Is it possible to learn French in one year?

dremo

Hey I have RosettaStone program with French levels 1 to 5 and I just started yesterday learning it I have zero knowledge about language, my question is: Is it possible to learn french in one year time? How many hours and what material other then Rosetta I should be studying? Thanks in advance.

joolsveer

I have been trying to learn and improve my French for many years now. Over the last couple of years I have attended classes in the Alliance Francaise in Dublin.

It is expensive - €350 per term of 16 weeks - but my command of the language has improved a lot during this period. In addition I have spent a lot of time in the Languedoc region of France where I mix with the locals who do not speak English. Some of my friends there have noticed an improvement in my language skills.

In short I think you must spend time in the company of native speakers of French to learn the language.

The 4th Foreign Regiment of the French Foreign Legion has been based in Castelnaudary in the Languedoc since 1976.

http://foreignlegion.info/units/4th-foreign-regiment/

dremo

joolsveer wrote: »

I have been trying to learn and improve my French for many years now. Over the last couple of years I have attended classes in the Alliance Francaise in Dublin.

It is expensive - €350 per term of 16 weeks - but my command of the language has improved a lot during this period. In addition I have spent a lot of time in the Languedoc region of France where I mix with the locals who do not speak English. Some of my friends there have noticed an improvement in my language skills.

In short I think you must spend time in the company of native speakers of French to learn the language.

The 4th Foreign Regiment of the French Foreign Legion has been based in Castelnaudary in the Languedoc since 1976.

http://foreignlegion.info/units/4th-foreign-regiment/

Thanks pal, what would you say about how many hours a day is optimal for quick learning? 2-3?

joolsveer

You can do immersion courses in some language schools. I will try to find some information for you. I know that there are schools in Montpellier where then run such courses as I have considered enrolling.

http://issuu.com/afdublin/docs/timetable1

This link is to the Alliance Francaise timetable app. If it doesn't work try the main site http://www.alliance-francaise.ie/

I found this course in the south of France
http://www.institutdefrancais.com/fees.html

School in Montpellier
http://www.lsf-france.com/

I have a preference for the south of France because of the weather, the food and the people. You can fly from Dublin to Carcassonne with Ryanair three days a week in the summer season and get a train to Montpellier from Carcassonne train station.

dremo

Thanks a lot

playedalive

You should also look at finding a French language partner. It really helps to meet a native French speaker for drinks and a chat. I used this a fair bit

http://conversationexchange.com

Calina

dremo wrote: »

Hey I have RosettaStone program with French levels 1 to 5 and I just started yesterday learning it I have zero knowledge about language, my question is: Is it possible to learn french in one year time? How many hours and what material other then Rosetta I should be studying? Thanks in advance.

Helps if you can live in a French speaking area but if you don't,

a) listen to French radio on the web
b) watch French movies with subtitles.
3) watch TV with subtitles. Dubbed with subtitles also in French is good.

It's not a question of being stuck at a book practising following recordings all the time. You can learn to speak reasonable French in that time, but you need a lot of immersion. 2-3 hours study a day isn't really going to cut it.

niallcon4re

You Won't be fluent in a year. If you have the will, you could have an intermediate level where you can communicate with French people if they are willing to speak a bit slower and use more basic words (unfortunately the French aren't exactly famous for their patience towards foreigners speaking their language and can be a bit rude and reply in English).

Anyway, you need to go to go classes so that somebody can explain the language to you, R.S will just ask you to repeat like a parrot.

I found a great site for Spanish where they went through the weeks news but spoke very slowly as it was designed for students, you could even read the transcript and learn the sound of the language, maybe 3-6 months later I was able to listen to the proper news (although not understanding everything) as they speak clearly, another 3-6 months later and I was able to watch Spanish t.v and understand the characters that speak well (not the knackers).

On youtube there is some cheesy "comedy" made in lots of languages designed for students of the various languages. Google is your friend! stick to stuff designed for students as "full speed French" will just sound like nonsense. People speak slower to 3 year olds because they are learning the language.

It is a matter of slow and steady steps.

It is easy to do 3-4 hours a day (listen while in car, walking, on public transport, lunch break and then an hour or two in the evening).

Do something every day! even 20 minutes is better than nothing.

EhBenDisDonc

You could do worse than set up a satellite dish with a Fransat or TNTSat receiver - slight inconvenience is that these boxes have to be bought in France. This would give you all the mainstream French digital channels for free. Watching the News every evening is a painless way to improve comprehension quickly.

peckerhead

Or just watch TV5 online? They have an app, too (posting from my phone so can't link).

GMusicMan

Lots of good advice from previous posters. It's an interesting question I think alot depends on what you define as "fluent", the European Framework classifies language levels (roughly you'll have to wiki for exact descriptions) from beginner: A1 to intermediate: B1 B2 to highly fluent C1 to native level: C2.
My own level is about B1/B2 after two years of Uni (I did it for the Leaving but only got a D and that was 8 years before going back to College) 4 months in France last summer and this last college year hanging out with alot of French friends on a regular basis. Now two years for college is only 48 weeks and I by no means spent every waking minute on it juggling 3 other subjects in first year, a job, and this year a second subject.
I think it's all about your own level of dedication and I think in 1 year you could become very competent in the language. The audio book is a great place to start but you have to recognize that is all it is, a start. As previously mentioned, watch French TV and movies, get to a level where you can watch them with French subtitles. Get a kindle and download French books and a translation dictionary .
As for how many hours I don't think there's a set rule and everyone learns at different rates, but if you were spending 40 hours a week on it I think you'd be fairly fluent after a year, of course this doesn't mean with your head stuck in a book either: hang out with French people, I don't know where you're from but there's plenty of French people in the cities: Dublin, Cork & Galway. Make friends with French people online, nothing is going to improve your written French faster than messaging someone, also the French are great at correcting your French -they take pride in it!
Finally while it's interesting when you start learning a language to think "when will I be fluent" you should enjoy the process of learning it(which never stops!) and think about why you want to learn the language, is it for a genuine love of the language and a desire to access a different culture via the language or is your ambition to reach a certain level so you can work in a call centre? I'm not knocking one over the other, but whatever your motivation it needs to be strong enough that you enjoy the process of language learning because it's one of the most fun, challenging, rewarding things you can do.
And with that Je vous souhaite bonne courage !