My french is pretty bad, i think i could ask someone where the swimming pool is, but thats about it. Now we are going out to france for 10 days in august, and also we ski there when we get the chance, so could anyone recomend a way to learn french to a usefull standered? kind regards, anthony
If you have an Ipod....
Use the Itunes store, go to podcasts, check out the free language courses.
I used Coffee break Spanish, I think they do a French version too...
Short 15 min programs of the basics to get you sorted buying beer, paying for meals etc.
I brought this to learn norwegian, I found it quite good, even the other half (who is from norway) seemed impressed.
Link
But i must actually use it to learn the language.
Je n'comprend pas monsieur! Tu Parle en englais?
That pretty much works everywhere.... Most of them dont seem to be amused when you struggle through when you could get it over and done with in
english...
The best way to learn would be to go on holliday and ONLY speak french.. you pretty quickly pick up the basic conversational elements if they speak
slowly..
Does your local school/college to language conversation lessons for adults as part of their extended services? Worth looking at!
I have a "Rosetta Stone" language course for sale, as we decided that our second home would be in Italy, not France!
U2U me if you're interested
ou est la plage?
When i went last year, i just used the phrase 'do you speak english?' Most of them do so we had no problem
Just speak loudly in English 
try the Basil Fawlty approach. speak loud, slow and with a french accent. seemed to work for him
Petit pois, Petit pois!!
oh !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Cant speak french" just conjours up images of "Girls Aloud"
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
get a french girlfriend, you'll learn a lot of usefull words
Oh mon dieu
If it wasn't for us they'd be speaking German, so they'd better stop pretending they don't understand LOUD ENGLISH! 
mange tout , rodney
Your local library will stock language courses
Otherwise just shout and put an O at the end of every word
quote:
Originally posted by Lightning
mange tout , rodney
The Michel Thomas audio courses are quite good. These are on CD.
cheers for the tips guys, i especialy like the louder with an 'o' method.
Some good tips here:
http://www.beermountain.com/frenchphraseguide.htm
Seriously tho, I've always found the French to be fine as long as you make an effort. If you bowl in and start shouting in English they'll
purposely not understand. Give it a go in French first, and most of them will respond with 'don't worry, just say it in English'.
Chris
The French from France like to be contrary: so you say one thing, and they will automatically say the opposite. It is in their nature, and they LOVE
IT when you contradict them. If you are actually correct, they love you even more. They are the same as anyone else: you throw in a few words every
now and then, start with BONJOUR, and it gets you a long way. Hokey but true.
Unfortunately, my tips for learning the language are based on 40 + years of trying to master it. Yes, it ended up nearly my minor in my Uni
Linguistics degree, but it has been a lifetime struggle. I married a francophone. Seemed to speed things up a bit.
ANY OLD PHRASE BOOK will do you for your trip. You will have a great time. If you see any good properties for good prices, let me know. Seriously.
quote:
Originally posted by tegwin
Je n'comprend pas monsieur! Tu Parle en englais?
That pretty much works everywhere.... Most of them dont seem to be amused when you struggle through when you could get it over and done with in english...
The best way to learn would be to go on holliday and ONLY speak french.. you pretty quickly pick up the basic conversational elements if they speak slowly..
Does your local school/college to language conversation lessons for adults as part of their extended services? Worth looking at!