2.5 month before the trip -- need to learn some French!!

After 4 months of looking at numerous websites and forums and searching for %26quot;the best deals%26quot; out there I am finally here -- all necessary reservations have been made!! I have plane tickets and hotel reservations...now all I need it to learn some French! There are tons of French self-study books/software/audio books/websites. Does anyone have any recommendations? What worked the best for you?

Thanks.

|||

Natasha, I found this great site that gives you audio bites. And its free. It was the best site I found while I was in search of freshening up my skills.

Check this out -

http://www.frenchtutorial.com/standard/

But I gotta be honest and tell you that I didn%26#39;t actually study up, as I just relied on my 2 1/2 years of French classes from school (as well as living w/ a French boyfriend for a year). Though I wish I would%26#39;ve known more. I had no idea I was going to need to know how to say %26quot;Excuse me sir, but I have to go back into the movie theater as I dropped my hat in there and I need to look for it.%26quot; ;-)

|||

The BBC%26#39;s online program for beginners, French Steps, is one of the best I have come across:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/

If you are serious about spending at least 20 minutes EVERY DAY on it you will learn a lot.

The other suggestion I have is that you get one of the basic CD programs that works for you and listen to it every moment you possibly can. So how do you find out which one works for you? Well, hopefully your public library will have a good selection for you to take a look at. try a few of them until you find the one that %26quot;cklicks%26quot; for you.

Reading and writing are importan too because they reinforce the process. So whatever method you use do try to find one that includes written exercises.

Bonne chance!

|||

Try

http://french.about.com/

You can have weekly courses sent to you(free).I get both the French course and the Travel French course.These courses have loads of information including audio pronounciations.I had previously purchased CD%26#39;s that had no written information with they and they didn%26#39;t work for me.I discovered that I need both visual and audio information.

|||

Speak Russian first, then English. It is going to work, you%26#39;ll see.

|||

Travelforever, you are so right! We went to Austria last year and were surprised by the fact that so many people spoke or understood Russian. Makes it difficult to talk about people! :-)

|||

Honestly, if they realize that you speak language other then English, French are a lot more receptive to make an attempt to communicate in English.

|||

Natasha, if you learn French, you will only make it easier for them to avoid learning English. Don%26#39;t spoil them that way!!! ;)