Becoming Bilingual?!
- Thread starter Rick C.
- Start date
maplesyrup
New member
LittleHockeyFan said:
I've got English, Jiberish, and conversational Jibber Jabber.
WalterSobchak
New member
Madferret said:
"I've got a grand piano to prop up my mortal remains...."
We were having this exact 'debate' at work the other day. The debate was about how do people who come to this country, get free English languages through my taxes, but if I want to learn French, I have to pay? I mean, God love the people who want to learn English, so it's not a shot at them. Just seems to be a bit backwards. I guess I am naive to believe that since we live in a bilingual country by law, I should have all the resources available to me to get French books/courses for free. Heck, maybe I have it wrong, and it is free, but I haven't found them yet.
But good Luck Rick.. I always regret not going past Grade 12 with it. And like you, I have lost it. Lost out on jobs I could have had had I spoken the French language. *shrugs*
Bill_Berg
Active member
I found Rosetta Stone wasn't nearly as helpful as simply speaking with people in French. Not sure if it's available where you live, but in some towns there are French speaking people that want to practice English so you can meet a couple times a week and just talk about whatever. You practice French, they practice English.
Maybe there's an online version.
Maybe there's an online version.
seahawk
New member
I know the french classes I took in high school were a total farce. I took it in my first year at university and was completely lost. I never took another class after that. Two of my cousins in St. John's went to a french immersion program in their schools and are so much better off by it.
Bullfrog
Active member
riff raff said:
I thought the french classes I took in school were actually quite good. I went to a school with both full english and french-immersion streams and was in the english stream. I'm definitely not fluent like some of my friends who took french immersion by I understand many words and the syntax.
maybe I was just lucky and had good teachers.
Captain Canuck
New member
Lets start with the basics: "crisse de calice de tabarnac!" or "Mon dieu tabarnac de calice!" :-X
Best to save those for if the job interview goes south and you need to make a last ditch effort to show you know some French! ;D
Kidding aside I'm pretty sure a few of the local high schools (thinking John F. Ross and Centennial) offer language classes at night as well as Connestoga College (both Kitchener and Guelph locations) so there should be plenty of options for you Rick.
Best to save those for if the job interview goes south and you need to make a last ditch effort to show you know some French! ;D
Kidding aside I'm pretty sure a few of the local high schools (thinking John F. Ross and Centennial) offer language classes at night as well as Connestoga College (both Kitchener and Guelph locations) so there should be plenty of options for you Rick.
hockeyfan1
New member
http://www.berlitz.ca/promo/en-learn-french/
Madferret
New member
Bullfrog where did you grow up?
I'm fortunate that I grew up in Orleans - it's about 60/40 English to French, and it's literally across the river from Quebec. So learning french wasn't even really an option for me - I was always able to practice my french in day to day life. You guys are telling me you've never experienced the joys of french girls?
I'm fortunate that I grew up in Orleans - it's about 60/40 English to French, and it's literally across the river from Quebec. So learning french wasn't even really an option for me - I was always able to practice my french in day to day life. You guys are telling me you've never experienced the joys of french girls?
groundskeeper willie
New member
Hey Rick, best of luck with the learning. I'm trying to learn french myself as well. I'm using a program by Rocket Languages. I see you've already found a good deal on Rosetta, so it's not as important to you, but anybody else looking at a program should check Rocket out as it is MUCH cheaper than Rosetta if you have to buy it new. The quality is very good, the lower price is due to it being a downloadable program (which you can then burn onto CD's) as opposed to Rosetta mailing you physical documents.
As for going to local colleges, I live in London and have taken a course at UWO and was slightly disappointed with it. It's not that it wasn't helpful, but not really worth the price paid, unless you have no other options for personal interaction with french speaking people.
As for going to local colleges, I live in London and have taken a course at UWO and was slightly disappointed with it. It's not that it wasn't helpful, but not really worth the price paid, unless you have no other options for personal interaction with french speaking people.