Parlez-Vous Français? Learning a Language in College

By Karolyn Castaldo on December 23, 2011

At most liberal arts colleges, students are required to take languages classes in order to fulfill the core curriculum standard set by the college. For some, foreign language comes as easily as English does to them, and they have no problem, but for others, it is an extremely difficult course that they can’t wait to be done with. It also doesn’t help that most college language classes are much more intense than those taken in high school, so students are expected to be a lot more invested in this language, and able to perform in the class room at a higher level than they are ready for. What do you do?

Photo from Flickr.com by Terrazzo

I take French and for the longest time, I would spend hours on essays looking up words in my French/English dictionary. Most of the time, the phrases that I was looking up would not translate well and it would make my work far more incomprehensible than it should have been.

Then I found WordReference.com. WordReference acts as a dictionary, but it also has a forum function. If there is an idiomatic expression that you want to use, like “It’s raining cats and dogs!”, but you cannot figure out how to say it in the other language without using the literal translation, you can post your question to a forum, and a native speaker, or someone much more knowledgable than you in the language will have the answer (hopefully!). Searching the forums is also helpful because you can see what other people have asked and maybe find the answer to your question more easily. This website works for many different languages as well.

As far as conjugation goes, it is always tough to remember which one goes with which tense. For this, I use Verb2Verbe.com, a website that conjugates french verbs into every possible tense, so that you can double check which one is right for you. If you do not know the verb, there is a search function for English verbs, which gives you the verb tense in English, as well as a link to the verb in French. It is a great resource and helps you learn your conjugations more easily. For other languages, try Conjugation.org

If you are just looking for an informative resource on grammar, searching About.com for your language and the grammar point that you are confused on really helps. This site lays out step by step each part to each specific grammar point, gives sample conjugations, and examples of when this type of grammar should be used. It is extremely helpful before tests, quizzes, and even when writing papers if you have trouble deciphering between the many different tenses and grammar usages.

Last, but certainly not least, if you are having trouble with the material, ask your professor or a friend for help. They may be able to direct you to on-campus tutoring, or a club dedicated to the language of your choice which will help you with the basics, or simply give you a place to go and work on your conversation skills. Most universities will not make you take these classes without giving you plenty of options to help you succeed!

Good luck, or as the french would say, bon chance!

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