Learning a new language on my own, how realistic is this?

effluent

Hi folks,

I'm hoping to learn French, or at least the very basics, in my spare time and I'm looking for some advice. The only thing is that I've never studied french, I did German years ago in school. I'm thinking about learning this on my own, through books, interactive CD's and internet resources. I had thought about joining an evening class group but the job I'm in is very variable and usually runs on unsociable hours. I'm just thinking I might be taking on too much...learning a language on my own.

Would I be better off doing some distance learning course?

Cheers.

Freiheit

I'd join a language exchange site such as rosetta stone/sharedtalk.com and try to meet someone with whom you can converse with,that way you'l learn the language that you actualy use day to day rather than the often remote and technical linguistics on cd roms,books etc. From my experience CD Roms or tapes in the past are ok as starting points but you'l never truly learn to speak a language without applying it in real conversations. But in this information age thats very possible! met the former love of my life on shared talk!:)

unreggd

U can do a part time language course, they're usually an hour a week for 10 weeks

You'll prob need some sort of basis in grammar

On top of that, join a french speaking social group, and watch lots of French films, and listen to French music. Pop music is good as you'll learn lots of slang / phrases you might not learn on a course

Then the obvious best plan is to move to France!!

cormac cuffe

I am trying to learn French with Dyslexia, any suggestions!