Learn french from home: software and websites

There are many resources to learn French on your computer, over here I will list the ones I found most effective and motivating.

Software: 
Unless your a pirate or sleep with a pillow stuffed with hundred dollar bills, French learning software could be quite pricey.
If you are looking for better deals I would suggest learning from free websites or just borrow a book from your library.



Rosseta Stone
Speed 5/10
Effectiveness 8/10
Motivation 9/10


Rosseta Stone is a pretty good method to learn French if you aint in a rush.
Plenty of repetition makes sure you remember what you learn. And the colorfull pictures keep you rather motivated, it took me a while before I got bored of this method.
As for speed, I found Rosseta Stone rather slow. As lessons tend to repeat alot.


Tell me more!
To be honest I wasn't too much impressed with Tell Me More as it seemed more like a workbook then a French Learning application.


French learning websites:
There are many website that offer to teach you french, over here I will list my top 10 french learning websites.

1. http://french.about.com/
This is probably my prefered website to learn french.
It has really good clear explanations on common confusions in the language, and a great step by step guide to learning the language.

2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/
Also an excellent resource, I recommend practicing on it daily to keep your french fresh.

3. https://oli.web.cmu.edu/openlearning/forstudents/freecourses/french
 Here is a really nice french step by step introduction course, although the it might be a little hard as the actors are native french that tend to speak really really quickly.

4. http://www.frenchassistant.com/default.asp
Nice website offering step by step lessons.

5. http://www.tolearnfrench.com/
Pretty nice website offering all around french lessons games and chat rooms. Really good if your having problems with motivating yourself.

6. http://www.learner.org/resources/series83.html
Has a interesting subject based approach to learning french with videos.

7.http://www.frenchtutorial.com/standard/toc.php
Quick beginner French tutorial.

8. http://www.onlinelearnfrench.com/
I found it a pretty good website to learn future and past forms.

9. http://french.yabla.com/
Pretty good french website with lots of useful tools.

10. http://www.ielanguages.com/french1.html
Pretty good for all levels of french! Just a pretty dull interface.

So don't waste your time reading this blog, GO practice your French!

La CAF... Financial assistance for renting... and babies!

So... You wanna figure out how French people pay these outrageous rents..
Caisse d'Allocations Familiales or in English Family allowance!

CAF is the agency which determines which level of social assistance each residence in France in Eligible to receive. Most often this splits into two categories, renting allowance or baby allowance.
CAF is available to EU residents and holders of Carte de Sejour (residence permit)

Renting assistance APL (Aide Personalisée au Logement) can go from 80-320 euroes a month depending on various factors.
Baby allowance can go as high as 2000EU per month, although I do not have personal experience with this so I do suggest you do your own research.
Excellent blog for having children in France http://having-a-baby-in-france.blogspot.com/search/label/caf

Obtaining the APL can be a long a tiring process, although once obtained they will cover the period of the application and sometimes even the time prior to it.
So I suggest you head up to the local CAF center as soon as possible after you begin renting!


Renting (APL):
The amount the CAF pays you is variable according to your location, age, size of the apartment , present and past income (past is income from two years ago for example for 2011 its based on 2009).

The APL will begin at your second month of renting (a calender month). For example if you will start paying rent at 25/jan the APL will begin at 01/feb.
The city your in is a big factor as to how much they pay.
For example: in Paris the CAF is known to give around 200EU while in Marseilles its around 120.


You will need a number of documents, in my case I needed: Rental contract, National Insurence number, proof of present income (they ask for every payslip), past income (they didn't ask me for proof), RIB,
and ID.
They also asked me for a proof that I can support myself in France although I was able to dodge this one as I filed a request as a couple through my French girlfriend.

There is a rumor that as a couple you are able to receive a higher amount, so if you have a female roommate it might be worth a try. Also sometimes the CAF workers are willing to cut corners, I heard of people having debts of thousands of Euros wiped by some generous employee. (Yes the CAF will find you and ask for the money back if they find out you have been getting assistance which you are no longer entitled for.)

So all I can do now is wish you good luck!
Personally it took 5 months before I got my first APL payment  me but they paid back for all the time since I started renting.
I know of people who got it as quickly as two weeks.


Did I get something wrong? got a sad\funny story with the CAF?
I would love to hear about your experience with the CAF.

Links-

Application form  allowances
You can download the application form here:
http://www.caf.fr/wps/portal/particuliers/formulaires/metropole/al

This will need to be filled by your landlord.

APL renting allowance calculator
http://www.caf.fr/wps/port...
note that this calculator is not especially reliable.