college

eurolanguages.com Find and Reserve a French Study Abroad Program or Language School Free Online: Paris, France, Provence, Nice..

polyglot — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:02:53 -0500

Summary

At last, a study abroad school reservation website that just plain rocks hands down: eurolanguages. Not only is it quick and simple to find French language schools all over France, it's also free to use! Naturally the courses aren't free, but you are not charged a euro cent extra than what you'd pay directly to the school. Plus you get to use their slick, user-friendly and eye-candy-rich Web reservation interface that allows you to compare instantly and make the best choice for your particular needs.

Currently for the French language, you can find study abroad programs and language schools in France. Regions include Savoie/Savoy, Rhône-Alpes, "The Alps", "The Mediterranean", northern and southern France, Provence, Côte d'Azur (French Riviera) and Normandy. Cities include Annecy, Chambéry, Nice, Rouen and Vichy.

Depending on the language school you choose, different options for facilities and extra-curricular activities exist. These include such goodies as audio learning labs, computer access, free wifi (wireless internet), eating/dining area, tea/coffee, television room, wheelchair/handicap accessiblity (elevator), cultural trips, pub trips, snack machines, printing and fax services, bookshop/bookstore, study area and library. It is surprisingly quick and easy to see which of these features a given school offers, providing you with a snapshot of what the school has going for it.

Of course, you'll need a place to stay while studying abroad, and eurolanguages makes that quite simple as well. You can either choose to find your own accommodation or select between several options including homestays with half or full board.

Eurolanguages encourages transparency by allowing users to rate and review language schools right on their site. These reviews are accessible while viewing information about a school, and can provide additional insight into what individual learning experiences have been. Currently you can rate on teaching, location, features and fun.

All in all, eurolanguages is providing an amazing service to anyone interested in studying French in Europe - with no extra fees! They are definitely worth checking out. Thanks to the whole team for this much-needed free Web service.

Eurolanguages is also available for English, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish, including programs that combine surfing with Spanish instruction and skiing with Italian lessons! Let the fun begin :)

From Website

Finding and confirming a place on an international language course is difficult, and searching online isn’t always helpful. There are 1,000’s of results for every destination, without any indication as to which one is best. So how can anyone decide on which city? which school? and at what price? And who do you contact?, and who can you trust?

You can trust us. We offer you more choice than ever before, with up to date information on all available schools and courses, and the insight and tools to compare them. We even offer fellow student reviews and ratings for reassurance. It’s like asking a friend for advice, except with eurolanguages, you can read the advice of 1,000’s of fellow students just like you. And when you’ve found your favourite, just pay a 20% deposit online to confirm your place.

Even though we think the schools we work with are great, we know you don’t necessarily care what we think. That’s why we don’t give you our opinions on the school; we let other students tell you theirs. And when you’ve finished your course we’ll ask you yours. Simple really.

On top of that, we’ve made it simple to actually book your place. We’ve taken care of the contractual side of things between you and the school so you don’t have to deal with endless paperwork in a language you are trying to learn. We’ve also given schools a management tool, so that when you buy a course with us, it’s guaranteed.

Over the last few decades the majority of language students have chosen to stay with a host family during their time at an international language school. For many, this is a great opportunity to practice the language, experience the culture, and above all an economical way to stay. To book a bed with a local host, which will be organised and confirmed by your school, simply select the available options on the booking screen.

Visit www.eurolanguages.com

RocketLanguages.com Rocket French Language Audio and Software Course from Rocket Languages

travelinguist — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 07:33:44 -0500

Summary

The Rocket French product from Rocket Languages has proved to be a highly successful, fun! and fast method for beginners to learn the French language. The Rocket Languages team has designed a multi-faceted course including extensive audio lessons, software and learning games, grammar lessons with audio clips and a member's forum for help on demand.

I have personally been using Rocket Languages Japanese now as a total beginner with next to no knowledge of the Japanese language and the results have been excellent. I have used a lot of different language-learning methods (as you can tell from this website!) and the Rocket method is both quick and interesting, and I always find myself looking forward to the next lesson.

Don't just take my word for it. Try it out and if you don't like the results, you can get all your cash back for 60 days after you place an order. No risk there!

From Website

Rocket French is designed to be the easiest to follow system for learning how to speak French available. It is an interactive course that makes you want to study. Also, it's practical. You'll discover exactly what to say in virtually all situations.

With Rocket French, you are going to learn French rapidly, effectively, and easily. You are going to be able to speak at a restaurant, at an airport, with new friends...

With the Rocket Languages French Program you get:

A Rocket Languages Interactive Audio Course that prompts you to speak French in a conversational and friendly way so that the words just stick in your mind! Learn a language the easy way!

Mega Software Learning Games that are specifically designed to increase your vocabulary and understanding of French and allow you to have fun in the process!

Fully illustrated and easy-to-follow Grammar Lessons, for those of you who love to know how French works. Most of these come with embedded audio clips in the lessons so that you can hear exactly how the words are pronounced!

If you have any questions, you can either email us or post a message on our Members Only Learners Forums, where our team of language experts and fellow enthusiasts will respond to your needs. With every Premium order you get unlimited and full access to our Forum - imagine having a teacher, virtually "on call" 24 hours a day!

And of course all Rocket Languages products are backed by a 60 Day 100% Money Back Guarantee. We're that confident, and it's that simple.

Rocket Languages will teach you how to speak French naturally, so you can read, write, speak, and understand the language as though you have lived there all your life - these are truly cutting-edge multimedia courses!

Find out more about Rocket French.

french.about.com French Learning+Teaching Resources, French Verb Conjugator, Proficiency Tests, French Grammar Help

polyglot — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 04:27:57 -0500

Summary

french.about.com is packed full of information for beginner to intermediate French learners as well as teachers of those levels. In fact, there is so much content there that listing it here would take too much time! Instead, this article will highlight some of the things you can find on the site, and leave the rest for you to find on the site.

Of special note are the start learning section, practice materials, teacher resources, audio lab, grammar section, vocabulary section, proficiency tests, verb conjugator and the quizzes and tests area.

There is a lot more there, and it's all accessible for free. :)

From Website

Learning French is an ongoing and involved process. You can't learn French overnight, and you probably can't learn on your own, no matter how many books and tapes you buy.

What you can do is use this free website to supplement your learning: to get another explanation of something you didn't understand, to get extra practice between classes, and to brush up on what you once learned but have now all but forgotten.

Learn French at About offers hundreds of lessons and thousands of sound files to help you learn French.

Visit french.about.com

French-Flashcards.com Online French Flashcard System, Text Analyzer, Vocabulary List Manager with Audio and Dictionary

travelinguist — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:15:58 -0500

Summary

French-Flashcards.com is a fast-loading, useful site for French learners to manage and practice vocabulary lists (words and sentences). There are many existing word and sentence lists created by other users that you can snag and use right away. You can also create your own lists and sentences on-the-fly and test yourself until you know them all. As a result, this resource works for French students of all levels, beginner to advanced. The self-testing is done via built-in flashcard software that you control.

The website has an integrated dictionary that gives explanations of individual terms and includes examples of how these are used in real sentences. In addition, when you view a sentence, you can scroll over the French words and view annotations. NB: You can copy and paste any French text you want into the site's Text Analyzer and it provides you with what you see below (see grey scroll-over pop-up in image for annotation). Words that are not in the system with be displayed in grey, such as the word "Mike" below.

Something you might find useful is the site's Sentence of the Day email. This sends a different sentence every day complete with a translation of the sentence.

If you upgrade to a premuim membership (~$5/month) you can also hear audio for the sentence. In fact, the only thing you cannot do without a membership is hear the audio on the site.

Bravo Oliver for this excellent site and keep up the great work!

From Website

Introduction

Our first flashcard website started in 2005. A lot of time has been invested to design an efficient system which enables you to learn new words in the shortest time possible. Make sure to read this introduction carefully so you understand how the system works. Once you know how this website works and you use it regularly it will become an important tool to learn French. Ideally make time each day for 2 or 3 sessions a day, each lasting about 10 - 15 minutes.

Once you have created your own account you can set up your own word list. There are basically two different modes on how to add new words to your word list. One is automatically and one is manually.

Automatically

If you choose "automatically" then the system will choose random words for you to practice. Within the Auto-Mode there are two different choices. The first is "completely random words" and the second is "frequent words first". Obviously if you are a beginner you should focus on those frequent words first, so if you chose the level "Complete Newbie", "Basic" or "Intermediate" the system will just do that. If you chose the level "Upper Intermediate" or "Advanced" completely random words will be added to your word list.

Manually

If you would like more control over which word you learn switch to the manually mode. In this mode you have to choose which word you will learn, not the system. There are a few ways to add words manually. The first is to use the search function in the navigation bar on the left-hand side. You can search for French or English words. On the result page every found word has an "Add Word" link next to it. Click it to add this word to your personal list. After you click it the link text will change to "Remove Word", so you can immediately remove the word from your list if you have added it by mistake.

The second way to add words manually is to click the link "Add new Words" in the navigation. This will show random words for you to add. They are sorted by frequency, the most common words will be at the top of this random list, while the rare words will be at the bottom of the list.

Finally you can add words manually by browsing through the "public word lists". These lists have been created by other users. These public lists normally have a common theme, like "animals", "computer terms", "fruits", etc. You can either pick some words of these public lists or copy the whole list.

You can also combine these methods, add words automatically but also occasionally add words manually.

Adding words automatically is the default setting. If you do not want to add words automatically you can change this in the settings.

The Loop

The main problem of learning new words is that over time word lists grow very big. This means that the learner feels overwhelmed and the time between word repetitions becomes too long. Thats where the Loop comes to the rescue.

The Loop consists of a subset of only 20 words out of your word list. This means you can concentrate on a few words only, until you have memorized them properly. To keep a flashcard in the loop click on the "Loop" button.

If you have become familiar with a new word which is in the Loop click on "1 day", "7 days", "30 days" etc. Which means that the word will be shown only after the indicated time has passed. If you know a word very well click on "30 Days" or "3 Months" so the word will be shown only after a long time. After the indicated time has passed the word will be put into the Queue.

Once you remove a word from the Loop another one will be put in the Loop. The system will first check if there are any words in the "Queue". If the Queue is empty and you are in Auto-Mode the system will choose a new word for you and add it to your word list and into the Loop. If you are in the "manual mode" the system will tell you that you need to add more words in order to continue.

If you click "Remove Word" then the word will be removed from your word list. "Permanently Block" will do the same except that it will also prevent the word from coming back in the "Automatic Mode" where the system chooses words for you. By default there are 20 words in the loop. You can change the number of words in the loop in the settings.

Word Lists

If the Loop system sounds too complicated to you, then you can also set up simple word lists. To do this click on "[Manage Lists]" in the navigation. Then click on "[Add List]" to create a new list. If you want to share this word list with other users select the box "Public List". If you want to immediately add new words to this list select "Also Activate". You can create as many lists as you want. In the navigation bar you can always see which list is active at the moment. Words will be added to the currently active list. To go back to the master list (which uses the loop), click on "[Manage Lists]" and the "[Leave List Mode]".

Visit French-Flashcards.com

FrenchPod.com FrenchPod Praxis French Lessons Podcast with Free Educational Resources and MP3 Audio

travelinguist — Mon, 19 May 2008 23:09:40 -0500

Summary

FrenchPod represents the beginning of a new era for all the folks on the Praxis Language team. Things are cooking in Shanghai!

The success of ChinesePod and SpanishPod, Praxis's podcast-driven, socially enhanced, user backed language-learning phenomenon is maturing elegantly.

Be sure to check out the free resources available to visitors. You can sign up for an account today to start making real progress.

Word on the street is that ArabicPod, GermanPod, ItalianPod and JapanesePod will follow...

From Website

FrenchPod is a language training service designed around your needs, rather than the traditional constraints of language schools and publishers. Technology solves these problems and can make the learning of a new language easier.

We take the best pedagogical approaches of the classroom, layer in the community features of the social web and tailor a customized learning pathway for each student.

Use FrenchPod as a replacement to classroom-study or to make better use of classroom time.

At the core of our service are four main study activities:

Listen

There are many ways to listen to FrenchPod lessons, making learning French as flexible and convenient as possible. If you like to study at your computer, you can listen to the lesson via the built-in Flash player on the site. Click the “Play” button, slip on your headphones or turn up your speakers, and learn.

To learn on the go, download the MP3 – either from the download links on the site or via your personalized RSS feed – and listen to it on any MP3-compatible software or device (in iTunes, on your iPod, etc.). You can even burn the MP3 to a CD and listen to it in a regular CD player.

Review

Once you’ve listened to each lesson, you need to review to ensure that the material is firmly cemented in your head. First, download the Lesson PDF, which contains the dialogue, a translation, and both key and supplementary vocabulary, and read along with the podcast. After that, come to FrenchPod.com and take advantage of the myriad of online review tools available. Pour over each line of the dialogue, looking up unfamiliar words and listening to line-by-line audio. Dig deeper into key vocabulary with expansion sentences, which put important words into varied context to get you a better idea of how they are used. Finally, complete the lesson exercises to ensure that you really know what you’ve learned.

Practice

Language is about communication, and once you’ve learned something new you need to practice using it in real communication. Guided and Executive users have individual teachers that provide critical insight into the language and opportunities to practice French with a native French speaker. In each practice session, you can expand and broaden your French in a friendly, stress-free way with a counselor that is familiar with you and your learning goals. Your counselor will help you identify and eliminate problem areas, and let you strengthen your French communication skills.

Reinforce

At the end of your learning cycle each day, you should come back and reinforce the material you’ve learned both from today’s lesson and previous lessons. Each period of reinforcement will create a stronger foundation upon which future learning will be built. Use the flashcards and concentration game to make sure that you remember the vocabulary you’ve learned from previous lessons. Review your vocabulary list, identify words you’re not sure about, and look them up in the FrenchPod dictionary. Skim through the Grammar Guide to identify structures with which you’re unfamiliar and find lessons that cover those points. Finally, take the Listening Test occasionally to see the improvement that your hard work has earned you.

Visit FrenchPod.com

Subscribe to FrenchPod's Free Lessons Podcast.
View FrenchPod Podcast Feed on Free Language.

Loquella.com Loquella Listen, Read and Speak French Using a Free Online Language Tool and the FSI Language Method

travelinguist — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:29:05 -0500

Summary

Loquella has done a great job of taking Public Domain language learning materials created by the US Foreign Service Instute and porting them into a web-based language learning platform.

Their website provides users with an online interface for learning French by listening, reading and speaking. You can even customize how the site delivers the content to you by adjusting your preferences (no sign-up required!). This means you can choose to hear audio first in French and then view the sentence in English or view the sentence in English and then hear the audio in French. There are two other options as well.

Loquella also has a blog and a community area anyone can join and participate in a forum, and share photos and video. (View RSS feed for the community forum.)

All in all, Loquella is a great way to learn French free online by listening, reading and repeating. In addition to the free materials, Loquella sells a download of all the Chinese MP3s with a 30-day money back guarantee.

From Website

About The Language Course

The Foreign Service Institute and Loquella

Loquella developed the language course based off the well-respected Foreign Service Institute's language lessons. The method Loquella uses to teach you languages is not new, the Foreign Service Institute has been using this method for over 30 years to teach thousands of serious language students. Loquella simply developed the language tool that you use to view and hear the Foreign Service Institute course, and we also improved on the Foreign Service Institute system by adding Dialects Interviews for the Spanish lessons. The Foreign Service Institute method emphasizes language drills and pronunciation drills to ensure that language students retain and comprehend all material before moving forward.

Improving On An Already Good Thing

Although the Loquella language tool is largely based on the foundation that the Foreign Service Institute created, we believe we have made many essential improvements to the system. Instead of having to follow along with work-books while listening to tapes, Loquella.com offers two unique language tools for accessing the lessons. The first is through the free online language tool. The second is through lessons that can be downloaded to your MP3 player. You follow along with either program at your own pace. You can stop the program at any time and pick back up where you left off.

"The Foreign Service Institute is the Federal Government's primary training institution for officers and support personnel of the U.S. foreign affairs community, preparing American diplomats and other professionals to advance U.S. foreign affairs interests overseas and in Washington."

- U.S. Department of State website.

Additional Notes On The Foreign Service Institute

Since the Loquella language tool pulls information from the Foreign Service Institute which was designed in the 1970's for government officers, professionals and diplomats, a large number of references to government entities and processes are referenced in the language lessons. Keep in mind that events and political figures referred to in some of the language lessons are most likely out dated by several decades. Instead of editing out all these items, the Loquella tool includes these items as they do not hinder students from learning, instead they can be seen as an interesting reminder of our own political and cultural history. We hope you enjoy the language lessons, and maybe you'll even get a brief history refresher as well.

Immerse Yourself In Your Language

We also encourage language students to try to immerse themselves in the language they are learning. Many experts agree that the best way to learn a language is to be surrounded by it constantly for a prolonged amount of time. If you have a couple weeks to spend in Mexico, bring your lap top and work with the Loquella language tool when you have some time, plug in to an audio tape when you are traveling and simply try to listen and speak to the locals any chance you get.

About The Foreign Service Institute Method

The main method for teaching used by the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), and also used in all the language courses offered by Loquella.com, is called "guided imitation". If you listen to the way you speak your native language, you will notice that you do not use the exact same variation of common phrases in every context. Instead, you change your way of speaking to adjust to each individual situation. Therefore, this language course is designed to help you master the foreign language in most situations that you could run into in daily life in a new country.

Pronunciation

The Foreign Service Institute method focuses heavily on teaching proper pronunciation. We focus the first language lessons in each level on pronunciation due to the importance that correct pronunciation will have on your ability to master the new language.

Basic Language Dialogs

The basic dialogs are the core of each language lesson. These dialogs are recreations of the real situations a language student is most likely to encounter, and the vocabulary and sentences are those he or she is most likely to need.

In the first language lessons, new vocabulary is introduced mainly in the basic dialogs. Sometimes, in the illustrations of grammar points, new words are introduced in order to fill out patterns needed to do the exercises. Each new word will reappear many times later in the language course to help you associate each word in many different contexts.

Language Pattern Drills and Grammar

The basic dialogs are the theme throughout the language course, and the language drills are the variations of those dialogs. Patterns of basic dialogs are expanded and changed in the drills.

Pattern drills are designed to allow you to practice the sentences and phrases you have learned, and the grammar tips are there to provide further explanation. At the beginning of each drill you will be given a basic sentence or dialog, then various kinds of drills that offer variations of those basic sentences and dialogs.

The language course consists of listening to and repeating basic sentences that illustrate the grammar point that is to be learned. This structure will give you enough clues to understand and use the pattern correctly in the drills that follow. These drills are mainly exercises that use substitutions, responses, and translations that highlight the grammar points that are being covered.

There are four kinds of language drills in each unit. Two are designed to vary some basic dialogs within the vocabulary you have already learned. The other two are oriented toward the structure of the language to provide coverage of important patterns.

You Choose Your Level Of Difficulty

No matter which language tool you decide to use, you choose your level of difficulty. You can skip ahead or continue to repeat a language lesson until you feel comfortable with it. Using the MP3 downloads, you can buy just the level you want, or the complete 50 hour package. Using the free online language tool, you can skip forward or backwards through each language lesson until you find your perfect level of difficulty.

Learning Dialects Using The Language Tool

As anyone who has tried to learn a language will tell you, it's one thing to understand and respond to a question in a foreign language when it is spoken in a slow and well-annunciated manner. It's completely different to listen and repeat when actual people are talking in real dialects. As you get deeper into any language you will start to hear that people speaking the same language have very different dialects. That's why we provide sections that allow you to hear dialects used in various parts of the world.

FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute French Free Audio Lessons Downloads

travelinguist — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 10:36:11 -0500

Summary

FSI is an acronym for the Foreign Service Institute, "the (US) Federal Government's primary training institution for officers and support personnel of the U.S. foreign affairs community".

Over the years, the FSI has researched, designed and taught language courses to Foreign Service staff and diplomats. These courses are now available and licensed to the Public Domain.

FSI-Language-Courses.com (and .net) is a sweet and simple website that provides users with the ability to view and download the Foreign Service Institute's courses for 31+ languages. The content is provided by individuals donating time and resources in an overall effort to provide quality languages-learning materials for free worldwide.

Sounds good to me. :)

In the French section of the site, there are currently several courses and texts available for download:

Le Monde Francophone
Introduction to French Phonology
French Basic Course Volumes 1-3

Altogether, these resources give total beginners a considerable amount of information for practical situations that you actually encounter in your average day while traveling, studying or working in le monde francophone.

From Website

Welcome to fsi-language-courses.com, the home for language courses developed by the Foreign Service Institute. These courses were developed by the United States government and are in the public domain.

This site is dedicated to making these language courses freely available in an electronic format. This site is not affiliated in any way with any government entity; it is an independent, non-profit effort to foster the learning of worldwide languages. Courses here are made available through the private efforts of individuals who are donating their time and resources to provide quality materials for language learning.

Visit FSI-Language-Courses.com French Courses.