The most important thing...

[mm66]

... is learning French!

How on earth is it so hard to do a pull-up or to run the beep test? It is easy! Anyone can do it. Swim 25 meters?? Easy too. To set yourself apart you must learn French.

So here's how you do it.

Firstly, get a duolingo account (wasn't possible in my day). Will help you with sentences. Here is a list of resources I used and you will need to immerse yourself in the language.

http://www.learner.org/resources/series83.html#
http://french-in-action.narod.ru/French_in_Action.pdf

Watch all of those, read the ebook.
Francolab.ca (beginner)
BBC-Languages-French (beginner)
Livelingua.com (beginner)

Openculture.com

http://oli.cmu.edu/courses/free-opn/french-i-course-details/

FrenchTutorial.com(beginner)-native speaker audio for verb and vocab lists

AudioFrench.com(beginner)-native speak audio vocab

www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/(beginner)

PODCASTS

French your way (beginner)

Daily French Pod (Intermediate)-clips of news, review difficult grammar and vocab. Transcripts and guides cost money.

French Voices (advanced)-30 min interviews with French people

France 24 (advanced)- news, live streaming, also app.

Also books, CDs, Ebooks, or audiobooks available in EVERY library thath I used

Collins Easy Learning French
Just Listen and Learn French
Learn French the Fast and Fun WAy
Barron's E-Z French
French in 10 minutes a day
Living Language French Series
Pimsler French
Language Hacking French, by Benny Lewis
Acting with an Accent CD-French
French Made Simple
30 Days to Great French

McGraw Hill series "Practice Makes perfect"
Complete all in one grammer
Basic French
French Conversation
Complete French Grammer
French Conversation Demystified
Read and think French (page length texts with audio)

Easy French Reader

Also, I recommend reading books about French culture so you have some idea of what you're signing up for for the next five years

The Bonjour effect, Julie Barlow and Jean-Benoît Nadeau
The story of French, by Jean-Benoît Nadeau
Words in a French Life, by Kristin Espinasse
Provence A-Z by Peter Mayle
Au Contraire! Figuring out the French, Gilles Asselin
Culture shock! a survival guide to customs and étiquette Paris, Frances Gendlin
French or foe? getting the most out of visiting living....... Polly Platt
Pancakes in Paris, Craig Carlson
The French Way, Ross Steele

DOZENS MORE. Instead of asking stupid questions everyone who wants to join should be practicing and perfecting their French. It's not hard and it's free. In this day and age no one should walk through those gates without a basic knowledge of the language.

Où est le caporal (where is the corporal)? Should not waste a full fucking morning for idiots to figure out the meaning of.

 

[Lord Pchelovod]

How important do you think learning French is?

How much does it make or break the Legionnaire's chances of going rouge or going civil?

 

[mm66]

Well... it's the French Foreign Legion... Considering the thread title. You tell me?

 

[Lord Pchelovod]

well.... its the FRENCH foreign legion...... considering the thread title. You tell me?

Well, have you seen wannabees that ace tests, but go civil because of their lack of French ability?

Which would you say has most importance as deciding on whether they go home or stays?
Language
Education
Motivation
IQ and psychometric results
Fitness result

 

[Le petit caporal]

Le caporal est ici... Et alors ? (the corporal is here, so what?)
Learning French is facultative (either you can or you cannot )
Par exemple : your mother was shafted by your sister's brother or, if you prefer, "ta mère se fait baiser par le frère de ta soeur".

 

[keegan mactavish]

Well I have just passed my first French course today at the French cultural institute here a Alexandrie I scored pretty high 94 out of 100 will start the new one next Tuesday.
From what I have read you get 5 years of either hell or fruitful career depending on how well you do in your French courses. Also, a promotion would never occur without good French, subsequently, French citizen would never be an option. From my own point of view, I see that having a foreigner in la legion who speaks francais fluently is much better than having a francophone because the whole idea of la legion is that it is foreign so having a lot of francophones in la legion kind of takes the whole point out of being foreign out of it. It would better suit the heritage of la legion to have as much foreigners as possible and not so many francophones.

 

[mm66]

Well, have you seen wannabees that ace tests, but go civil because of their lack of French ability?

Which would you say has most importance as deciding on whether they go home or stays?
Language
Education
Motivation
IQ and psychometric results
Fitness result

Whatever the person in charge at the moment thinks. If you understand French its another positive notch in your belt. Would you take the American who passes the sports test with no military experience or the American who passes the Sports test with no military experience who speaks French?

 

[Chas]

Motivation and fitness. With motivation you will learn sufficient Legion French. Motivation also covers what I call the 'Want Factor'.

Many years ago I wanted to be a Commando or a Para. The former parachute anyway and it is regarded as an 'Adqual' (Additional qualification.) From the ranks I was offered a commission in both, but achieved 4th and last vacancy for the former.

I was a callow squirt when I joined. It can be done by determination and true grit. You need the 'Want Factor'. Without that you will fail.

So Aspirants get your arses in gear and stop waffling !

 

[SnafuSmite]

Excellent posts and thread mm66, I can personally recommend Duolingo, it helped me from not speaking a single word to actually make a sentence or 2, I combined this in conjunction with watching TV mondé, only French news in ZA, and I personally feel that my French is now at a comfortable level and being immersed in a French environment is now the only thing that can improve it. Biggest thing about learning a new language is immersing oneself in it, understand the culture and all will fall into place.

 

[keegan mactavish]

Excellent posts and thread mm66, I can personally recommend Duolingo, it helped me from not speaking a single word to actually make a sentence or 2, I combined this in conjunction with watching TV mondé, only French news in ZA, and I personally feel that my French is now at a comfortable level and being immersed in a French environment is now the only thing that can improve it. Biggest thing about learning a new language is immersing oneself in it, understand the culture and all will fall into place.

So true mate, I got a lot of Egyptian muppets here who whine all day about the French teacher only speaking French during the duration of the lecture, dunno what are they supposed to speak? Gibberish? You have got to get immersed in the culture/atmosphere one way or another. You gotta suffer the heck out to make out what they are trying to say in the beginning of the learning process, that's how I got a C1 in English

 

[Le petit caporal]

For the first year, at least, make sure you understand orders and on time. The dude who is obedient and quick off the mark gets the job done quicker without fvking about and everybody is happy. Speaking fluent French is a lesser need than understanding (it's like that in most armies, I presume).
If you do speak and understand a decent level of French, are above average in sports, uniform and behaviour you should/will have a decent career. Promotion, overseas postings and courses. No one pays you to voice opinions (that's a personal private and intimate privilege thing, that stoned hippies do). Before learning French, learn to shut the f*k up, capito?
Monsieur has spoken.

 

[Rapace]

Hi MM66, nice to see you back. Still in the Legion? For wannabes around, learning a bit of French ahead of joining is like having kind of a ‘jump start’. A good way as MM66 said to stand out of the ‘crowd’. Even if you don't speak any French before joining, being able to become quickly proficient in the language is key to your career in the Legion, as it has been said many times before. Maybe not really applicable to those who just want a 5-year stint and don't mind remaining “at the bottom of the food chain”.

 

[SlatkaRakija]

I also highly recommend memrise.com - helps with building vocab

 

[mm66]

No Rapace I am not. Career wasn't for me but I enjoyed it. I'm home visiting parents but I work now in Maritime Security Services. Probably settle down soon, thinking of London. Had a consultant job in International Finance I've been interviewing for and they will let me know. Adventuring days are closing.
Take care everyone.

 

[Chas]

Congratulations mm66. You will have some bad but mostly good memories for the rest of your life. You like me can claim to belong to an exclusive club. Then as an 'old fart' like me you can BS about your 'derring do'.

 

[mm66]

Thank you Chas. It gave me confidence and a clarity of purpose that's for sure. Nothing really bothers me now. Though I must confess I'm rather addicted to the ocean. I should post some of my pictures. You catch amazing stuff in the middle of nowhere in the Indian Ocean.

 

[a1b2c3]

I arrived in France knowing “hello”, “goodbye”, “thank you”, “excuse me” and counting to 60 in French. After about 2 months at the Farm, I could figure out enough words in the order to know mostly what's going on. But you have to work at it...I spent a lot of time "talking" (possibly gibberish in their minds) with francophones in my section, as well as reading the Képi Blanc magazine with my dictionary. But I still did a lot of push ups...
mm66, if you end up in the UK, feel free to hit me up... I'm also there/here.

 

[Rapace]

(...) Had a consultant job in International Finance I've been interviewing for and they will let me know. (...)

From the Legion to finance. Interesting... The new Simon Murray?

 

[mm66]

From the Legion to finance. Interesting... The new Simon Murray?

Hardly, I would just write legal memos on interpretation of French, American, and UK Law. But you never know eh? One thing is for sure, my experiences are my own, no one else's-so no book for me!

I arrived in France knowing “hello”, “goodbye”, “thank you”, “excuse me” and counting to 60 in French. After about 2 months at the Farm, I could figure out enough words in the order to know mostly what's going on. But you have to work at it...I spent a lot of time "talking" (possibly gibberish in their minds) with francophones in my section, as well as reading the Képi Blanc magazine with my dictionary. But I still did a lot of push ups...
mm66, if you end up in the UK, feel free to hit me up... I'm also there/here.

I most certainly will, and pints on me first night!

 

[dusaboss]

mm66 which years you served and what regiment? You probably answer that somewhere but I missed.

Same question for a1b2c3.