Intensive French

French and English have  much in common, especially on the level of vocabulary.  They are more distant when it comes to pronunciation.  English is fundamentally a Germanic language, and its sound system reflects it.  French comes almost completely from Latin, though, on the level of pronunciation, it was also influenced by the Germanic tribes which invaded Gaul (France) in the early Middle Ages.  (Remember that the Franks who gave France its name came from Germany.)   The famous French "R", "EU and "U" are really Germanic sounds.

So how can you maximally improve your pronunciation in French?  The following ideas are meant for beginners, but they can really be applied at any level.

1. Immerse yourself in the sound and sounds of the language.  Listen to French

One of the most crucial and yet elusive tasks at hand when you are learning a Foreign Language is to develop your comprehension in a systematic way.  Just exposing yourself to the language will not do it, or we would all learn French simply by walking around the streets of Paris.  Yet, you originally learned English without knowing any other language.  What made it possible?  Well, for one thing, you had nothing but time on your hands laying in your crib or screaming in your playpen.  You also had a good staff (Mom and Dad)  taking care of your basic needs and wants, allowing you to focus on understanding what was going on around you, and learning communicate with the locals.  It still took

Once you are past the tasks of learning basic French sounds, as well as some basic vocabulary and grammar, two new tasks appear before you in a French Intensive course.  The first is to speak, the second is to understand.  They are both challenging and call on completely different skills.  Comprehension, our topic here, lies at the very core of acquiring a new language.   What then, are the steps which can facilitate and accelerate your progress in understanding French natives?   It is useful to recognize the various levels we go through as we move from absolute non-understanding to full knowledge and command of a language.  First you hear a wall of unfamiliar and absolutely incomprehensible sounds.  As your familiarity