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Browsing All posts tagged under »learning french«
Beginning French: a six-week online language course
I’m excited to announce the launch of the first Conquering Babel online course! Beginning French will last six weeks, and is designed to kick start your self-study. Each week, you will be sent a lesson consisting of grammar, vocabulary, and tips for learning, and links to resources. You’ll be set homework, which you will send […]
Quality books for learning French
February 24, 2012
I’ve been asked a couple of times this week about good books for studying French. For all the great resources that are out there, I still don’t think that you can beat the CLE series. They aren’t glamorous or trendy, and their titles aren’t subtle: Grammaire Progressive Du Francais, Vocabulaire Progressive du Francais. There’s no attempt to […]
App Review: the Bescherelle Conjugaison
February 17, 2012
Since the dawn of time, the school supply lists of French schoolchildren have included a book known as the Bescherelle. French verbs andtheir spellings are notoriously difficult, even for native speakers, and the Bescherelle is a kind of road map to help them (and their parents) navigate the pitfalls. It basically consists of list after […]
7 Key Resources for Beginning French
October 18, 2011
1. The vocab notebook. Buy a small one, so you can pop it in your back pocket or your handbag. Take it everywhere with you. Use it to scribble down new words to look up later. Have it next to you during your lessons, so that you can jot down useful new phrases. Whip it […]
App review: Living Language (French)
October 14, 2011
There is a plethora of apps available for learning French. More or less randomly, I chose to have a look at Living Language. You get three “lessons” in the free package, which is just enough to get a taster and figure out if this app is the right choice for you. The full app, which […]
Readable French books?
September 21, 2011
Are you learning French? Ready for the challenge of reading a whole book? Stop! Don’t pick just any book. You may be feeling it now, but three pages into the latest translated Sophie Kinsella, your dictionary will be soaked with tears of frustration. (You do have a dictionary, don’t you?) And let’s take chick lit […]
Want to be more like Brad Pitt?
September 17, 2011
This, from icdyk.com: “All our kids are speaking French, so now we have that second language infused into our home. Everyone is learning another language. I’ve got the Rosetta Stone for French sitting right on the table in the bedroom, and it’s going to be loaded into my brain. I know there are certain synapses […]
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Conquering Babel 
March 28, 2012
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