I learned (or rather, tried to learn) French at least three times...
I started with a few text books with casette tape/CD. For me self-teaching is hard, as being busy and laziness always overtake motivation.
(1) Friend
A colleague of mine was quite fluent in French and when I showed my interest, he offered me to teach with copies from a book called
ﾆ暖ﾆ椎陳ーﾆ男ﾆ停?愴丹ﾆ馳ﾂーﾆ恥ﾂーﾆ稚ﾆ停?ｰﾆ停?愴湛ﾅ津ｪ. The book is designated so that you can learn the basics within a month or so by doing one lesson a day which consists of a few pages. It should be good for self-learning but even better when you have someone to ask questions!
It worked quite well until my colleague had to leave for abroad for training. So it was the end of the lessons.
(2) School
I found a small, private school run by a French person who is married to a Japanese lady and is very fluent in Japanese.
There were group lessons and private lessons, and I chose the latter because it is more flexible.
The lessons they gave were very interesting and great. The best part was that all the teachers were natives and qualified, and I could get lessons several different teachers every time. Having lessons helped to keep the motivation and improve pronunciation and speaking/writing a lot. Small activities they offer now and then (wine tasting class, camps in France, etc.) gave me opportunity to get to know my fellow students.
Sadly, the main person of this school decided to go back to France to establish a company to organize trips to France to learn French from Japan and fromthe US.
I used a magazine
ﾆ単ﾆ辰ﾆ坦窶堙?筑ﾆ段ﾆ置 to find this school. They now have an internet version but it does not seem good compared with the printed one. I recommend you to buy the local version which should have more information.
(3) Tutor
I tried to find a tutor who can give me private lessons.
I interviewed with a few teachers which I found at
SenseiSagasu.com.
You can browse and search for teachers of many different languages, and to get the contact details up to 5 teacher for JPY3,000.
This service is a bit tricky as it seems that almost anyone can get registered. While there seem to be many excellent teachers, there are some people who obviously registered just to have fun or to find girlfriends without teaching skill...
Anyway, I chose one of the teachers. He was from France, he spoke good English as well (so the lesson was in French and a little English) and his lessons were not so great, not so bad, just so-so.
But after a few lessons I got tired of him, not because of his lessons but the fact that he found me as a good listening ear to pour his complaints about his ex-Japanese-wife and the arrangement about their child.
The lesson was on weekday and I was very tired after a day's work and the language lesson, so listening to him while walking to the nearest station for 10 minutes non-stop on top of it was just too much. I felt like to charge him for that as much as I paid him for the lesson!
So I decided to stop, and I did not try to look for another teacher.
But if you can find a right person, private lesson is really effective and a great help.
---
I still need to learn French because I need it for my business - one of the Swiss client speaks French and a little German, and almost no English - my level of French language is still around the beginner's, and I still struggle when communicating this customer. I know I have to start once again...
Currently I'm learning Hungarian language.
I used to go to a small school and took lessons where there were 5-6 students. The teacher was Japanese but his lessons were great. It is good to be able to ask questions as there are many for which I cannot find answer in text books.
Unfortunately the teacher left Japan to teach Japanese abroad, but one of my fellow students and I found a Hungarian person in Japan who turned out to be an excellent teacher.
Through these experience what I think important for learning languages are:
- good text books and dictionaries (personally I like Collins-Robert English-French/French-English dictionary and Langensheit.)
- something to keep motivation
- lessons with small number of students at the same level as mine
- language forum where I can ask questions, which is good next to taking lessons
I hope my experience will be of some use or help.
. Also try to find a french or an international school or "cultural" center they can probably help you.
