Are you local to DC? If so I HIGHLY recommend Alliance Française of Washington DC. My husband took lessons and loved them. His French inproved significantly very quickly.

He's also benefited form listening to French news podcasts and sports broadcasts. Roland-Garros is about to start and the Tour de France is not too far away. Both lead to lots of French language learning opportunities that can be really fun if you have interest in either sport.

Anonymous wrote:Cher OP, il y a aussi les Classes du Samedi, à Bethesda, qui offrent des cours de français pour tous les âges et tous les niveaux, même adultes débutants. Mes enfants sont scolarisés dans MCPS et suivent les cours des Classes du Samedi pour enfants francophones.

https://myfrenchclasses.org/fr/classe/bienvenue

Merci beaucoup!

Many great ideas here!

Anyone remember this conversation from their high school text?

Bonjour Guy, ca Va?

Pas mal, et toi?

Ca va bien, merci.

Au revoir Guy, a demain.

Au revoir Denise

OP I could have written this! I also excelled at HS French but did not continue it in college bc the language courses were intense and I had a lot of other big courses as a science major.

I just went to France and was SO BUMMED that I remembered nothing. I also want to relearn! Beautiful language and country.

Cher OP, il y a aussi les Classes du Samedi, à Bethesda, qui offrent des cours de français pour tous les âges et tous les niveaux, même adultes débutants. Mes enfants sont scolarisés dans MCPS et suivent les cours des Classes du Samedi pour enfants francophones.

https://myfrenchclasses.org/fr/classe/bienvenue

Are you in DC? I highly recommend Alliance Francaişe. It's basically an organization for Francophiles and they offer French language classes.

Anonymous wrote:Tu peux écouter des chansons françaises sur YouTube et traduire les paroles. Une idée parmi d'autres. Bonne chance !

Merci!! ( or Mercie? lol)

OP here— thanks for all these great ideas! It’s good to hear experiences including languages other than French.

I just checked my library system and they offer something called Mango languages. I think it’s free with my library card. I think I will start there and see how accessible it is.

Tu peux écouter des chansons françaises sur YouTube et traduire les paroles. Une idée parmi d'autres. Bonne chance !

Anonymous wrote:I don't mean to brag but I am on level 49 of Duolingo.

I'm joking, of course. But it actually IS helping me improve my understanding. The written side moreso than the verbal side.

Of course, when I was in France or French Canada, they would immediately switch to English whenever I attempted to speak French. So, there's that.

I feel you!! I started Japanese because my niece is half Japanese. I’m on level 59. Whenever I say anything to her she just starts laughing and answers in English. At least we’re trying though.

I was in a similar position and did Duolingo. A lot comes back to you. I'm not sure how well it would work learning from scratch, but it's worked well enough for me. We were in France a few weeks ago and I was able to handle store/restaurant interactions, buy tickets, and read museum labels all in French.

You could move to Louisiana, marry a Cajun and become a near-native speaker of a French dialect.

I learned last week the DC Public library offers free access to the Mango app. I just connected my card and am also brushing up on French. I wish it had ASL too.

I don't mean to brag but I am on level 49 of Duolingo.

I'm joking, of course. But it actually IS helping me improve my understanding. The written side moreso than the verbal side.

Of course, when I was in France or French Canada, they would immediately switch to English whenever I attempted to speak French. So, there's that.

I took French throughout high school and excelled in conversational French. College level got me because of all the tenses. Not as fun and I stopped taking it after one semester. My major required lots of science and math so that was my focus.

Now I would like to relearn, not just conversation but also the basics of reading and writing.

Looking for options for classes— community college? Online programs?

Would love to hear others’ experiences and recommendations. Thanks.