A vacation / Study break -



It's an expensive way to do things - and you'll want to have had a bit of practice at home first with some audio lessons - but absolutely the best way to learn basic French is of course to visit France and talk to French people. For most of us that first contact or first sentense is quite scary but I have always found that if you make the effort the french people are delighted to try and help you.

The real point here is that when you're trying to learn basic French, as with learning any subject, if you can immerse yourself in it you'll make much faster progress. You might not want to do all the things listed above but if you do two or three different things you'll avoid getting bored and your basic French language skills will improve at a speed that will surprise you.

The best way to learn French Option 2 -

Write down on a paper-

While you are there, listen and write everything you can, If you didn't understand a word, just ask! Communicate with others. Don't be afraid. Once you got it, write it down on a small piece of paper and be sure to have it in your pocket.

In fact, every single morning, you need to add 10 new words on your piece of paper. Then, during the day you are going to look at it every two hours from the time you wake up until the time you are going to bed. That means... all day long.

At the end of the day, you know 10 new words. After thirty days, that's three hundreds words!

The best way to learn French Option 3 -

One to one private tuition -

Go to French lessons. A personal tutor is best but a rather expensive option Many schools and colleges offer French evening classes at very reasonable rates. Going "back to school" may be an uncomfortable idea for many of us but you can't beat structured lessons with a French-speaking teacher. If it's an actual French person, so much the better. It's much better to have someone whose English isn't perfect than an English speaker whose French isn't perfect!

The best way to learn French Option 4 -

MP3 / CD Course -

Home study is the most popular method of learning a new language and is my favourite option of the four. There are many home study aids currently available on the market, which offer CDs, interactive CDroms, MP3s, or DVDs to help you learn. These learning aids can be used at any place or time. Just think you could be learning French during your daily commute to work, while your driving the kids to school or even in bed at night. These products are often inexpensive and can be used over and over again.

The best way to learn French Option 5-

Buy/Get Book-

Get a book or two on basic French, buy them or get them from the library. CDs, MPEGs and online lessons are all very good but sometimes there's no substitute for a book. There's just something about reading that sticks in the mind more than listening on its own.