Je m'appelle Lisa!

Bonjour! Je m'appelle Lisa, je suis Paramédical. J'habite à Charleville en Australie.

Hello! My name is Lisa, I am a Paramedic. I live in Charleville in Australia. --> Though I'm uncertain that the last is the correct way to double-whammy the city and country of residence, just tagging it on the end as I have.

First thought upon sharing the results of my first lesson: I really must find the keyboard shortcuts for all these crazy accented letters!

Well my first podcast lesson was short and easy, and kinda fun. I found a lot coming back very quickly from my days of staring in apathy through school windows, and in addition to the basics of introduction and self-description we also covered male, female, and collective verbs. 

There was however an immediate problem that has taken a day to resolve, hence my tardiness with this first report post. Upon listening to the first Learn French By Podcast lesson it became immediately apparent that I would really benefit from having the guide there in front of me. As in REALLY benefit, to the point where I felt I shouldn't move onto the next lesson until I had properly completed the first with the assistance of the guide. This was because despite some familiarity with terms it was still difficult to discerne exactly what words were being said - with their fluid syllables and strange accents I found them hard to visualise - and so have found already that despite podcasts being 'free' each lesson does come at a cost. I expect too that for lessons concerning wholly new vocabulary and more complex syntax this would be even more the case. So over I trundles to the LFBP website to catch me a guide, and this was where the real fun started, as quite frankly I found their payment system an almighty pain in the arse, pardon my French.

The .pdf lesson guides at LFBP are US$1 each, and you may purchase credits through the site by paying either with Paypal or credit card. Quantity breaks are given for multiple purchases, ie. whilst 25 credits costs US$25, US$50 bought 70 credits. Easy, right? Except that upon clicking the link to pay by Paypal, nothing happened. The little dashy-wheel spun around a few times, then after several minutes ground to a halt, unable to link through to Paypal. Even worse, after I'd clicked upon the Paypal button once the whole site would now stop loading, leaving me unable to access any LFPB page or even able to refresh the purchase credits page. Switching browsers didn't help as this occurred in both Firefox and Safari, and I found the only way I could get anything to load again was to quit the programs and restart. Needless to say this rapidly grew tiresome, and when emailing them and leaving it for a day for them to fix up didn't work either I eventually admitted defeat and paid by credit card. Now once again the website is open to me and guides are mine, all mine! Perhaps they just don't like paying the Paypal fees? 

During the downtime with LFBP I went over to Daily French Podcast to try and find their version of a first lesson. However I couldn't find one, and I guess this is because the Daily French Podcast is exactly that - daily podcasts in French on various topics, though they are rated as Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced. The podcasts therefore probably won't be of much use to me until I can at least string a few sentences together, as beginner level or not I've still barely begun! They do offer on their site a good deal of useful resources though, including vocabulary of over 6,000 words with audio files, grammar tutorials, and various interactive exercises and quizzes. Rather than being priced per unit, as with the LFBP lessons, the entire site and all resources become available upon site subscription with a monthly fee. I've taken up the one week free trial option + one month subscription so far, and pricing ranges from US$18 per month to $80 / 6 months and $140 a year. 

So overall it seems I've picked a good setup here. The DFP site and resources seem the perfect adjunct to the LFBP structured lessons, and now that I'm started at least with my lessons and guides I'm going to gain a lot from finding related material on the other site to consolidate my learning with.

A la prochaine!

Je ne parle pas Français!

No, I do not speak French. But, starting today, I am learning French via multiple podcasts, iPhone apps, and with a few copies of my beloved French Vogue as extra reading material [and inspiration - those babies cost far too much to not actually be able to read]! I currently speak next to nil French, my sparse vocabulary containing only various colour names and leather types I've picked up through my designer handbag obsession, and such emergency phrases as "Ou sont les toilettes?", "Ou pùis-je acheter des chcolats?", and of course "Je ne parle pas Français!".

My reasons for wishing to learn the language don't involve impending travel and aren't solely for my love of overpriced international fashion tomes, but for the enrichment I feel it would give my life to be able to understand and describe the world and my place in it through another tongue, additionally becoming fluent not only in the language of another country but also in the culture. Language in general has always fascinated me and I have long been envious of European types who effortlessly converse in a second [or third] dialect interchangeably with their native one, though save for the zombiefied chanting of bland French phrases in torturous primary school lessons I've not translated this desire into action.

In learning French now I look forward to a whole new corner of the world opening up to me, books and songs by French-speaking authors and artists around the world would no longer be beyond my limited comprehension, and possibilities of travel open up that would allow total immersion in the location. The thought of comprehensively experiencing a new location unimpeded by hesitant conversation seems amazing to me, as I really doubt that one could truly meet the people of a new place when conversation exists only as a series of prepared phrases via the stilted constraints of translation guidebooks. Once I am fluent in French - or at least have a passable working knowledge of the language - I'd love travel to a French-speaking nation to try out and further develop my new-found skill. Undoubtedly my abilities would improve exponentially whilst speaking, reading and hearing French all the time, and it would of course make for the most fabulous holiday to not only have a trip away but to also gain so much at the same time!

As this is something clearly new to me I thought I'd create a blog to serve as a record of my progress, and also to share with other French students my experiences. Keeping up with blogging everyday will be as much a challenge as the learning itself; I've rather a busy life as a Paramedic, marathoner, and currently setting up a little sewing business, so will certainly need to make time to fit this in too. Despite my daily load of to-dos, however, I am still a very talented procrastinator, and suspect that if I remove from my daily routine the inevitable time spent staring at webpages, cruising fashion forums and flicking through ebay, I could easily fit in learning a whole continent's worth of languages! I do have some guaranteed time during downtime at work between cases when I could do some learning whilst on Station, and could also listen to podcasts during long hours of driving the outback roads between towns out here. I could also probably listen too whilst sewing, so long as I don't find myself attaching a digit..! Come to think of it, even the crazy 1930's French music I love to listen to whilst sewing would help, as I might finally discover exactly what it is that that hussy Edith doesn't regret!


So I'll be charting my progress on this blog as I go with daily updates upon completion of each lesson, and I expect I will also give incidental reviews upon the learning methods and providers I have chosen. I've not done a great deal of research into this so far, and those apps and podcasts I have chosen were selected based upon their app / podcast descriptions and upon their performance in reviews. Both podcasts I'll be using give lessons utilizing native French speakers for pronounciation, and have further learning tools and guides available on their websites, some for a fee. These are:

• Learn French by Podcast - www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com
• Daily French Pod - www.dailyfrenchpod.com

I have chosen to learn via more than one provider as I have found whilst undertaking both my paramedical training and my Uni biomed degree how valuable it is to learn the same material via two sources. Ask two people a question, and you'll find each will explain the same thing in a slightly different way; and whilst neither may be wrong I often find one answer to be a little clearer to me for whatever reason, and nearly always feel that both versions combined better 'round out' the lesson. In addition to listening to the podcasts and the free tools on their websites I'll definitely be buying some of the extra learning from each provider, though as I go on I'll probably just buy the lessons I need from whichever source I prefer rather than both [unless I'm reeeally stumped on something].

I have also downloaded a couple of free iPhone apps which had great reviews and offer multiple interactive learning exercises such as flash cards and various tests - Free French Essentials by AccelaStudy and Free French Audio Flash Cards - plus the Verb2Verbe app which is a tool dealing specifically with those tricksy conjugated verbs. I'll be using these in between my podcast lessons as extra learning, and expect they'll feel more fun and relaxed too than paying attention to a podcast. If they're any good I might even pay for the full versions.


So here's where I start, and I do hope both you [and I!] find this blog interesting and funny. Please feel free to drop me a line in the comments, I do love hearing from others and promise I won't at all get offended at your endless corrections of my sodded-up verbs. Nope, not. at. all. *grinds teeth* Lol!

Wish me bonne chance?