

DuoLingo

I guess you were also listening to Radio 5 Live on Tuesday morning....... Learning a foreign language helps stave off the onset of dementia.

That's the one.

They really rate it.

shirley_basso

Robert88 wrote:

Shirley Basso wrote:

If you can get to the point you can understand a lot, the speaking comes with time, although you have to truly immerse yourself in the country. I was lucky when I spent some time on fronce that I had a really solid classroom background in French but it transpired that my accent was incomprehensible to the french. After 2-3 months studying out there barely being understood I was chuckled at by a French girl at a party for having a regional, Savoyard accent. Possibly the best compliment I have ever received.

I believe that's their equivalent of someone who sounds as if they are from South Shields

Haha probably but it's where I was living so I'll take it! I wasnt as badly abused as the guy who had a south of France accent though!

grahamcp

I use the coffee break french ones too. there are free podcasts or you can subscribe to get extended versions and written notes, I have subscribed to a couple of seasons and been very happy with them.

orraloon

Another vote for the Coffee Break podcasts. On a refresher listen now to their Spanish ones, got a S American trip imminent, so need to brush up (and ditch the Castilian lithp).

FishFish

I used learnassyrianinanhour.com and learned to speak and write in Ancient Egyptian - well Assyrian actually - hyroglyphics. Took me an hour and cost 40p plus VAT. Useful.

rjsterry

FishFish wrote:

I used learnassyrianinanhour.com and learned to speak and write in Ancient Egyptian - well Assyrian actually - hyroglyphics. Took me an hour and cost 40p plus VAT. Useful.

Assyrian would be written in cuneiform, not hieroglyphics. :roll:

FishFish

Well thats what you get for 40p. (No doubt you will remind me to spell 'that's' as bonus pedantry.

rjsterry

FishFish wrote:

Well thats what you get for 40p. (No doubt you will remind me to spell 'that's' as bonus pedantry.

Well, if you will pretend to be clever.

finchy

Memrise.com is the best for learning vocabulary. It was created by neuroscientists and is based on spaced repetition, and if you spend 10-20 minutes a day, you will pick up a large vocabulary very quickly. See if your local library stocks Pimsleur. A bit dull, but good for grammar.

capt_slog

Michel Thomas Method.
These are not online courses though, they come as CDs in various packages and you can often pick them up on ebay.

I used the Greek one, it's good.

Pep

OK I am biased...
but the bestest language teacher in the world ever happens to be my wife. She teaches japanese, via Skype, been doing that for the last 20yr, any level. If interested get in touch.

Ben6899

Veronese68 wrote:

My son has been using Duolingo. Found he could understand people but speaking it was harder.

I cite German as a second language - I did an A level and now I have German family (coincidence). I find the same as your son; I understand just about everything I read and hear. Speaking is a different kettle of fish because you just need to practice, practice and practice.

What I'm saying is it's not a 'problem' limited to Duolingo; I think most people would experience the same whichever route they go down (unless it's living in the country and having to speak the language!).