Good Ways To Learn French

French is spoken by over 110 million individuals globally. The language is spoken in many nations including France, Canada, and a few others. A number of U.S. citizens within the states of Maine and also Louisiana are actually native French speakers. The language is also a standard for many global organizations such as the United Nations. If you're thinking about learning another language for a profession or simply for personal enrichment, give some thought to learning French. French is the most beautiful spoken language and also suggests class and distinction. Mastering this language could be a great asset in your own profession and may also improve your experience when you visit French speaking countries.

If you choose to learn this language, you have a number of options. You might earn a degree in French from a university or college. A degree gives you expert knowledge of the language, both written and verbal. You might have already established yourself as a professional, and believe that understanding the language may help augment your career. If so, you may learn French online using a course, such as Rocket French, which is certainly a great way to study in your own convenience. They provide a free six day trial for their study course. Learning French this way will be a quick and easy way for you to master the language.

Of course, if you have time, another great way is an immersion program. In this manner, you have an opportunity to experience French culture. You will actually be residing in France and experience the daily life and culture of the French people. This really is the quickest option to learn French. You can expect to communicate with native French speakers each day. Most of the people will not be able to speak in English. For that reason, you must communicate with these people in French. You will be completely absorbed into French everyday living. You will take classes that can help you to write and speak in French. An immersion program is the most effective method for learning French fluently.

Being fluent in a second language offers benefits as a professional. For instance, you may attain certification to be a foreign language translator. This particular career opportunity presents lots of challenges and benefits. There are a lot of foreign language agencies that provide full-time jobs to translators. A translator ordinarily helps a company translate their particular business files and also company websites. You may want to work as a freelancer, taking care of your individual workload, and may set your own schedule. Another possibility may be to teach English in French speaking nations. Just by knowing French and English, it's possible to succeed in any French speaking country.

Mastering French offers you a chance to begin a new job or further build up your job just by working abroad. Additionally, you will enhance your trips in the French speaking nations. Learning another language will be a rewarding achievement. It is easy to learn French online right now by going to Rocket French.

Read related articles here: Rocket French Review

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The Three Most Important Sounds to Master When Speaking French

French has a number of sounds that do not exist in English. Are some more important than others? It's hard to say, but here is a look at three candidates that are both common and troublesome.

1. The u sound

The pronunciation of this common vowel is very different from that of its English counterpart. The lips are rounded into something akin to a pout. It's almost like whistling. Here are some examples of words with this sound:

lu, connu, su, du, pu, rue, bu, plu, truite, mu

This difficult sound is important because when mispronounced it tends to sound like "oo". Here are pairs of words that illustrate the difference:

pu - pou

bu - boue

rue - roue

mue - moue

su - sou

cul - cou

Longer words with u can be challenging, as in:

construire, instruire, l'instruction, l'instrument, la puanteur, la lueur

Here are some phrases using this sound:

Le concert nous a beaucoup plu. (We liked the concert very much.)

J'ai su qu'elle ne viendra pas. (I found out that she will not be coming.)

J'habite la rue Ste-Catherine. (I live on Ste. Catherine Street.)

Elle a bu du vin. (She drank some wine.)

L'homme est bien connu de la police. (The man is well known to the police.)

Je ne comprend plus rien. (I don't understand a thing.)

2. The French r

One of the most challenging sounds of French for English-speakers is the consonant r.

The sound associated with the letter r in French is totally different from the sound of the English letter r. In fact, there are two kinds of r in French. A somewhat archaic pronunciation that you will hear in old French movies and songs, in parts of France, Canada and Africa is a vibrating sound made with the tip of the tongue flapping against the roof of the mouth. This is called a rolled r. In French, this pronunciation is often described as "rouler les r".

The other more contemporary sound, very typical of the city of Paris, is produced way at the back of the mouth and is a rasping sound akin to what is made when coughing. The rolled r sound is probably easier to learn, but this guttural r is what you want to master.

The sound of the r will vary slightly if it is at the beginning, middle or end of a sequence of sounds. It is strongest at the beginning of a word and weakest at the end.

Beware of a special complication when reading aloud written French. The r is not pronounced at all at the end of French verbs ending in -er. This includes the largest group of verbs such as: aller, louer, noter, parler, manger, etc. In words other than these verbs, the final r is pronounced. (Remember that in the vast majority of French words the final written letter, except for r, is not pronounced). Here are groups of words that sound the same despite differences in spelling:

paire, pair

par, part

cher, chair, chaire

ver, vers, verre, vert

bonheur, bonne heure

serre, sert

beur, beurre

Here are verbs ending in pronounced r:

voir, boire, avoir, faire, construire, maintenir, prendre, tendre

3. The sound of eu.

Although it is written with two letters, eu, this is actually one sound. Something like the articulation of the u sound, the lips are not as rounded and extended. This sound is found in words like:

deux, peu, peux, peut, feu, pleut

Note that the eu spelling is also used for a different but similar sound in words like:

oeuf, coeur, gueule, neuf, meuble

The real challenge of pronouncing French is to articulate these sounds in sentences. This is where those mouth muscles get the workout. Here are some examples.

Je n'en peux plus. (I can't take it anymore)

Le barrage est construit en pierre. (The dam is built of stone.)

Il pleut aujourd'hui. (It is raining today.)

Stanley Aleong specializes in methods for learning foreign languages at the advanced level. He believes that an excellent strategy for achieving advanced proficiency in French or Spanish is to work with many carefully selected authentic examples. To learn more about some very effective learning tools based on this principle, visit Advanced French / Spanish.

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French Grammar - Opportunite Is NOT Opportunity

First let me preface this post by explaining what a False Friend / Faux Ami is.

Plain English Please

A false friend is someone you've grown to know and trust for the longest of times. Then one day, you get into a bind and need his or her help. Then, toodle-loo, this person suddenly is gone and nowhere to be found.

Wait, this isn't morality and ethics we're talking about? No.

The false friend we're concerned about is much less sinister. It basically is any word that looks like a word in another language, and so you automatically assume that they are the same thing... And it's a good thing to do actually! Because you'll be right more than 90% of the time. But that 10% is a stinger, so let's get this sorted out shall we?

Today, the word we are going to discuss is.. OPPORTUNITE.

I mean wow! The first thing you see, it looks like a freaking imposter, downright copyright violation worthy! I mean, switch the y out for an e, and magic, you've just learned a new word with no work involved.

So then, how do we translate the word opportunity into French?
--By the word occasion.

Here are some examples:

J'ai eu l'opportunite de manger un hamburger. --> WRONG!

J'ai eu l'occasion de manger un hamburger. --> RIGHT!

I had the opportunity to eat a hamburger.

Ok, that's all fine and dandy, Charlie. But how do we correctly use the word opportunite then? I'm glad you asked!

Pour le chat, c'est l'opportunite de manger les souris

For the cat, this is its CHOICE MOMENT to eat the mice

Or take another example:

Ensuite, on jugera l'opportunite de cette strategie de jeu.

Then, we'll determine the SUITABILITY of this game plan.

Does that make sense? The word opportunite in French really refers to good timing or the appropriateness of something. It's RARELY used by most people in this way, however.

Wait, what do you mean?

This happens to be one of those rules that many French people (at least in Canada) break all the time! It's really more of a rule to be followed when you have to turn in one of those dreaded term papers in a college class. Nothing more!

So... huge sigh of relief. This isn't one of those critical faux amis to remember. But it's still probably a good idea to build up the habit of using OCCASION instead of OPPORTUNITE when your mind thinks opportunity.

Charlie has been a French as a Second Language Classroom Teacher at the Elementary and Secondary levels and has been teaching and tutoring adults, teenagers, and children for over 8 years.

For your FREE eBook on the powerful TOP French resources I used to go from speaking zero French to being SUPER fluent in no time, please visit - http://www.charliesfrenchfactory.com/welcome.html

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The Relationship Between French And English And It's Overall Effect On French Translations

While French is known as a somewhat insulated language these days in the past it was deeply influenced by surrounding languages, and the language itself influenced many others. For example despite the fact that they come from different language families French still exerted a fairly powerful influence over the development of modern English. This is due to fact that French was introduced to the British Isles in the eleventh century by the invasion of the Normans. While French is a romance language that overall has more in common with Italian and Spanish than with English, the two languages still contain a significant amount of common ground due to this connection. This connection then has quite a positive effect on French-English or English to French translations.

At a base level French and English share a common language of the same twenty six letters. The main difference in the written languages of French and English revolve around the dozen or so specific accent marks unique to the French language. These differences in accents and emphasis carry over into spoken variations of the languages, causing a number of problems due to differences in pronunciation between the two. These different pronunciations cause many of the problems for English and French speakers attempting to understand each other's speech. For example a major point of content for French speakers attempting to learn English revolves around the latter's seemingly chaotic patterns of stressing elements of words, as French incorporates more predictable and normalized patterns of stress and inflection.

Grammatically speaking French and English have a lot in common, and this aspect of the languages usually doesn't present either speaker with many problems. A few persistent areas of difficulty between the two revolve around differences in tense and the framing of questions, often leading to awkward statements of timing and phrasing of questions on both ends. This can normally explain why generic French translations sound a little forced. It is essential that you work with a competent French translation agency to avoid such issues arising.

Finally vocabulary between the two languages benefits from similar roots in the Latin language, making it relatively easy for speakers of either language to pick up large quantities of words in a relatively short time within the other language. While the two languages do feature their share of confusing interpretations of the same root word, overall their similarities in vocabulary outweigh many of their differences, especially in technical and specialized speech.

While French is known as a fairly particular language, overall it is far from impenetrable and far from the most difficult European language to understand or translate to and from.

Charlene Lacandazo is a marketing executive for Rosetta Translation, a leading full-service translation agency in London, UK.

Rosetta Translation specialises in French translation, as well as interpreting services worldwide.

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