Pardon?

The stalwart few may have noticed the About.French headlines in the sidebar. It's one of my pre-retirement projects. Why French? Je ne sais quoi?

It is the other official language of Canada. With French tv and radio readily available here that's a plus. My daughters both excelled in French in school (though they've neglected it in University). And my brother-in-law was born and raised in Montreal, schooled in French there.

How did this get started? I was cruising the intellectual wasteland the other night and tripped over the Detroit PBS station's fundraiser: Barry Farber sharing the secrets of learning a new language. His book is his claim to fame:How to Learn Any Language.

The reviewer I've linked to is right, the guy is a good motivational speaker. Enough goofing around and waiting for the perfect opportunity and the "best" method. Get going now and use several methodologies.

So I've borrowed Pimsleur's French and a grammar book from the library, syndicated the About.French website, printed a French calendar for the rest of the year (C'est vendredi, 11 d'Aout), downloaded a flashcard program and added the alt.language.french newsgroup to my Usenet list. I've looked up Le Monde on the internet. Once I have a decent vocabulary I'll start trying to read the lead articles.

That leaves getting a dictionary, a phrasebook, and some 3x5 cards (I should have some squirrelled away somewhere). Wish me "Bonne Chance!"