French is one of the major languages in the world and while not spoken nearly as much as English, Mandarin, Arabic and others that hail from countries with large populations it is considered a diplomatic language and is spoken as a second language in many places around the globe thanks to French colonization of ages past. Is French hard to learn is a question many people ask when thinking about French language learning because the time invested in becoming fluent in any language is quite large and you want to be sure you can get something out of it in the end.
The reality is any language is difficult to learn if you do not approach it in the right way and do not understand the history and culture behind it. French has the advantage that it is tied to English by Latin and Latin characters and English can be seen as a derivative of French, German and other languages so there are many familiar words, sounds and concepts within the language that makes learning French easier than learning more foreign tongues like Chinese, Japanese and Russian.
The difficulty when trying to learn French comes from a few things such as pronunciation, grammar differences and subtle concepts alien to English such as having genders for every object by changing the prefix and suffix of words which can be embarrassing getting wrong and hard to ingrain in your skills as you learn to speak French.
So in the end is French hard to learn? I would say yes if you have limited exposure to French culture and no previous history with learning languages not because it is very different but instead because of the subtle differences in how you must think when speaking in French. One way that people overcome this is by use of learn French software that incorporates audio, visual and explanatory sections to gain a fuller understanding of the language and can be repeated and learned again and again.
By: Jennifer Longe
Posts Tagged ‘Second Language’
Is French Hard to Learn?
December 6th, 2009Learn to Speak French Online
October 27th, 2009Learning French is the theme of our website. You’ll see what it’s like to learn another language as an adult. Learning French is fun and easy with Rocket French! Designed especially for beginning students of the French language, the course offers pictures associations, pronunciation guides, and enjoyable exercises to reinforce new learning. Learning French is like a new Golf player, it’s better you stay off the green until you get a professional to teach you how to putt properly.
Learning French is certainly worth the effort. Things are always better in the original language; every language you learn multiplies your opportunities for learning new things. Learning French is not a romantic gesture. It is not an abstract gesture of that kind. Learning French is definitely easier than trying to stop smoking. More seriously, now is really the time to start or resume learning French.
Learning French is the first step to helping people in impoverished francophone countries allover the world. It is time to “reach out to the world and learn French.” Learning French is just within your reach!
Learning French is not only enriching, but also a marketable tool that companies encourage in their employees. We believe that learning French is more than taking on the essential grammatical underpinnings of a language. Learning French is an ongoing and involved process. You can’t learn French overnight, and you probably can’t learn it entirely on your own, no matter how many books and tapes you buy. Learning French is an excellent second language choice. Having a second language opens up new doors of opportunity for French learning students.
Learning French is now made even simpler with Rocket French, the affordable self study computer course using a conversational approach lauded by millions of educators and students. For years, the way to learn a language was through repetition and grammar drills – but current research shows that people learn best and retain more when engaged in meaningful, real-life conversations.
Students will be engaged in and challenged by their learning of a second language. Students must learn about and understand the cultures where French is spoken as well. Students tend to have a more positive view of learning French when these conditions are present.
One way of increasing students’ exposure to French outside the classroom is by visiting francophone students in Quebec or other francophone environments. Students and researchers who know French have access to original writings in their field. Keep in mind that many significant works in the areas of history, literature, philosophy, sociology, music, film and art history have not been translated. Students obtain about a seventy to eighty percent comprehension rate.
Students use film, sound and the Internet, as well as multimedia presentations and interactive grammar exercises. Many of these activities are created by teachers and tailored to the specific needs of their students.
Grammar or the relationship of words and structures of a language is the “blueprint” or “map” that helps a learner understand what is going on in the language. Whether you may want to travel, study a foreign language or even become a French translator, you will enjoy the experience of learning the French language with Rocket French software. Grammar and culture lessons are taught in a more traditional textbook fashion.
By: Julie Landry
Learn German Fast And Easy For Free
October 4th, 2009Below are the 12 Great Reasons why You should Learn German and the site below will teach you German for Free:
http://www.LearnGermanFast.net
1. German is the most widely spoken language in Europe.
More people speak German as their native language than any other language in Europe. It’s no wonder, since Germany’s 83 million inhabitants make it the most populous European nation. But not only the residents of Germany speak German. It is also an official language of Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein. And it is the native language of a significant portion of the population in northern Italy, eastern Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, eastern France, parts of Poland, the Czech Republic, Russia, and Romania, as well as in other parts of Europe.
While learning German can connect you to 120 million native speakers around the globe, remember that many people also learn German as a second language. It is the 3rd most popular foreign language taught worldwide and the second most popular in Europe and Japan, after English.
2. Germany has the 3rd strongest economy and is the #1 export nation in the world.
Germany has the third largest economy in the world and is the economic powerhouse of the European Union. In 2007 — for the 5th year in a row and depite the strength of the euro currency — the Germans were world champions in exports. The country exported 940 billion US dollars worth of goods, just ahead of the US exports. From cars to machinery and industrial equipment, from pharmaceuticals to household goods, German businesses earn 1 in 3 euros through export, and 1 in 4 jobs depends on exports. The competetiveness and desirability of German products on the market are indicated by the country’s substantial trade surplus, which reached 162 billion euros (209 billion dollars) in 2006 and continues to grow every year.
And don’t forget that Switzerland, another German-speaking country, has one of the highest standards of living in the world.
3. Knowing German creates business opportunities.
Germany’s economic strength equals business opportunities. Multinational business opportunities exist throughout the European Union and in the Eastern European countries, where German is the second most spoken language after Russian. Companies like BMW, Daimler, Siemens, Lufthansa, SAP, Bosch, Infineon, BASF, and many others need international partners. The Japanese, who have the 2nd most powerful economy in the world, understand the business advantages that a knowledge of German will bring them: 68% of Japanese students study German.
If you’re looking for employment in the United States, knowing German can give you great advantages. German companies account for 700,000 jobs in the United States, and US companies have created approximately the same number of jobs in Germany. All other things being equal, the job candidate with German skills will trump the one without such skills every time. Most surveyed companies in the United States would choose someone with German literacy over an equally qualified candidate.
4. Germans are innovators.
From Gutenberg’s printing press to Hertz’ discovery of electromagnetic waves, from Ehrlich’s development of chemotherapy to Einstein’s theory of relativity, to Brandenburg’s creation of the MP3 digital music format, throughout history Germans have proven themselves time and again to be great innovators. That trend continues today. 4 of the world’s 10 most innovative companies are located in Germany and at 12.7% of the world’s patent applications, the country ranks 3rd in the world. Consequently, 200,000 businesses introduce new products on the market each year.
As a nation committed to research and development, Germans are on the frontline of new technologies. Germany exports more high-tech products than any other country except the U.S. and more than 600 firms are active in the cutting-edge field of biotechnology. 115 of these are located in Munich alone. The east German city of Dresden has become Europe’s microchip center with its more than 765 semiconductor firms.
Given the Germans’ commitment to innovation, it is perhaps not surprising that two-thirds of the world’s leading international trade fairs take place in Germany. These include CeBIT, the world’s largest trade fair for information and communications technology, and the IFA consumer electronics trade fair.
5. Germans are the biggest spenders of tourist dollars in the world.
While German workers are highly productive, it is clear that they know how to play just as hard as they work. With ample disposable income and an average of 6 weeks of vacation a year, Germans have the time and the means to travel, … and they do! If you are a world traveler, you are certain to encounter Germans wherever you go since nearly 3 out of every 4 vacations by Germans are spent in other countries. In 2007, they spent a record 91 billion euros on international travel. Year after year, the residents of Germany spend more on foreign travel than those of any other nation.
Germans especially favor travel to warm Mediterranean climates, such as can be found in Spain, Italy, Turkey, and Greece, and travel to Eastern European countries is increasing in popularity. Germans also readily travel to Africa, the Far East, and the Americas. 1.2 million German tourists visited the U.S. in 2003, making Germans the third largest nationality of tourists to the United States (after the British and Japanese). The most popular U.S. destinations are California, Florida, and New York. Travel agencies, tour companies, hotels, airlines, and car rental agencies that can communicate with Germans in their own language will win their business. Floridians know this: In that state there are at least two travel magazines published in German: Florida Journal and Florida Sun Magazin.
6. The German presence on the Internet supercedes most others.
Considering what great innovators the Germans are, it’s not at all surprising that they maintain a dominant Internet presence. With 8 million Internet domains, Germany’s top-level country domain .de is second only to the extension .com. That makes German domain names even more popular than those with .net, .org, .info, and .biz extensions. Even the second-place country extension .uk trails far behind at 3.7 million domain names.
7. Germans form the largest single heritage group in the U.S.
If you’re American or are interested in American culture, learning German can expand your appreciation and knowledge of U.S. history and culture. In the year 2000 census, 42.8 million or 15.2% of Americans reported having German ancestry, making German Americans the largest single heritage group in the U.S.
In waves of immigration that span nearly 4 centuries, Germans brought with them many customs and traditions that have become so ingrained in American ways that their origin is often forgotten. Family names and names of thousands of towns and cities indicate the German heritage of their ancestors or founders. Such cultural mainstays as kindergarten, the Christmas tree, and hot dogs and hamburgers were introduced by German immigrants to America. They founded multiple breweries, created Levi’s jeans, invented ketchup, and created Hershey’s chocolate. Germans had such a fundamental presence at the time of the founding of the United States that a German language version of the Declaration of Independence was printed only a few days after it was adopted.
8. 1 in 10 books in the world is published in German
German is not only a language of the past. As prolific researchers and scholars, German speakers produce nearly 80,000 new book titles each year. The only language markets that produce more books annually are the Chinese and English publishing industries. In number of books published, Munich is second in the world only to New York. Since only a small percentage of German books are translated into other languages (for instance, approximately 10% into Korean and Chinese, just over 5% into English), only a knowledge of German will give you access to a vast majority of these titles.
9. German-speaking countries have a rich cultural heritage.
Apart from their many contributions to American culture, the German speakers have a rich cultural heritage in their own right. Germany is often referred to as the land of “Dichter und Denker” — of poets and thinkers. And rightly so, because German contributions to the arts and human thought have been nothing short of profound.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, and Hermann Hesse are just a few authors whose names and works are well-known internationally. 10 Nobel prizes for literature have been awarded to German, Austrian, and Swiss German authors. The world of classical music is inseparable from the names of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Strauss, and Wagner to name only a few reknowned German-speaking composers. Vienna remains an international center of music today. From the magnificent architecture of medieval buildings to the avant garde Bauhaus movement, from Dürer’s woodcuts to the expressionist masterpieces of Nolde, Kirchner, and Kokoschka, Germans have made substantial contributions to world art and architecture.
Philosophy and the sciences would also be unthinkable without the contributions of German speakers. The philosophies of Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and numerous others have had lasting influences on modern society. The psychologists Freud and Jung forever changed the way we think about human behavior. Scientists from the three major German-speaking countries have won dozens of Nobel prizes in physics, chemistry, and medicine.
Knowing German allows you to access the works of these people in their original language and to fully understand the culture whence they derived. Anyone interested in these fields automatically expands her knowledge and skill by knowing German.
10. German is not as hard as you think.
If English is your native language, or if you already know English, then you already have an advantage when it comes to learning German. Because modern German and modern English both evolved from the common ancestor language Germanic, the two languages share many similarities in both vocabulary and grammar. If you understand any of this …
Meine Schwester hat braunes Haar. Sie ist intelligent. Sie studiert Medizin in Berlin. Sie kann gut singen.
… then you already know some German!
In addition, German is spelled phonetically. Once you learn the system of sounds, it is easy to predict how the spoken word is written and how the written word is pronounced.
11. German is required or recommended by many undergraduate and graduate programs.
German speakers’ strong contributions in such a broad array of fields makes the language an important asset in many disciplines. At the University of California, for instance, more majors recommend a knowledge of German as an important supplement than any other language (German: 56 majors, French: 43 majors, Spanish: 21 majors, Japanese: 7 majors). These majors include a wide range of subjects — from biology, physics, and chemistry to linguistics, religious studies, and art history.
Considering the importance of the German language in the fields of publishing and research, it’s not surprising that many graduate schools want their graduates to have at least a reading knowledge of German. Knowing German gives graduates access to important research published in German books and professional journals.
12. Germany financially sponsors over 60,000 international exchanges each year.
While promoting innovation and supporting research within Germany, the Germans also recognize that international cooperation and experience is essential to its continued success as a world leader. In the year 2001 alone, the German Academic Exchange Service supported 67,000 scholars, scientists, educators, and students in periods of international research and study. 43% of these were foreigners who were awarded financial assistance to participate in an exchange in Germany. In addition, like German students, foreign students directly enrolled in German universities pay no tuition fees. You can find a list of some of their aid programs at our pages on grants and scholarships for study abroad.
By: rockstar68113
