Survey Says!

I received more than 200 responses to my survey and have compiled many of the responses here in order to respond to them and let you all know if I will be following up on your suggestions. Thanks to everyone who responded!

READING / WRITING

I got a number of requests for more reading and writing exercises, and I noticed that a large percentage of you never visit the chatroom or forums. All I can say is that you are missing out! Both of these provide multiple benefits:

• A place to meet other French lovers: students, teachers, native speakers...
• Practice reading and writing
• Interesting discussions about language, culture, and travel
• A community of French speakers who can answer your language questions, offer suggestions, and correct your French.

I recommend that each of you take a moment to find out more about chatrooms and forums and how they can help you, whether you are a French student, teacher, or amateur. If you're uncomfortable writing in French - that's ok! The main forum is bilingual, so you can ask your questions in English or French.

Here are some things that those of you who do use the forums and chatrooms said about them:

It's good to read of other people's difficulties or enjoyment in learning the language as it helps keep my motivation up knowing everyone else goes through the same problems.

I like the freedom of feeling I can ask something without having to be fluent in french. I also love that people are so supportive--rarely do I notice someone sounding patronizing.

You can ask a question and a reply is guaranteed, even if a forum host doesn't know the answer, they will attempt to steer you in the right direction.

My compliments also on the individuals you have chosen to moderate the forums. They are very gracious and gentle when making corrections - which makes everyone more comfortable when trying to express themselves in the beautiful French language.

I love the interactivity of the site! I love meeting fellow francophiles and francophones from around the world!

Everyone who has used the chatroom and compared it to other so-called french speaking chat rooms (at least in US) all agree this is the best one.... For the most part it is well maintained, everyone tries to help the beginners and there is a great range in the age group and very international. I love it!

I like the fact that any question regarding language, culture, history,etc. is answered not only by one individual but often by several. In this way, I have learned different facets/opinions about a topic.
I must say that in a way this site has encouraged me to learn more French and has reignited my passion for the language. To me, the forums are the most helpful. I enjoy reading the discourse between the moderators and those who write in.

LISTENING / PRONUNCIATION

I received a number of requests for more listening practice: more sound files, audio of complete sentences, mp3s, and dialogues. I currently have more than 2,500 sound files available on my site (words and short phrases), and while I would love to offer things like dialogues, I just don't feel that they would be worth it. 

There are two reasons why there is relatively little listening practice on my site:

1. I'm not a native speaker, so any flaws in my accent are magnified ten-fold by
2. The poor quality of internet sound

For example, I'm perfectly capable of pronouncing the French u. However, when the u is followed by a sound like s or sh, I have to be extra careful to keep from getting a hissing sound in the sound file, and in order to do this, I have to pronounce the u incorrectly.

You can easily and cheaply obtain tapes and CDs, and the sound quality in those will be a thousand times better than anything I can offer on my site.

If there are any native French speakers out there who are willing to work on a dialogue project with me, I would definitely be interested in hearing from you.

I'd like a complete sentence using the Mot du jour in a sound file

I'm afraid that is impossible. The Mot du jour is a hugely time-consuming project, and I simply don't have the resources to add anything else to it.

I want to listen to French radio

See my French news and media links.

VOCABULARY

Many people requested more vocabulary or particular types/lists of vocabulary.

Business vocabulary, law expressions, computer-related vocabulary, technical jargon, how to read mathematical expressions

Since I'm not in any of these fields (I'm a liberal arts gal), I just don't have the resources to provide lists of these kinds of vocabulary. I do highlight some specialized terms in the Mot du jour, but other than that your best bet is to take a look at the specialized dictionaries I've found elsewhere on the internet.

Vocabulary about animals

This is my list of upcoming features.

Idiomatic expressions

See French expressions

French-Canadian culture and language

I don't know much about Canada, and even less about Canadian French, so I can't do this. I have some links on my dialects and culture pages.

Slang

I feature some slang in the Mot du jour, and there's a lot more on the slang dictionaries page.

A more advanced "mot du jour"

Unfortunately impossible (simple lack of time after my three daily features), but you might be able to find someone in my French-only Carrefour francophone forum who'd be willing to work with you.

A "mot du jour" for beginners, like a daily pop quiz on words people just learning French should know... I guess it would be a "Est-ce que vous connaissez le mot du jour?"

This is a great idea, but again, I simply can't take on any more daily projects. There are many word games on the French for beginners forum that you'd probably find useful, and you could even start a new game based on the idea above.

How can I ensure that the Mots du jour stay in my vocabulary - a quiz on recent words?

There is a long discussion in the forum about how subscribers use and remember the Mot du jour. If anyone feels like putting together quizzes periodically, let me know!

CULTURE + TRAVEL

I received all kinds of suggestions about adding more culture and travel information to my site, including:

• articles concerning the French way of life, literature, cinema, outdoors etc. 
• literary matters and poetry
• travel/region/custom-related morsels in French
• lessons that incorporate literature and culture as well as grammar
• etiquette so I will seem less like an American when I travel in France
• everyday living in France, rather than short courses and holidays
• cultural links to the US, French music, info on French movies, books
• joint book discussions: select a simple novel (something with not too complicated vocabulary) and walk us through it

While all of these are great suggestions, my site is really about the French language, not culture or travel. Besides that, I don't live in France, so I honestly don't know what everyday living is like, or about etiquette, and I haven't studied French literature in ages.

However, all of these topics are discussed in my forums, in both French and English, so I invite each and every one of you to visit the forums and discuss these topics to your heart's content. In addition, you'll find information at my colleague's site France for Visitors

MISCELLANEOUS SUGGESTIONS

How about celebrities who speak French (to inspire students)?

This is a terrific suggestion - I started a discussion in the forum, which has already received more than a dozen responses.

Structured lesson schedule for intermediate and advanced levels as has been done for beginners

This is on my list of things to do, but it is very time-consuming (there are a lot of lessons on my site!), so it's taking a long time.

More quizzes

This was a common suggestion. The problem is that if I write more tests, I'll have less time for new material. If any of you have quizzes that you've written and would like to share, let me know!

Interactive / Self-scoring quizzes

These are considerably more time-consuming than the simple text quizzes I do. I feel it's better to provide more low-tech material (10 lessons with 10 text quizzes) rather than less high-tech material (e.g., 3 lessons and 6 self-scoring quizzes).

More crossword puzzles

I wish I could, but these too take more than their fair share of time to create. Definitely take a look at my colleague's puzzles site if you'd like to do more crosswords.

Actual conversations (on the phone or meeting someone at the supermarket)

Good idea - on my list.

Sentence parsing

For more advanced students, look at some really complex French sentences (i.e., from short stories or novels) and analyze them to make them easier to comprehend. For my French class, we often read short stories; sometimes I know all the words in a sentence or paragraph but they are put together in such a seemingly disorganized nonsensical way that I don't understand a thing!

I think this is something that would be better for the forums - that way people can offer input, discuss possibilities, etc.

Contemporary book reviews

I don't read contemporary French literature, but if anyone does and would like to contribute book reviews, let me know.

More French for kids

On my list.

TECHNICAL PROBLEMS + COMPLAINTS

1. I can't print from the French site.
2. I can't listen to the sound files / The sound files are distorted.

Please send an email to gethelp@aboutguide.com with a detailed description of the problem, and the versions of your operating system and browser. Customer Care will be able to help you troubleshoot these issues.

When I print, there is a lot of extra material that I don't want (ads, etc.) and too many pages are printed.

Copy/paste the lessons into another program like Microsoft Word, delete what you don't want, and then print it. That will cut way down on how many pages each lesson takes up.

When I click on a link, there is nothing there or I get an error message.

When this happens, please let me know.

Poor organization / I have a hard time re-finding lessons that I've already seen.

Take a look at my find-it! page. It has links to a complete site map; a search engine; a categorized list of all of the lessons, articles, and features on my site; and other tools to help you find everything you need. You can access these same tools by clicking on the New Lost Confused link in the upper-left hand corner of every page, just under my photo.

I think more of the site should be in French.

Three people said this, and I'm sorry but I have to say that I disagree. Of course, immersion is the best way to learn a language, but I feel that this only applies to learning orally. Because of the nature of the internet, the main purpose of my site has to be to teach grammar and vocabulary, not conversation, and thus it is essential that you understand the explanations, which is why I write them in English. (For those of you who are not native English speakers, I can only apologize.) I have a French-only forum called Le Carrefour francophone - feel free to immerse yourself in written French there.

That's it! If you have any additional questions or comments, or if you're interested in helping me with any of the above projects, please use the comments section of the survey.  :-)

Discuss in my forum