Like a lot of other people, I took a few years of French classes in school. However, I never thought Id really find myself needing to speak the language ” so I didn’t pay attention and learned next to nothing. Well, Id never use it anyways, right?

Well, I was entirely wrong about that.

I was sent to France for work; I found myself wishing Id paid attention in my French classes. Its not that easy to find someone in France who speaks English fluently, it turns out. You’d have better luck finding a Finnish speaker in Portugal (well, almost).

Since I spoke hardly and French, the trip was something of an ordeal for me. I resolved never to return and definitely never to learn the language!

Of course, as soon as I returned to the office, I was informed that not only was I going back to France in three months, but Id be there for a longer stay this time. I reversed my earlier decision and decided that I would have to learn French and fast!

I happen to be a big fan of audio books, so I ran out and picked up a bunch of downloadabel French language classes. I listened to them in the car, at home and on my iPod as I rode the train to work each morning. I immersed myself in the material.

At first I didn’t pay too much attention to what was being said in the spoken language courses because it was a strange language. As time went on, it all started to make sense. What really helped were the translations to English for any word spoken in French.

I gradually came to learn more of the language and by the time two months had passed, I was able to converse with my boss in French! She seemed surprised and I thought to myself that maybe I could do this after all.

She couldn’t believe it and asked me how I was able to do it. I told her - audio books! Not only was she very impressed, she made me the head of the delegation she was sending to represent our company in France. She made sure every other member of my team got their audio books and did exactly what I had done.

My second trip to France went much better, needless to say. I could speak pretty passable French and Id done it all without taking classes, hiring a tutor or even looking at a French tutorial book!

I did this in just three months with French lessons in audio book form. The most amazing thing about all of this, really is that I accomplished this without cutting into my free time. I listened to the courses when I was already doing something else.

If someone with my less than deal study habits could do all of this in less than 3 months, anybody can learn this way. Any foreign language you’d like to pick up can be done by using audio books, just how I learned French.

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