I would like to learn to speak French.
I have the tapes, but they are not
assisting me in how I learn.
I am looking for a short term
tutor for simple conversational French
as I am planning a trip to Paris.
thanks for any assistance as always,
this place is great.

Oh Biggins....

Monsieur Biggins, allez ici, maintenant! s'il vous plait.

...maybe that'll get his attention, Snoop...

<--- 4 years of high school French.

I remember nothing.

Oui, oui, Showoff!

Oh Yoss...

Je suis là. Comme d'habitude, je suis occupé avec mes études à l'université, mais je voudrais vous aider si vous voulez et si je peux.

Mon accent n'est pas du tout parfait, mais j'habitais à Paris depuis quatre mois l'automne dernier. La langue française n'est pas nécessaire pour aller à Paris, mais il faut savoir un peu si vous voulez survivre.

Translation:
I can help you out if you would like. I'm VERY busy the next 2 months, but I can try to help. Also, I will not be in the Hagerstown area again until late May. I'm fresh back from France and know simple conversation skills. I'm by no means a native speaker or anywhere near that level, but I may be able to help.

In my opinion the singlemost helpful guide to speaking a foreign language is a book sold at any bookstore. "The Pocket Complete Idiot's Guide to French Phrases" has every conversational tool you will ever need in speaking basic French in Paris.

If you are going to Paris, all you really need to understand are French foods, maps, and simple directional signs because most every young person speaks some English. Let me know if I can help, but my availability in the next couple months is not very great.

Quick conversational lesson:
Bonjour = good day, hello
Bonsoir (bon-swar) = good evening, hello
ça va? (sah vah) = how are you?
bien (bee in) = well
mal = bad
ça va = it's going (well)
Quoi de neuf? (Kwah duh nuff) = what's new? what's up?
rien (ree in) = nothing

Wow, all I can say is WOW....
again, you come through...

everyone here is so wonderful....

I have been to Paris, but with my father,
(who liked to practice his French, then he passed away,
so then I went to Paris with my brother....who has
now passed away....)

this has become an emotional tradition for me...

I know my way around, it's quite simple , whoever
designed the transportation system was a genius...

but I want to feel comfortable saying the phrases...
using the right....accent..or emphasis, if you know what I mean...
using the numbers correctly when ordering...buying items...

I am quite insecure about my speaking ability....

and I have this annual trip planned,
not leaving until October,
so we have lots of time...

do you live in Hagerstown?
I am new to the area...
please let me know when you are available for some time,
I will be glad to pay you...and I will get the book you recommend
first...

I just have a learning disability with the tapes I use...
an I feel I need 'one on one' and would not want to embarrass my friends
that I am taking to Paris this fall.
thanks Biggins..and thanks to all who called to his attention!!

I should be living in the Hagerstown area this summer because I decided to stop my 2 hr commute working in DC. I should be available for a couple weeks in the beginning of June and the rest of summer. This would help me as much as it would you because I never speak it during the summer and rarely since I've been back from France.

My accent is nowhere near perfect, but I know how words are supposed to be pronounced. I cannot pronounce the R sound for the life of me. Other than that, I'd be glad to help out. Feel free to PM me about this.

I'm having the same troubles with tapes because I'm trying to learn a little bit of Spanish. Luckily, one of my good friends is from Madrid (but we NEVER speak Spanish, maybe one day).

Is that the reason you pronounce it - BON SWAR - instead of - BON SWAH?

There are 4 consonants in the French language that must be pronounced when found at the end of a word... C, R, F, L

I'm sure there are exceptions because there is an exception for every rule in French grammar. Bonsoir is pronounced BON SWAR, but everyone will understand you if you say BON SWAH as long as you draw out the SWAH. It can be difficult to hear the R however.

I, too, had 4 years of high school french; (to the point where we were learning the past perfect tenses) and we read Albert Camus' L'Etranger in class. Thank God we had already read it in English in another class, or I'd have been lost. I thought I was hot stuff when I came out of high school (in 1974); then I became friends with a French woman. I'd overhear her on the phone with her family, never understood a word she said. There's a big difference between French class and real French - you need to put the real french on 33 rpm so that you might be able to understand a word here and there and guess what they're saying!

Oh.

Well you'd know before I would.