learning a new language

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im thinking of learing a new language (possibly french) just wondering how hard it is and if any one has had any sucsess in it.

nobody cares what Michael has to say. you ignore me in real life. now in the cyber world... why do i even bother anymore.

It's only 3 hours. Someone will eventually respond. The pronunciation of French is difficult. Verbs are rather complicated.

Hi Michael,

I haven't studied French, but I have studied Italian (another Romance language) for quite a while. It is impossible to say how hard it is, everyone has different abilities. I love languages, but have concentration and memory issues, so I don't get very far. Some days it feels like I understand and can say a lot. Other days it is like a big brick wall instead of thoughts.

The best thing I ever did was joining a language exchange website.
There are a few around :
italki (more Skype based, I had a problem with getting spammed by people who weren't speaking my exchange language) and mylanguageexchange.com (more email based, I have had much better luck with this one) are the ones that spring to mind.

Sometimes it takes a while to find someone you have something in common with and 'click' with, but then having someone writing to you keeps you studying long after you might give in out of boredom on your own.

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

That looks like a useful site; I may join. I need to practice written French. I can more or less muddle through with spoken French and can read French well but have had no practice writing it.

I really like the site. It is pretty low tech, but it does what it needs to. I met a couple of Italian girls through the site that I have been writing to for a couple of years now, and a Finnish man (because Italian just wasn't hard enough! ) for nearly a year. A few people start writing and then drop off, it just takes a while to find someone you get on with.

Now I don't even class them as 'language exchange friends'. They are just friends that I happen to have not met yet.

Edit - nice to see you back, Tallyman.