learning french when older

[zombies]

after leaving school i realise that i wish i could still do french. we learned french until we were ten at primary school, and then we were switched to learning german. i really wish i could of continued learning french. i've had a passion for ages and i was wondering is it possible to learn it now after leaving school (i understand it'll be harder cause it's easier to learn things when you're younger) and how would i go about it.

Moved by Lee (Forum Super Moderator): From 'Discuss Anything'.

[Chippiewill]

You could attend night classes to study french, or you could get rosettastone software to learn at your computer.

[Empired]

Personally, I hate Rosetta Stone but I know a few people who have tried it and loved it so you could give that a shot. Otherwise I suggest you find some evening classes to go to because if you try and learn on your own you'll almost definitely give up because you'll have no motivation plus pronunciation is difficult when you're learning solo.

[HC]

Idk if this will help http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/ but back when I was at school I used this website for my revision. It really helped me.

[zombies]

thank you all for your help :-)

[Kyle]

Night classes or learning software will definitely help but don't forget to use what you learn every day too by immersing yourself into french-speaking (habbo.fr if that still exists, for example!) and talking to francophones. You'll find yourself learning and remembering so much more and besides, what's the point learning a language if you're not going to use it.

[LoveToStack]

It's definitely possible. A friend of mine took a class before going on a ski season in France and he took another class when he arrived over there. He was speaking fluently in no time at all. I get the impression that it really is 'use or lose it' though. After he got back we ended up in France about 3 months later and he found he had forgotten quite a bit. Still, it came back to him quickly enough just by being around the language.

As others have said, there are loads of different ways to learn as well. I'd probably go for classes if it was something you're serious about.

On an interesting and related note, there was a man called Michel Thomas who taught languages for years very successfully, teaching people to a proficient level in very, very short spans of time. He was keen not to discuss his method but did want people to benefit from it (he just didn't want people messing it up). While I don't think he openly discussed the processes behind how it worked, what he did do before he died was make several instructional tapes (now available online) which use his method with him narrating. Funnily enough I tried some of the French ones the other day on Youtube. It's pretty incredible how fast you learn and how easy it is.

Here's the first audio file if you're interested; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f37LD-HO-1w. By the way, it's not a chore listening to these; if your experience is anything like mine you'll enjoy listening to them. A staple of his method is that there is no explicit memorization or homework, mental or written. Any and all responsibility is placed on the teacher, not the student. He explains it all in the Youtube link. Really worth a look, even if you're not interested in learning a language.

[JoeyK.]

Rosetta Stone does work really well. I took two years of French in high school and brushed up really quickly. My wife's family speaks Spanish, so I picked that up afterwards as well. The only real downside is the cost - depending on how fluent you want to be, you could spend anywhere from $179 US to $499 US, not sure what the prices in the UK are but that should give you a general idea.

On the plus side, I've been able to get at least a dollar more an hour at any job I've had for being able to speak Spanish, so that's always a plus. I guess after a few months it paid itself off.

[Okeanos]

Don't believe the stories you hear about people becoming fluent in short periods of time, learning any language is a big commitment and will take considerable effort. It is doable though.