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How to learn French outside of school?

I wasn't able to take French at A-Level this year because it clashed with another one of my subjects. However, I still really want to learn the language but don't really know how? What's the best way of learning a language without attending school lessons? Is it even effective to learn it properly without a proper A-Level teacher?

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Duolingo, its a free app and its helped me learn french pretty well:smile:
Reply 2
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amyw1100
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Original post by idontknowmedoyou
Duolingo, its a free app and its helped me learn french pretty well:smile:


thanks! did you think it helped with grammar and everything too? i'll check it out :smile:
I learn quite a few languages in my spare time and if you're already pretty good at French I would recommend a community teacher on italki. You have lessons through Skype and it's pretty inexpensive compared to a language class or tutor. You can just speak in French with a native speaker and ask for exactly what you want. Your spoken language would probably improve quite quickly but you may still have to do a bit of outside work like writing in a journal in French or something to practice writing the language.
If you want to learn and remember vocab I'd recommend srs (spaced repetition software)

Hope this helps!
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amyw1100
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Original post by Izzie1234567
I learn quite a few languages in my spare time and if you're already pretty good at French I would recommend a community teacher on italki. You have lessons through Skype and it's pretty inexpensive compared to a language class or tutor. You can just speak in French with a native speaker and ask for exactly what you want. Your spoken language would probably improve quite quickly but you may still have to do a bit of outside work like writing in a journal in French or something to practice writing the language.
If you want to learn and remember vocab I'd recommend srs (spaced repetition software)

Hope this helps!


thanks! i'll look into it!
Reply 5
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john2054
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Original post by amywright1
I wasn't able to take French at A-Level this year because it clashed with another one of my subjects. However, I still really want to learn the language but don't really know how? What's the best way of learning a language without attending school lessons? Is it even effective to learn it properly without a proper A-Level teacher?


you could do it by reading french books? with a dictionary at hand>?
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Original post by john2054
you could do it by reading french books? with a dictionary at hand>?


hmmm good idea!
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john2054
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Original post by amywright1
hmmm good idea!


C'etait quoi je l'ai etuder. Pardons mes mals Francaise!
Original post by amywright1
thanks! did you think it helped with grammar and everything too? i'll check it out :smile:


Yep its really useful:smile: its tracks all your progress and makes sure you revise everything, it also helps with pronunciation as you can click on words or sentences and have them read it out to you!
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Original post by john2054
C'etait quoi je l'ai etuder. Pardons mes mals Francaise!


c'est ne pas grave, mon francaise est mal aussi
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Original post by idontknowmedoyou
Yep its really useful:smile: its tracks all your progress and makes sure you revise everything, it also helps with pronunciation as you can click on words or sentences and have them read it out to you!


that's sounds like a really good app! thanks for letting me know!
Original post by amywright1
c'est ne pas grave, mon francaise est mal aussi


ce n'est pas grave. etc. French generally places the object subject verb in that order, rather than subject verb object, like we do here in english!?!
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Original post by john2054
ce n'est pas grave. etc. French generally places the object subject verb in that order, rather than subject verb object, like we do here in english!?!


thanks for letting me know! Kind of proves the fact that i have a lot to learn ahaha :smile:
Original post by amywright1
thanks for letting me know! Kind of proves the fact that i have a lot to learn ahaha :smile:


so instead of saying i love you, (subject verb object) you say je t'aimes (i you like/love).
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Original post by john2054
so instead of saying i love you, (subject verb object) you say je t'aimes (i you like/love).


yeah, i understand that, like you would say je n'ai pas un chat, yes?
and i've done a bit on pronouns before so have a basic bit of knowledge. Oh and also, wouldn't it be je t'aime? without the s?
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by amywright1
yeah, i understand that, like you would say je n'ai pas un chat, yes?
and i've done a bit on pronouns before so have a basic bit of knowledge


J'ai une chat. Elle s'appelle Daisy (I have a cat, her (own) name is daisy).
Reply 16
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Original post by john2054
J'ai une chat. Elle s'appelle Daisy (I have a cat, her (own) name is daisy).


yeah, i understand haha. j'ai un frere et il s'appelle daniel. il a dix ans etc
Original post by amywright1
yeah, i understand haha. j'ai un frere et il s'appelle daniel. il a dix ans etc


c'est bon kikiki
Original post by amywright1
I wasn't able to take French at A-Level this year because it clashed with another one of my subjects. However, I still really want to learn the language but don't really know how? What's the best way of learning a language without attending school lessons? Is it even effective to learn it properly without a proper A-Level teacher?


would recommend memrise.com and quizlet.com
I find that duolingo is a bit limited to phrases etc. which is good for going on holiday/visiting France but to actually learn the language one must delve deeper.
I am also teaching a few TSRians myself and if you ever want a lesson or two on some grammar or something, feel free to give me a PM.
I did it at AS and dropped it, but still keep it up via reading etc :france:
Reply 19
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amyw1100
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Original post by CheeseIsVeg
would recommend memrise.com and quizlet.com
I find that duolingo is a bit limited to phrases etc. which is good for going on holiday/visiting France but to actually learn the language one must delve deeper.
I am also teaching a few TSRians myself and if you ever want a lesson or two on some grammar or something, feel free to give me a PM.
I did it at AS and dropped it, but still keep it up via reading etc :france:

thanks! i'll definitely pm you if i want a lesson, thank you for the offer :smile:

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