French lessons
 

Can anyone recommend a reputable and established french tutor online? They do need to speak english too. We cannot find one locally after 2 years of trying. We cannot attend a language school as we work shifts, so cannot attend regular Mon - Fri lessons. We have been using a lady on skype who has here own language school online, but after 8 months we have hit a wall and not finding her lessons very structured. We have been having 45 min lessons with Skype and works well, but need a bit more structure with our lessons.

Re: French lessons
 

Hi jvc

My wife's nephew (who is French) does this - he used to work for Berlitz but now teaches French over Skype from his home in Paris.

I'll PM you his details later in the day and you can talk to him about how he structures his lessons.

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Cool thanks!

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Have you tried the Marie?

That's where I went and they recommended a tutor in the village.

Re: French lessons
 

Yes we have. He has noted our number etc but obviously nothing. We live in an area where there aren't many english, so is hard to find a tutor. There are loads on the internet but too many to know who is good and bad, especially paying per hour for them. I have even tried local schools.

Re: French lessons
 

My one turned out to be the French and Latin teacher at the local school. Her English is good but we try not to speak it.

You could always just try them out until you find one that you like.

I'm quite lucky, it's expensive at 20e for the hour but she often stays longer and we share a bottle of red. :thumbup:

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A bit of english is good I find, as occasionally you can get really, really stuck, and when you are paying for a lesson you aren't wasting time explaining things you really don't understand!:p

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I did say TRY not to :D

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Hi jvc - I've sent you a PM (at last) with some contact details.

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Received thanks

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If she is good that is very cheap. Remember that for every hour of lesson she will probably have spent as much time preparing it. Especially if she tailors her lessons to suit the age and ability of her pupil.

My husband helps some local youngsters with their English (he was head of modern languages at a big school in the UK) He doesn't charge but the parents often pay him in kind eg a load of logs, a bit of building work. One neighbour told him that a decent private tutor would charge at least €30.00 an hour possibly more.

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Ah, my wife helps out some the school kids too, for free. Helps us feel accepted.

I wouldn't say my tutor structures a lesson. I told her I wouldn't really learn that way, with homework etc, I just don't have the time. When we have reached a point where I struggle she gives me some homework. She comes over and we just chat about what has happened during the week etc. Last night we spoke about the upcoming Marie election, someone we know who had an accident, her pupils recent visit to London etc. Just general chat.

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Are you just being tutored in spoken French?

My real problem is not speaking, reading or understanding the language but I really struggle with the written bit and I am not brilliant on the phone if I don't know the caller. Well I do in English too:frown::frown:, but I have help so I am lazy about improving

Husband's pupils are tackling all 4 elements and at various levels - right up to university level and he really works hard at matching the lesson content to the student. Keeps him out of trouble and cuts down on fuel and repair costs.

Re: French lessons
 

Yes,for the time being I just want to be able to talk on a social level so we can form a bit of a life. Because I work from home this is the only French I get to speak.

Once I can actually hold a conversation I will move onto written, I do read (try to) L'quipe.

It's not enough, 1 hour a week. My French is still worse than terrible. But when I compare it to a year ago when I started I'm doing ok.

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An hour a week is not nearly long enough. You really need to get some conversation every day. Been there got the tee-shirt.

When we came here 20+ years ago my level of French was "O"level failed. I relied solely on a bi-lingual husband but we had lovely neighbours who invited us round and offered help with all manner of things so I just had to get on with it. I pushed myself off on my own to chat with the neighbours, ask their advice, take them home-made food and they in turn gently corrected my French and were very patient as long as I tried.

We then started to have French only days at home and that really helped. Now I speak reasonable French with a Provencal accent that completely baffles people from elswhere in the country.

My advice is to try to speak French with a native every single day and to make the most of all chances outside home to comunicate. Watch French television and listen to the radio (hideous though it mostly is) If you like sports then try watching listening to that - you will understand something of what is going on. I learned a lot from watching football and tennis.

Re: French lessons
 

GrannyB (& others who may be struggling):-
You probably have the best French language tuition solution already sitting there in your own living room. Namely the tv!
Watch the news and the weather forecast daily, and buy and read the Tele7Jour tv magazine - (brilliant loads of interesting reading material for just €1) . Many years ago my French came on in leaps and bounds as soon as I started doing this - and I'm not that bright.....;)
This immerses you in the language - which imho is essential! After the first week - even if you understand very little of what you're hearing- you will start to recognise those essential 'key' words, and a little later how they are formed and used in a phrase. After all, this is how we learnt our mother-tongue as small infants - not from text books or structured lessons.
Try it every day for one month, and if your French doesn't begin to 'click' within a month, either I will "eat my shorts", or (with respect) a hearing-aid may be required.

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There is no bar in the village at the moment, I work 8am to 7pm so there is no chance of speaking everyday. We have been trying to get French TV installed but it's not easy, we have people turn us down because the access is too dangerous.

We'll get there


Further to the TV question. The last man that came round said all we needed was an analogue aerial as we could just tune our TV into that. Is anyone aware if this is the case. If so, I'm sure we used to have our analogue aerial in the attic when I was young. So need for roof access. Can anyone verify this?

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Tweedpipe I said I am not struggling with reading understanding or speaking. I just find writing hard, I do in English too, as you may have noticed :o

I am immersed in the language, as I was in English, my vocabulary is sometimes better than my husband's. I do agree with you about watching tv and listening to the radio - especially the local stations and that is what I suggested to the OP. Though French tv other than the weather forecast , the news and the odd sports programme is really dreadful, not as bad as in the US but still dire.

I found watching French language films with English subtitles very useful at the beginning - if you see them several times you get to ignore the subtitles and just listen and learn. Trouble there is so many English language films are dubbed not sub-titled.

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not the op :( somewhat hijacked I fear :unsure:

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We don't have a bar either - in our hameau there are only houses and people! Do you know your neighbours? Do you get involved with village life, are you, for example registered to vote in the local elections?

When tv went digital here we bought a digibox and one of the neighbours connected it to our old aerial - our house is three storeys high! When that set died we bought a new one which was digital so no need for box which we passed that on to another neighbour who needed one.

Some of husband's pupils come round to watch English programmes we record for them, and everyone loved the royal wedding - we had a housefull.

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Sorry about that. I really did want to help you find the help you need - I'll shut up now :o:o:o:o

Re: French lessons
 

I thought I would just make a few comments which, although only loosely related to the OP’s question, may help others in the process of learning French.

I’ve been in France almost continually since 1991 starting out in the Pas de Calais with my schoolboy French and ending up in the Cote d’Azur by way of Monaco. Although my wife (who is a French and English teacher in Lycée) may describe my French as “almost perfect” and “very fluent” I still feel it is anything but.

So my first piece of advice is that if you think one day it is going to magically “click” then you will be sorely disappointed because French will always be your second language. Even now, I hate going to see a good film in French because it is such an effort to keep up with the rapid and/or softly spoken dialogue – my wife whose language skills are much better than mine has exactly the same problem with English films. Similarly a dinner party with only French guests will give me a headache by the end of the evening.

I say this not in order to put anyone off learning French but just to set a realistic expectation level.

Contrary to some advice here I would urge anyone learning French to develop their reading and writing skills. For me it’s important to see how the words look and if, like me, you change regions in France then this is going to be the only way that you can cope with the different accents. When I first moved to the south of France from the north I was totally confused by what I thought were new words only to find that it was really just the locals making liaisons between words which were enunciated separately in the north.

It used to be my habit to buy a newspaper everyday and sit down with a dictionary to translate the articles which interested me – with Google translate this would have been considerably easier. I also bought a book on verb conjugation and learnt a verb/tense per day (you can largely forget the past historic tense which IMHO serves no useful purpose at all). Because it was my interest I also used to buy car magazines and read these from cover to cover as they at least provided me with a bit more incentive to study.

Apart from the odd documentary,I have never found French TV to be of much interest or of much help and I have never read French books either – OK you can tell me what wonders I’ve been missing but at the end of the day I’m English and I prefer an English perspective over a French perspective any day of the week. After a couple of years I did do a one month course of 2 hours per day which gave quite a helpful boost.

Anyhow, it’s taken a long time but it’s worked for me. I can moan at the mairie, gripe at the gendarmes, fight with the fisc and I can also get a considerable feeling of superiority that I can write in French better than most of them can (which is actually not that hard).

The rewards of such an effort are there in day-to-day life since you won’t need to keep asking for help all the time (which I hate doing) and, for those more sociable than I, it makes communicating with the locals a little easier (though many of them probably can speak some English). They say when you start to dream in French you know you’ve made it though personally I think I would rather have Swedish dreams. :scarper:

Re: French lessons
 

:goodpost:

I always worry when I read posts that state "I don't speak French but I will learn it".
I socialize often with French friends often like this afternoon and Friday afternoon and Friday evening for example and it is difficult (impossible) when 6 French people have been eating and drinking wine for 6 hours to follow the increasingly fast and colloquial conversation.
Although after 6 hours of drinking wine - I don't really care;)
I just accept my limitations and get on with it.

We often go to films in V.O. with French subtitles and we can do the same with some tv programs which can throw up some interesting translations.

Thanks for your post - in around 30 years I should be as fluent as you:D

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:goodpost: :thumbsup:

SB

Re: French lessons
 

When, in 1986, we arrived in Germany to live & work, I had one year of schoolboy German (which was one more than anyone else in the family).

What helped us most (apart from watching regular TV and having day to day interactions with Germans, as suggested earlier) was renting videotapes (remember them?) of movies we'd watched before in English. These were always dubbed into German but sometimes had English subtitles.

Leaps and bounds. We lived there for 8 years and were all taken for Germans long before that.

None of us ever had a formal German lesson or a tutor.*

Edit: *I should say neither of us: the 2 kids were of course in kindergarten then school.

Re: French lessons
 

We are registered to vote etc. Don't really know many people here, only to say hello to.

Most of our social activity seems to be in the village next door where the kids go to school. We do lots there, wife helps the school, I help at teh basketball club etc.

We are going to put our house on the market in April in th ehope of moving back. There seems to be a high % of English in this village which has two problems. We didn't move here to be around English so kind of keep ourselves to ourselves. And the local French despise the English as they have bought houses and then only come for 2 months.

To other posts. I didn't say I thought French would suddenly click. But one of us in this house has to work so we can stay here, and that is me, which means I am tied to the house and can't really go out during the week. As long as my wife and children are happy and doing ok that's enough for me. I try, I have a lesson once a week, I help out at school events and when I can I go to the bar in the next village.
A sports club has opened up 30 mins away and I am going to see if I can join a 5 a side team. When I can get there. I did used to play golf which helped, but they wanted 1000e for this year and I only play about 15 times. Didn't seem worth it.

Re: French lessons
 

loy loy

You have obviously done what you can and I agree that some of us find learning any language harder than others. Very glad that the rest of the family are happy. Children do adapt better than adults. maybe you should pay them to teach you???

I also understand the problem of too many Brits around. We too actively avoided them when we first came and concentrated on getting to know our neighbours and taking part in events and activities up in the village. Inevitably we have got to know some of the Brit Brigade - many of whom never seem to speak any other language than English and are positively intent on extending their circle of similar friends.

We were invited to a party last year where there were about 50 guests and the only French people there were the barman and the two waiters. I was, apparently, described later as "Very rustic, clearly gone native:thumbsup:"

As for coping with lengthy French meals etc - as cyrian says you just have to go with the flow, but as most of our French friends are never ever at a loss for words a few polite interjections are usually more than enough.

As for following French language films, I have enough problems with English and especially American ones. On DVD I always put the subtitles for the deaf on. :o:o

Re: French lessons
 

Orange digital tv can be very helpful I have come across a few channels on Orange where you can shift programs like "The Sopranos" between English and French and the subtitles can be shifted as well which makes it an excellent learning aid. It's only on some of the post w2k tv content and it shifts back to French in the adverts and you have to change it again when the program restarts.

Re: French lessons
 

GrannyBunz. I am interested to know how you managed to mix with your neighbours. We have moved into a hamlet where not alot goes on, and the village doesn't have a very active social calender. We do find mixing with our neighbour and his family the best way for learning the language, but as for meeting the others we don't feel it is normal to just go knocking on neighbours doors and saying hello!! Also whilst out walking, although we live on a great route for randonée, the neighbours never seem to be out in their gardens. This is for sure how we need to learn, but it is breaking the ice and meeting more people. I suppose winter is the worst time, as everyone seems to be a recluse! We do have british friends in the nearest towns, but really want to be mixing with our neighbours more. Our immediate neighbour seems thrilled he has british neighbours, and is so hospitable and always bringing us round gifts!

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Hi, go along to your Mairie and get a list of all the Associations and Clubs in your Commune. There's sure to be something you're interested in or willing to try, and you can meet French people with similar interests.

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We have done that. The new years get together we couldn't make due work, and believe me there isn't alot else going on. There isn't even a website for the village! We love it here so much but it is a sleepy hamlet....emphasise on the word sleepy :lol: If there is anything we will get it through the letter box.

Re: French lessons
 

I was thinking more along the lines of weekly gym, dancing, hiking, arts and crafts, parlour games (scrabble, cards), all of which our Commune of 1000 souls offers, not to mention about 10 lotos (bingo) a year to help finance the various Associations, and our nearest town has choirs, music, ciné-club, chess/bridge, sports clubs, .... :)

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Possibly...our nearest town for sure has these but I am thinking of getting to know people more local...neighbours etc. Maybe when the Summer comes we will see more people out and about.

Re: French lessons
 

Hello.

I introduce myself. I am a frenchman, I live in Normandy and I am 24.
I registered on this forum because I read this topic.

I am not bilingual in english but I want learn your language to speak fluently english.

I'm searching british correspondant and if you want speak french, you can send me a private message.
We will have bilingual discussion. A day in english and an other day in french.

It is a pleasure for me to take a "coup de pouce" because I know french is harder than english.

:)

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^^ Bienvenue chez nous Monsieur. :)

Does that 14 imply Calvados? If so, whereabouts?

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Bags French14! Butt out, Novocastrian! Maybe I can get myself a toyboy here!

Seriously French14 - I have pm'd you... and I wouldn't know what to do with a toyboy. :o

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It looks as if you will be receiving many private messages on this subject, including mine. :)

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:) (He can't read PM until after his third post).

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Exactly ! I come from Caen in Normandy.
I lived in little brittany (Cote d'amor et Finistère) since 2009 to 2012 and I come back in Normandy last year after my studies.


I don't understand the word/expression "toyboy".
Can you explain me, please ? :o

(Of course I'm a frog-eater and I understand nothing :p)
Previous sentence is a joke


The honnor is mine. :)

Actualy, this is not easy to find a correspondant on internet. Many websites are fake, spam or scam.

What ? What ? :unsure:
It's ok I undertand the nospam system. The good new is this message is my second message on the forum !

Re: French lessons
 

.

Several of my wife's cousins (and their kids etc.) live in Caen or its suburbs.

Our home in France is in 14230, about 35 minutes away.

Whoa, the best the wife can suggest is "petit copin joujou" but I suspect that might not have the lewd connotations. :)