Can You Really Learn French Fast?

[Reginald Roberts]

'Learn French fast!' is the promise so many adverts for language
courses promise both online and offline, and anyone who wants to learn
French might be tempted to buy them, but do they live up to their
claims? In this article we are going to be looking at just what it
really takes to learn French fast.
If you are a native speaker of English, or even if you have learned
English to a high degree of competency, you already have a natural
skill to your advantage, that you can capitalize upon to learn French
fast. Many English words are derived from Latin based words, due to
invasion of Britain by the Romans and the Normans, who spoke French.
This means that thousands of French words are already known to us, in
some form or other, even before we start to learn French.
Although, as an English speaker, you do will enjoy certain advantages
in learning French words, your knowledge of other languages related to
French will also play an important role in whether you can learn
French fast. If you happen to have a background in Italian, Spanish,
Portuguese or even Romanian, you will have a further advantage in your
efforts to learn French fast.
This is because the grammatical structures of these languages is
similar to that of French, which means the general concepts underlying
the patterns of verbs, tenses and sentence structure will not require
the same amount of elucidation they would if you were coming from a
background of English only.
Have you studied any other languages successfully in the past? It
doesn't matter whether these languages are related to French, the mere
process of having learned a foreign language before, sets the scene
for any language learning that follows, and makes it that bit easier.
Looking at what we've discussed so far, what immediate advantages do
you have to offer yourself to begin to learn French fast? Those
represent just the first step.
To learn French fast, you need to get hold of a comprehensive language
course to work from, that stimulates as many learning channels as
possible at the same time, that is to say, visual, auditory and
kinesthetic. A computer-based course is the most effective way to do
this, because the entire course is accessible, literally, at the touch
of a button. This helps you to learn French fast, because you won't
have to fumble your way through the pages of a text book, or
constantly have to find your place on an audio tape or CD, that
distracts you from the learning task at hand.
In addition to the positive factors you already possess, you can also
speed up your learning of French using certain techniques and
strategies that you can acquire. Learning how to concentrate for
longer periods of time than the average modern mind is used to will
help you focus on learning the French language better.
Also, learn how to use mnemonic techniques, such as association, to
aid you in learning French vocabulary, because words are the building
blocks of language. The faster you learn them, the faster you learn
French! For example, the French for bear is 'ours', which sounds a lot
like 'horse' but with the 'h; dropped. You only need to imagine bears
doing a horse race and you've immediately got that word under your
belt. Now that's fast learning!
Finally, to learn French fast, you will have to put in several weeks
of intensive study, learning for at least an hour each day, and
practicing in your free moments by reviewing the material studied in
your active learning sessions.
If you put your mind to it, and you're willing to study hard, you
should be able to learn French fast, relatively speaking.

Learn French like a Rocket: http://rfrench.hot.to/