[there is no c]

I am an avid cook and a wine enthusiast. I went to Paris for my honeymoon and, because of my interests, i decided to learn French. anyone have any experience with this language, I got a full Rosetta stone program for free, so right now I'm using that. It's certainty a hard one to learn from English.

[hippie_lettuce]

I took French for 5 years in school. Although I got proficient enough to speak, read, and write the language, I'm not happy with my overall proficiency. I also have the first couple of Rosetta stone programs, and I do not think they are helpful. The best way to learn is to stay in France or a French-speaking country. Good luck, it's a beautiful language! I would highly recommend reading children's books and reading aloud.

[RandyMarsh]

I always thought of French as one of the easier languages to learn from English, though I studied Quebec's slanty version of French. They'd probably laugh at me in France. Well, they probably still laugh at me when I visit Quebec.

Only advise I can give is to challenge yourself. If you don't force yourself to learn it, you'll lose your enthusiasm. I surely would have thrown the book away if I hadn't been stuck in Quebec at the time.

[Psychedelizard]

I took French for my college foreign language. I found French to not be too hard. I would suggest getting a book called English Grammar for the Students of French. It helped me some, although I had to learn English grammar to some proficiency when I took Latin in High School.

Bonne chance à tu!

[Reverend Mojo]

Le francais est tres facile.

I learned to speak, read and write french in 8 months. Helps that my wife is francophone too

Most likely the easiest language to learn for an anglophone. As an example... every word in french that ends in "ion" is identical in english... Eg. information, confirmation, resignation,

[simos]

I think you guys are getting ahead of yourselves in terms of describing it as the easiest language for anglophones to learn. There are certainly much harder, far more dissimilar ones, but French isn't a cakewalk.

I studied it through high school, received my International Bac, and lived in France seven years ago, and I can say from experience that if you don't find a way to practice continuously, you will slowly lose it. I was once able to converse eloquently about the most complicated of subjects, and even fool some French people into thinking I was one of their countrymen, but I've since lost the majority of my specialized vocabulary because I haven't used it.

The hardest thing for most English speakers to pick up is the accent - you'll either have the ear to pick up its subtleties, or you won't. After years of directed study, if you want legitimate fluency, immersion is the only way. The moment when it all clicks and you begin to think and dream in a foreign language is a pretty magical thing, and it gets easier with each successive language you learn.

I'm working in South America for the year, mostly to pick up Spanish (and because the job market at home is shite), and while I can say it's an easier language (pronunciation-wise, in particular), the process of developing functional fluency has been much more difficult than I expected because I never studied it before diving in head first, and lacked a solid foundation on which to build.

To the OP:
If you just want to be able to understand Joel Robuchon's cookbooks in his native language or banter about ungodly expensive bottles of Romanee-Conti, then a complete Rosetta stone regimen, followed by some daily practice of desired vocabulary should do the trick. If you can afford them, get private lessons from a native speaker - there's no substitute for exposure to the accent, and corrective tutelage as you stumble through the process of picking up the language's syntax.

I highly recommend that you watch movies in French, and even enable the French subtitles on English movies you rent (many R1 DVDs have the option in the subtitles menu). Listening to French and reading along in English, or listening to English and reading along in French can be very helpful. A really enjoyable, and accessible French movie I'd recommend to start with is "L'auberge Espagnole."

In many parts of the US, the French station TV5 is available to special order through your cable/satellite provider. Free online radio (AOL radio, for example) provides access to a wide variety of French programs. Although the radio content will probably be way over your head, the act of listening to naturally-spoken French will be of assistance in accent acquisition.

When you actually get the opportunity to try to communicate in French in the flesh, and it's make or break time, the most important things you can do are take risks, make mistakes, push yourself, and don't be self-conscious about the inevitable failures along the road.

Good luck - it's my opinion that there are few more rewarding undertakings in life than learning to express yourself in a new language, and few languages more beautiful than French.

A tout a l'heure

[OMMPatient]

Hi no c:
I have a college degree in the French language and have been learning the language since 5th grade. simos is right watch TV, Movies and even listen to music it will help you a lot. Nothing can beat immersion though.

Bonne Chance (good luck)

[spangles]

Je te dis merde! i.e Bonne chance! anyway it was somewhat easier for me because I was an exchange student. If you are young enough the accent should come more naturally. Focus especially on the difference between U and ou. also the R rolling. And if you REALLY want to get the ear, focus on the palette of sounds between in, on, an, un, etc in the nasal area. Other than that I'd also recommend geting a thorough familiarity with English grammar. Once you have a scaffold you can hang verbs adverbs adjectives etc, and tenses. Get straight with English and French should be less difficult to master. Nowadays you have the internet, Find some french youtube vids.

[darwinsbulldog]

suss out

https://french.about.com/

i studied french for 8 yrs as well as spent time in paris. i'm not fluent but i get by. this site was always really good for learning grammar etc.

[Tropic]

Salut!
You could always read French press, books, etc, that's how I learned English!
But nothing beats speaking the language, I learned Spanish by being dropped in Mexico at the age of 8, only knowing basic words. Had no other choice but learn, 6 months later I spoke it fluently. About 20 years later I still speak it, not as easily tho (sometimes I realise I have almost forgotten certain words) because I haven't spoken it much these last 15 years, but I'm still able to give Spanish classes.
Maybe there is an "Alliance Française" (French Alliance) in your town or not far? They are organizations that promote French around the word, they are usually glad to help!
Best of luck in your journey, don't give up!