Well it has been six months of trying to learn a new language and we have certainly learned a ton, not just about speaking French but also how to learn a new language here are some valuable tidbits that we have learned and are going to pass on to you!
- Review the basics of your native language first.
Do you remember what a noun is? Adverb? Adjective? What is a reflexive verb? When you are learning a new language you are going to be hearing all the "technical" words for each kind of verb, tense, etc. It's important to understand what they are in your own language first. It will make it easier to learn in the long run. - Remember it won't be instant.
This isn't The Matrix we are talking about here, you can't just get plugged into a machine and have all the knowledge (how awesome would that be though?!). It takes time, it takes practice and most importantly, it takes lots and lots of patience. - Reading, speaking and understanding the language are three very different things.
For example, I can read French almost perfectly, I can speak it ok, but, I really struggle with understanding what people are saying. The worst is trying to understand over the phone. This may sound creepy, but I don't care, if you are in the country where people speak the language you are trying to learn listen in to people's conversations. Try to understand what they are saying. It sounds weird I know, but frankly, if they are speaking loud enough that you can hear what they are saying it hardly counts as "eaves dropping". - The internet is magical. Don't be ashamed to use it.
There are tons of resources online to learn how to speak a language, most are free. I am personally a fan of Duolingo (www.duolingo.com) it used a very natural style of language learning and encourages you to keep at it. If you don't know a word, use a translater. Just do it, don't be ashamed but after you look it up use whatever technique you use (repetition, writing, use it in a sentence etc) and hopefully you won't need to look it up again. - Watch TV and movies with the language you are learning subtitles on and vice versa.
I think it is best to watch shows or movies you have already seen, that way you don't need to pay as much attention to the plot and just focus on the subtitles and somewhat on what is being said. By watching the other language shows with English subtitles on you can work on your oral comprehension as well. - Most importantly, just speak
You are going to sound like an idiot, embrace it. Your accent is going to be off (chances are it always will be), your prononciation is probably going to sound weird. The people you are going to be talking to are going to know you aren't a native speaker and that's ok. It will get better the more you use it. - Avoid using your native language.
In my experience a lot of people DO speak English outside of English speaking countries. I have found quite often that I will be talking to someone they will sense I don't speak French fluently and they will start speaking English. They really think they are doing you a favour, trust me, they are not. Whenever people do this to me (perhaps a waiter, clerk etc) I will just keep speaking French. They usually get the hint and humour me. Of course there are situations where English speaking is a bit more important, for example, at the doctor, you don't want any translate issues there. - Learn some key phrases right off the bat.
This seems obvious, but I am not just talking about asking where the bathroom is. Learn how to tell people you only speak a bit of <language> and ask them to speak slowly and simply. Knowing numbers is more important than you might think so learn to count to 100 or so it will make your retail encounters much easier. Learning the letter prononciations is important if you think you might be in a situation that you will be spelling out something, like your name. In French the letter I is pronounced how the letter E is pronounced in English. Learning some basics of food names will be good to have for restaurants. Luckily, if you are Canadian and trying to learn French you have a bit of an edge there. YAY for dual language packaging. If you have any allergies such as food or medical allergies learn how to express this! - Put yourself in the shoes of the people you are speaking to.
Have you ever spoken to someone who doesn't speak very good English? Probably. Did they say some things that sounded... odd or not quite right? Yes. Did you understand what they were saying? Woah. Yes! When you realized they didn't speak very good English did you use simpler phrasing and speak slower? Yes. Well there you go. Just speak. The human brain is an amazing thing, it fills in blanks and modifies your behaviour and mannerisms all on it's own. - Body language is truly universal.
Pointing, shrugging, smiling etc. These pretty much all mean the same thing in every country (there are a few exceptions of course). If you are at a restaurant and aren't comfortable saying what you want just point to it on the menu, they'll get it pretty quick that you don't speak <language>.
That's all for now!
