Success stories

5 years ago I decided to learn French here in Spain where I have lived for the past 10 years.

My tools were the following: a book of French grammar, 6 months of classes (subsequently I found loads of websites with grammar, exercises and even listenings), some CD-ROMs with voice recognition pronunciation exercises, constant reading (books, magazines, newspapers), DVDs, language exchanges with native speakers (3) and 3 years of on-line chat. I have been to Paris twice, but I wasn't able to stay for very long either time. Nevertheless, I have a fairly high level of competence and feel comfortable speaking in French in just about any situation. Through on-line chatting I learned millions of things by way of imitation, and I gained an enormous amount of self-confidence and fluency. I must stress that I have practised French for about 3 years now every day for 2-3 hours and continue to read in French daily. I think that this level of involvement with the language to be learned is an essential factor for a successful outcome.

This personal story shows how effective live chat can be in language learning.