So I’ve been planning for a trip later this year. It’s still up in the air but if I get enough results and publish, I will be heading over to Europe for several weeks! Since it’s also on my Epic Challenges list, I decided to try learning some French and Spanish before I go. I’ve started with the French because I felt that the pronunciation would be the hardest and therefore require the most practice.
Since I work insane hours each day, I have little time to go to a French class. Instead I have been listening to a fantastic podcast by the Radio Lingua network called Coffee Break French. I like this podcast both for its rather fun and conversational approach, as well as the way lessons are delivered in 15 minute chunks. This approach has been far more effective than my initial thoughts of learning French from a book (flipping through a few on Amazon made me realise that there was no way I would be able to pick up the right sounds).
I have to say that I’ve been quite impressed with the way my French is progressing. I would say that I knew close to zero about the language before I started and now I can understand as well as participate in a basic conversation. Of course the real test will come when I actually get to France but it’s been trés bien! So if you’re interested, check out Coffee Break French either on their website from the link above or on iTunes in the podcast section, which is how I get the program. There is a premium version of the podcast but so far I haven’t felt like at a disadvantage using the free material.
Here’s to the start of the next Great Adventure!
À bientôt!
p/s: At some point I will probably create a secondary blog to keep some notes and share some other resources that I find useful in mastering the language at least to the conversational level. I’ll keep you updated on that!
