Leaving Cert FRENCH!

fralez1

Hello all,
I've never payed much attention in French class and rarely did the homework. I'm currently in my Leaving Cert year and have been diligently studying since September. However I continue to neglect French. I really only know the odd few words or phrases.

I got a C in Honours for the J.C, when I learned off a few bits in the run up but I'm pretty much starting from scratch, I've done nothin' since then.

So.. IS it possible to learn a language in a few months along with all the other study I will be doing?
What do I need to put most emphasis on in my study?
How difficult is learning all the verbs, tenses etc. ?..I've never been very good with all that.

Ironically, I love France, french films and think that french is a beautiful language..
Until this year I never WANTED to learn it.. but I do now.
Anyway.... Any advice and/or tips are greatly appreciated.. Merci;)

Chuchoter

I don't see why not, learn your verbs (they're seriously not that difficult, learn your endings and the important irregular verbs and you're away). Then all you need is vocab. French isn't really that hard, people say it is but theres no cases and the irregular verbs are pretty predictable for the most part.

Sunny!!

keep learning the verbs and you'll be grand! It's essential to have sentence structure in particular in the oral. This is where most people fall and have difficulty in french the just learn off words and big blocks without actually understanding the verbs,etc.

CPFC IRL

anyone know when your repeating can you use the same document in the oral you used before

fralez1

Thanks for the replies, I've started from the basics again and am working my way through.

@CPFC IRL
I don't know for certain but I don't see why it would be a problem? Maybe double check with a French teacher if you want to be absolutely certain.

Togepi

CPFC IRL wrote: »

anyone know when your repeating can you use the same document in the oral you used before

Our teacher said we can, so yeah.

amortentia

I did my Leaving this year, absolutely HATED French and would have been happy (and expected) a C3. Did absolutely NO work in French all year and just learnt off like 20/30 sentences on different topics that could be adjusted for different questions in the two weeks before the exams. Like I literally didn't know how to string my own sentence together. I just learnt off structures for reactions and I knew like 20ish general phrases for the diary and reactions. Some people may find this advice crap but for people that hate french and are terrible at it, it actually works. I got a B1. So if you don't feel like you will be able to learn all the tenses and grammar and crap, just learn like 10 sentences a week and you'll be grand

conorhaugh

Dude like you I never WANTED to learn French, but I love French culture, films etc, although admittedly I'm not Thierry Henry's biggets fan. I went from an honours C in JC to an honours A1 in LC. Like the replys so far have been emphasizing, learn your verb endings, after that you'll see that the verbs are quite systematic and just remember the IMPORTANT irregular ones (ask your teacher). And remember the verbs that take etre instead of avoir, (MR DAMPSTAVERN is a good mnemonic) because the examiners get pissed if you mess that up and then they may unfairly mark you for the rest of the paper. If you like French movies/music etc put them on your hard drive/ipod and watch the films (eg Amelie, Les Choristes) with the subtitles on and write down a few phrases you like. Some good French artists are Yelle, Fatal Bazooka and Helmut Fritz. It can be fun I promise, I used to study it first every night and put more emphasis on it because it was my worst subject, and it even helped because after starting my evening with French everything else seemed like a relief after! French is really cool once you get over that initial bump, you'll be fine as long as you don't just go in there and regurgitate incoherent learned off phrases, you don't need to be an expert, just like speaking English if the simplest way to say something is the best way, then use it! Best of luck!:)

Eimearm_x

I need serious help. Don't know my French but i do try. In my leaving cert year also, so badly need to shape my French up!! Any one know a technique to making learning French easier? Thanks you

Coeurdepirate

Eimearm_x wrote: »

I need serious help. Don't know my French but i do try. In my leaving cert year also, so badly need to shape my French up!! Any one know a technique to making learning French easier? Thanks you

Talk to people online! You'll be ****e and it'll be embarrassing at first, but you'll improve so quickly!

LoonyLovegood

Talk to people online, go onto RFI and listen, and read articles in French.

And, the old favourite of putting your facebook into French can work a treat too.

fralez1

conorhaugh wrote: »

Dude like you I never WANTED to learn French, but I love French culture, films etc, although admittedly I'm not Thierry Henry's biggets fan. I went from an honours C in JC to an honours A1 in LC. Like the replys so far have been emphasizing, learn your verb endings, after that you'll see that the verbs are quite systematic and just remember the IMPORTANT irregular ones (ask your teacher). And remember the verbs that take etre instead of avoir, (MR DAMPSTAVERN is a good mnemonic) because the examiners get pissed if you mess that up and then they may unfairly mark you for the rest of the paper. If you like French movies/music etc put them on your hard drive/ipod and watch the films (eg Amelie, Les Choristes) with the subtitles on and write down a few phrases you like. Some good French artists are Yelle, Fatal Bazooka and Helmut Fritz. It can be fun I promise, I used to study it first every night and put more emphasis on it because it was my worst subject, and it even helped because after starting my evening with French everything else seemed like a relief after! French is really cool once you get over that initial bump, you'll be fine as long as you don't just go in there and regurgitate incoherent learned off phrases, you don't need to be an expert, just like speaking English if the simplest way to say something is the best way, then use it! Best of luck!:)

Thanks, that's really helpful!:) Just wondering how you went about studying it? I've started from scratch again and am currently learning present tense endings. Finding pronouns and articles difficult to understand though, even with the help of books and the internet. Are there any books or methods you can reccomend?

Eimearm_x

Thank you I'll try that. Would you have any techniques or books that you would recommend? Really appreciate by the way x

Duffman K

try learn all the tenses and practice as many reading comprehensions and essays as you can. The French leaving cert paper can be like a lottery depending on whether you happen to be familiar with the vocabulary in the reading comprehension or not.

watching a bit of euronews in french cant do any harm either:)