Learning French

[M659]

Hey
well, I feel kind of fondness for French, I just don't know exactly why but it's something I've been feeling for quite sometime and now I'm pretty ambitious to go about it, but there's a couple of issues I have to address beforehand and that's why I'm posting here.
first things first just to let you all know , I have gone through the search box and results but the best I could find was a museum piece.
well here are my problems:
1- I'm about to start French from scratch(Sub-Zero maybe) so I do not have a clue what I've gotta do , of course I know I have to participate in a class but not quite sure to study what book or even in what institute, I've had a term -of course English- in ILI and to be honest it was pathetic ! the books were kind of absurd for a 21 century student book, poor listenings, full of grammar and nothing compared to Interchange Series, so What Do You suggest??

2- What do you use as a listening source? (because I believe in listening more that my teacher)

3- is there a descent plain but rich French-English (and vice versa)dictionary like Longman Contemporary? What about an French-French dictionary?

4- Please let me know if anything crosses you mind regarding this topic.

your help would be highly appreciated
Thanks in advance

[M659]

anyone?
any suggestion?
come on people

[A r c h i]

HI dearM695

I studied French in Kanoon for almost 3 years and I'm completely satisfied with the books, the teachers, the method and etc

I know as far as English concerned, Kanoon is not a good option. But for French I definitely suggest it. The book they teach is called "Reflets" ..the book is great. It's so hard compare to other French books, But you'll learn a lot in a short time

There is another book that some institutes like Kish teach it's called " cafe cream" it's much more easier than "reflets" . I had some friends who had finished the first book of cafe cream(4 terms) and accepted in 2nd or first term of Reflets.

About the dictionary, there's a good French-English , English-French Oxford pocket dictionary which is so useful for beginners, But 4-5 terms you'll change it and then you know what to buy next

There is another institute named " Ghotbe Ravandi" they also teach Reflets, and It has a good reputation in French, you can get the number from 118 , There are some French classes at French embassy, but to enter that classes you need to study at least half of Reflets book. Those classes are a bit expensive too

Last but not least, I should warn you that french is such a hard language and it needs lots of effort and try. I myself finished the first term, and I quite because I was so confused about the language. But after 9 months I went back and started from the beginning again, till I quite about a year ago.

So wish you luck in this new language

[M659]

HI dearM695

I studied French in Kanoon for almost 3 years and I'm completely satisfied with the books, the teachers, the method and etc

I know as far as English concerned, Kanoon is not a good option. But for French I definitely suggest it. The book they teach is called "Reflets" ..the book is great. It's so hard compare to other French books, But you'll learn a lot in a short time

There is another book that some institutes like Kish teach it's called " cafe cream" it's much more easier than "reflets" . I had some friends who had finished the first book of cafe cream(4 terms) and accepted in 2nd or first term of Reflets.

About the dictionary, there's a good French-English , English-French Oxford pocket dictionary which is so useful for beginners, But 4-5 terms you'll change it and then you know what to buy next

There is another institute named " Ghotbe Ravandi" they also teach Reflets, and It has a good reputation in French, you can get the number from 118 , There are some French classes at French embassy, but to enter that classes you need to study at least half of Reflets book. Those classes are a bit expensive too

Last but not least, I should warn you that french is such a hard language and it needs lots of effort and try. I myself finished the first term, and I quite because I was so confused about the language. But after 9 months I went back and started from the beginning again, till I quite about a year ago.

So wish you luck in this new language

Thanks Archigirl(by the way you can call me mohammad if M659 doesn't work)
What you said about ILI is definitely good news for me because I'm currently living in Isfahan and among those institutes you've named I best recognize ILI,so I'm going for it

about the dictionaries, is there a PC version of the dictionaries you've named earlier?

I actually enjoy a challenge when learning a language comes in, so besides the possible conflicts between my school subjects and this new language, I bet I've got what it takes to learn this thing

but one thing , you didn't say anything about listening though, can you leave a remark on that as well?

thanks so much again , keep your fingers crossed for me:46

:

[A r c h i]

Dear Mohammad

Sorry I forgot about the listening part. I myself couldn't find a good source for listening, unfortunately, I found some podcasts, they were good but it was just good for beginners, so I couldn't use them a lot. The only thing I could do was to watch French movies and French channels in sattelite which was great. But the problem was, no one at home waned to watch French movies or listen to French news on Euronews, So they've always forced me to change the channel, But in my opinion Euronews in French is a great source for listening

About the dictionary, I just found an online French--English dictionary..I didn't download anything, actually I didn't search enough for that

I wish you luck in learning French..I know it's a great challenge..So try hard

[M659]

Dear Mohammad

Sorry I forgot about the listening part. I myself couldn't find a good source for listening, unfortunately, I found some podcasts, they were good but it was just good for beginners, so I couldn't use them a lot. The only thing I could do was to watch French movies and French channels in sattelite which was great. But the problem was, no one at home waned to watch French movies or listen to French news on Euronews, So they've always forced me to change the channel, But in my opinion Euronews in French is a great source for listening

About the dictionary, I just found an online French--English dictionary..I didn't download anything, actually I didn't search enough for that

I wish you luck in learning French..I know it's a great challenge..So try hard

Dear Archi-girl
thanks for the reply.
yeah I guess euronews would be good, and about the problem with nagging siblings, I think I'm over that by now , because no one at home watches American English shows either so you're not alone in that matter(the language doesn't matter that much)
thanks so much again