Thursday, June 17, 2010

Free French Lessons from RFI

I have been foolish not to check. Especially since I was aware that Radio France International had co-produced the Mission Europe radio programs. Besides, if BBC can claim to teach French, can you imagine Radio France International not to?

Sure enough, the RFI has an excellent page dedicated to teaching French. I am currently listening to L'affaire du Coffret, which is an excellent introduction to the French Language. It is presented as a crime thriller, which should keep you hooked. You can either work through the associated exercises one by one as you listen to the recording from the RFI website. Or, download the complete podcast of 60 episodes from iTunes and work on the worksheets later.

Coming to Mission Europe: I recommend you download all the three - Mission Berlin, Mission Paris and Mission Krakow, and have a listen. These are fashioned after computer games and will be liked by both children (Note: Mission Berlin and Mission Paris have some heavy duty kissing sounds for a short while; not sure about Mission Krakow. I am not being a prude, just noting a fact) and adults.

Enjoy!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Treasure Trove for European Language Learners

Learning language on your own?
And do not wish to spend a penny?
Look no further than the BBC Languages Page.
Catering to the beginners and intermediate stage, it offers French, Spanish, Italian, German and a few other languages. Multimedia is very effectively used. Very professional.
Try it. You may never have to buy another language course.
And even if you are not into language learning, it is worth a visit. Who knows? You may be tempted to start off on Chinese.