Learning French...for Free!

As you may recall I decided to renew my attempt to learn French. I am however currently far too cheap to buy any fancy Rosetta Stone or similar product. Instead I've been searching for free resources to try and learn the language. So far I've been working with a combination of FrenchPodClass and Coffee Break French. FrenchPodClass has lesson review sheets also available for free, and I believe Coffee Break French has work sheets and other support material available for a fee. Both are available free through iTunes. I just download them to my iPhone and listen while cooking or doing other chores. FrenchPodClass ended in 2008, but there's 3 years worth of podcasts to utilize. And Coffee Break French will be ending soon, but they say they will be working on an intermediate course next. I also found the free app "French 24/7 Tutor Lite Edition" so when I need to waste a little time I can do play games and puzzles to help me a little. And, on top of that it turns out our friend Jason speaks French, so I'm going to tap him know and then for a little practice.

Breathless

I finally got around to watching Breathless this weekend, which I've had at home from Netflix foooorever. I thought it was good, but it doesn't oust any of my favorite foreign films from their place at the top. I did lovelovelove Jean Seberg's style in the film though. Her dresses, hair, all totally lovely. Now that I've gotten a start on my foreign film resolution I've tossed another one to the top of my queue. I've decided to not watch anymore French films though, and instead am saving them until next year when I'm hoping to really focus on learning French. So, next up on the foreign film list is Cinema Paradiso.

Bonjour!

We're back from our visit to see my sister Nicci, her husband Bryan, and our friends Destiny & Will. We also got to spend a little time with my youngest sister Lindsey, who was with us on Friday, and my dad & step mom who each came up on Saturday for lunch. And now that we're back from that trip I'm moving on to a new task- learning French! Ever since I read about it in the cover story of the March 2007 issue of Real Simple I've been reminding myself to check out the French Pod Class. And I decided that it was finally time I take the plunge and give a new language a shot. I took French in high school, but never made it past the first few weeks of French 2. And that was about 10 years ago, so my knowledge of the language is pretty minuscule. The great thing about these classes is that you aren't just learning about the language, but also the culture through the musical breaks and movie excerpts that are included. I also love that I can listen to a lesson over and over while I'm at work. I learn better through repetition, and what better way to make use of the 11 hours I'm stuck in my office than by expanding my mind and horizons? I'm going to make some flash cards this week too. I'm more of a visual learner, so I'm hoping that will really help me retain what I'm picking up. And the review sheets that accompany the mp3 lessons will make my flash card project a breeze.

Interested in learning French? I highly recommend Sebastien and the FrenchPodClass.