Pimsleur Basic French 5 Audio CDs - Learn to speak French
Brand New : . 5 CDs
This Basic program contains 5 hours of audio-only, effective language
learning with real-life spoken practice sessions.
The pimsleur dialect knowledge procedure is a language learning mode designed by Dr Pimsleur. The scheme is supported on four core ideas : anticipation, graduated interval recollection, basic vocabulary, in addition to organic and natural knowledge. Pimsleur mode is an audio-based approach, in which the learner constructs phrases or repeats from memory along with a CD. Language courses normally entail a learner to go over following an coach, which Pimsleur stated was a slow tactic of remembering. Pimsleur designed a "problem and retort" procedure, where a student was prompted to convert a turn of phrase into the objective language, which was then set. This practice creates a more energetic way of studing, requiring the student to ponder before replying. Pimsleur said the theory of anticipation mirrored real conversations in that a speaker ought to bring to mind a saying quickly.
Graduated interval memory is a method of reviewing learned vocabulary at growing extended intervals. It is a rendering of retention through spaced repetition. For example, if a student learns the word deux French for two, then deux is experienced every few seconds in the beginning, then every few minutes, then each few hours, and then every few days. The goal of this spaced recall is to be of assistance the student transfer vocabulary into long-term memory. The program uses an audio format because Dr paul pimsleur stated that the mass of college students required first and foremost to learn to speak and comprehend. This aural expertise, learned by way of their ears and mouths, is a especially different skill to the visual one of reading and writing. Pimsleur argued that these two independent skills - audition and vision - should not be confused. He referred to his auditory system as "organic learning," which entails studying grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation simultaneously.
About the French Language
French is a Romance language originally spoken in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, and today by about 350 million people around the world as either a native or a second language, with significant populations in 54 countries.
It is an official language in 31 countries, most of which form what is called in French La Francophonie, the community of French-speaking nations. It is an official language of all United Nations agencies and a large number of international organisations..
French is a descendant of the Latin of the Roman Empire, as are languages such as Spanish, Italian, Catalan, Romanian, and Portuguese. Its development was also influenced by the native Celtic languages of Roman Gaul and by the Germanic language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders.
Per the Constitution of France, French has been the official language since 1992 (although previous legal texts have made it official since 1539, see ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts). France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education outside of specific cases (though these dispositions are often ignored) and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words.
In addition to French, there are also a variety of regional languages. France has signed the European Charter for Regional Languages but has not ratified it since that would go against the 1958 Constitution.
The majority of French words derive from Vulgar Latin or were constructed from Latin or Greek roots. There are often pairs of words, one form being popular (noun) and the other one savant (adjective), both originating from Latin. Example:
* brother: frère / fraternel < from Latin FRATER
* finger: doigt / digital < from Latin DIGITVS
* faith: foi / fidèle < from Latin FIDES
* cold: froid / frigide < from Latin FRIGIDVS
* eye: œil / oculaire < from Latin OCVLVS
* inhabitants of the city Saint-Étienne are called Stéphanois
The last example, Saint-Étienne/Stéphanois, illustrates common practice for gentilics throughout France.
In some examples there is a common word from "vulgar" Latin and a more savant word from classical Latin or even Greek.
* Cheval—Concours équestre—Hippodrome
The French words which have developed from Latin are usually less recognisable than Italian words of Latin origin because as French developed into a separate language from Vulgar Latin, the unstressed final syllable of many words was dropped or elided into the following word.
Belgian French and Swiss French are different in this respect. In Belgium and Switzerland 70 and 90 are septante and nonante. In Switzerland, depending on the local dialect, 80 can be quatre-vingts (Geneva, Neuchâtel, Jura) or huitante (Vaud, Valais, Fribourg). Octante had been used in Switzerland in the past, but is now considered archaic. In Belgium, however, quatre-vingts is universally used.
The French counting system is partially vigesimal: twenty (vingt) is used as a base number in the names of numbers from 80–99. The French word for eighty, for example, is quatre-vingts, which literally means "four twenties", and soixante-quinze (literally "sixty-fifteen") indicating 75. This reform arose after the French Revolution to unify the different counting system (mostly vigesimal near the coast, due to Celtic [via Basque] and Viking influence). This system is comparable to the archaic English use of score, as in "fourscore and seven" (87), or "threescore and ten" (70).
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