Language Learning Resources

Sam and I are currently in language school in order to learn French, which we will need in order to be effective workers in West Africa.  I am really enjoying language school, but I am an independent learner.  Like really, really independently motivated.  For example, I like to get my tests out of the way so that I can study more of the aspects of French that I am curious about.  (Yes, this does make me slightly nerdy.)

I stay motivated by varying the types of resources that I use.  And part of the joy of learning is connecting other people to the resources that I love. Here are the top resources that I've used for learning French outside of language school and living in France.

Youtube: I like to listen to good children's books good books being read by fluent readers. ( French is a smooth language.  So there should be no halting or pauses in between words.  Think R&B, not rap.)

I also like listening to praise and worship music, with the French words playing. (I avoid using English subtitles.  If they are on, I just read the English and ignore all of the French.)

Netflix, at least in France, has a setting that allows you to change most US programs to French.  I enjoy watching preschool-age cartoons, like Daniel Tiger, in French.  These cartoons are short, engaging, and mostly in the present tense.  It is easy to get the context of the story through the visuals, so even if you don't understand much of what is being said, you don't feel totally lost.

Duolingo is a site or free app that takes you through the equivalent of a semesters worth of college level French.  This site makes learning vocabulary and grammar into a game.

The languageguide this is my favorite site for learning vocabulary.  (I learned my numbers using this site.)  The vocabulary is organized by category, which you can click on as many times as you want in order to hear the words.  Then you can test your knowledge.

Please share in the comments any other resources that you've used for language learning.