14
votes
Accepted
Is there a method to learn which grammatical gender a noun in French has?
You can't, really
As I was learning French (English is my first language) the idea of gender of objects can be difficult to grasp. Genders are pretty much arbitrary and is something you just have to ...
- 1,088
12
votes
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Does French Sound Similar to Hebrew?
As you know, there are different strains of modern Hebrew pronunciation, including the two major ones: Ashkenazi and Sephardi (by the names I learned them, anyway). Ashkenazi pronunciation is ...
- 254
12
votes
Accepted
Open-source English-French Dictionary
Finding such a dictionary in open-source format is unlikely, due to the labor-intensive nature of composing dictionaries.
Your two best bets are probably:
Wiktionary. You can download the entire ...
- 5,132
7
votes
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French Grammar Book B1/B2
One of the classic grammars for learners of French is Nouvelle grammaire française by André Goosse and Maurice Grevisse (De Boeck, 1995, 396 pages). Size is 23.5 by 15.7 cm, so not "pocket size".
...
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7
votes
Is there a method to learn which grammatical gender a noun in French has?
Grammatical gender in French is pretty much arbitrary. There's not much to understand. Sorry.
The usual tip when learning a language with (mostly) arbitrary grammatical gender like French or German ...
6
votes
Accepted
How can I sound more 'native'?
I think this article has a lot of good tips for you. Even though some of the tips are about accent, many of the tips aren't. And frankly, if you want to sound like a native, then accent is absolutely ...
- 5,076
6
votes
Accepted
What is the name of this particular language learning class (technique)?
Direct method:
pronunciation is taught through intuition and imitation; students
imitate a model - the teacher or a recording - and do their best to
approximate the model through imitation and ...
- 1,326
6
votes
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Cognates between French & Spanish?
For inherited cognates, my go-to scholarly source is Meyer-Lübke's Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. It is a bit hard to read, because it is in German and has a lot of abbreviations, but it is ...
- 748
6
votes
Cognates between French & Spanish?
Edit: I've since been recording these cognates and creating open-source activities.
I ended up finding a really good book which lists several cognates between all the Romance Languages. It's called ...
- 293
6
votes
Where can I find graded readers for French?
In order to find graded readers in French, you need to look for "[livres en] français facile" ("[books in] easy French"). However, not all books that are marked as "français facile" are graded readers ...
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5
votes
Open-source English-French Dictionary
You can try this list generated by a Wiktionary user from the data at the website’s translation tables. There’s a page for each letter, but it shouldn’t be too hard to put them all together.
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5
votes
Does memorizing French verb conjugations with the sound of English characters have negative impact in the future?
I would strongly recommend learning the correct pronunciation from the start instead of a pronunciation based on a different language, for several reasons:
You will later need to invest time and ...
- 19.7k
5
votes
Can I learn Spanish and French at the same time?
Absolutely, yes. I do this myself and it has given me many more insights than stumbles. What follows is my opinion based on personal experience (you may wish to investigate the academic literature ...
- 215
4
votes
French grammar books with exercises and answer key for self study (A2 - B2)
So far, I have found the following books:
Grégoire, Maïa; Thievenaz Odile: Grammaire progressive du français - Niveau intermédiaire. 4th edition. CLE International, 2017. ISBN 978-2-09-038103-0.
This ...
- 19.7k
4
votes
Accepted
Can learning Spanish and French simultaneously improve your knowledge in both languages?
Learning French and Spanish simultaneously can be both helpful and challenging.
There are a large number of words that are similar in both languages. An example is that the word for "cow" is "vache" ...
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4
votes
Cognates between French & Spanish?
Most French words are derived from Latin roots, as are Spanish words. So the languages have a lot of cognates. Of course, words sometimes evolve differently, so having the same etymology doesn't ...
4
votes
How to say "Alexander I" in German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish?
In Romance languages, adjectives and nouns agree in number and gender, so there are different versions for kings and queens:
Catalan: Alexandre primer, Elisabet primera.
Spanish: Alejandro primero, ...
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3
votes
Are there resources to ask "Check my understanding?" questions not suitable for SE?
Have you tried a language exchange with a French native speaker? I find a language exchange with a native speaker to be a great way to ask many questions, because the language partner is also able to ...
- 131
3
votes
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Learn a new language in between the non speakers environment (Same native language as mine)
You could watch french youtubers. Youtubers speak the language you'd listen in the street and you can see their body language and expressions.
Also you could watch this:
Easy Languages - French
2
votes
Can learning Spanish and French simultaneously improve your knowledge in both languages?
I studied my second year of French and first year of Spanish during the same calendar year. This was no problem, and was actually quite helpful in learning Spanish because I no longer had to ...
- 121
2
votes
How does one design a language course for people in a specific profession?
I think the answer is different based on the French level of the students.
If the students are beginners in French, then that means they can't read or understand much, or any, French, no matter the ...
- 5,076
2
votes
Does memorizing French verb conjugations with the sound of English characters have negative impact in the future?
Since you are only interested in writing the forms correctly, you might want to learn the endings as a short mnemonic, just like one often learns days, months, numbers, etc.
You need to memorize "...
- 3,425
2
votes
Simultaneous intensive summer course in German and French? Or is it too much?
Your knowledge of Spanish will help you understanding French vocabulary in a great deal. It won't help you with French pronunciation nor grammar.
Even a thorough knowledge of Norwegian would help you ...
- 121
2
votes
Monolingual dictionary for learners of French
At school, our teachers of French abhorred bilingual dictionaries and recommended the following monolingual dictionaries:
Dictionnaire Le Robert Micro poche: the current edition is a single volume of ...
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2
votes
Accepted
French pronunciation
While not as good as a real pronunciation coach, one thing that helps me go beyond just trying to replicate someone else making a particular sound until they go "yes, that's it", a technique ...
- 186
2
votes
Looking for a French-Japanese dictionary in text format
If you are looking for a physical paperback/hardback book, then here are a few options:
DICTIONNAIRE STANDARD JAPONAIS FRANCAIS
Maxi-poche plus japonais
Harrap's Mini dictionnaire visuel Japonais
...
- 5,076
2
votes
Accepted
What are the pros and cons of learning Spanish or French?
The pros of learning French are that you can then use French. The pros of learning Spanish are that you can then use Spanish.
To decide which language to use, you might consider:
Which language is ...
- 3,425
2
votes
What are the pros and cons of learning Spanish or French?
If I were you, I would choose Spanish as it is one of the most spoken languages in nowadays world.
I'm going to make a little comparison between both languages:
Over 275 million people around the ...
1
vote
Any advice on switching from French to German?
I do not know the Egyptian school system and the concepts of AL/OL and the effects of switching a class are unknown to me.
When I was in school, I got generally high grades, but my foreign languages ...
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