Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
For the literate learner of spoken French, there are more
than a few instances of silent letters:
homme, sable, fort,
sous, tabac, difi cile
. These silences occur in the beginning,
middle and end of the words.
The two most common problems cited by learners are
these: Gender—the use of the articles
la, le, l'
and
une, un.
Complements of verbs—the use of prepositions after verbs:
venir à
or
de, décider à
or
de, promettre à
or
de
or
que
.
Verb tense, aspect and mood are also somewhat
mystifying, especially the subjunctive. Vocabulary can be
easily sorted out into a list determined by frequency of use,
which ranges from high-frequency words such as articles,
prepositions and pronouns, to the generic verbs (come, go,
wait, buy, think, see, etc.), the generic nouns (numbers,
house, market, bread, fruit, meat, etc.) and attributes (left,
right, large, small, good, bad, expensive, cheap, etc.)
When learning French in a country where French is
spoken, you have the advantage of observing cultural
behaviour, as well. The relationship between what one says
and how one says it (intonation of speech and body gesture),
where and when one can say it, all should be integrated into
any language learning experience. The culture needs to be
learned and understood along with the language.
Apprenez! (Learn! Teach Yourself!)
The list of obstacles to the learner of French is neither
lengthy nor formidable. The French verb
apprendre
can
mean both learn and teach because they are two sides of
the same coin.
For pronunciation, you will need an excellent model,
preferably a native speaker. Not only must your pronunciation
be intelligible, it must be accurate 95 per cent of the time!
For grammar and vocabulary, you can be comforted by
these i gures: you can get by with 50 per cent accuracy in
grammar and you can get by with a general vocabulary that
comprises 5 per cent of the high-frequency words used by
native speakers.
Attending classes is the most common way that people
learn foreign languages, but most learning comes from doing.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search