Customer Reviews

First French Reader: A Beginner's Dual-Language Book (Dover Dual Language French)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Reviews should be based on what the book claims to do. The title "First French Reader: A Beginner's Dual-Language Book is misleading.

To give you an idea, the very first selection's beginning sentance has 43 words, with one main and two subordinate clauses. The next sentence has 78 words, with 8 clauses.

The preface is a little more restrained: the book "is meant for learners of French who have a real interest in the superb literature written in that language." Judging by the selections (and I can get through most of them) this is true.

And the preface is clear about what level of grammar you need. I would estimate that you need a year of college French to make good use of this book.

To get an idea of the difference between a beginner's text and this text, look at how Roussy de Sales in "Easy French Reader" simplified Daudet's great story "La Derniere Classe" with the version in this book. The former is truely for a beginner. The latter version, given its use of the passe simple, and the future tense requires more knowledge. You cannot read the selections in this book unless you understand the subjunctive.

If you want a great selection of short passages to read and you have a year of college French go ahead and buy the book. This is not however, a beginner's book. Get "Easy French Reader" instead.

As a "first reader" the content of this book is too difficult for me. Having successfully read and enjoyed Easy French Reader I thought that I would be able to handle a "first reader" but this book is too dense.

A second concern is that no effort is made to maintain a parallel text. Even in sections where there are plenty of paragraph breaks providing opportunities to align the French and English text, in much of this book the text is out of synch by four or more lines. This further limits this book's usefulness for a true beginner needing to refer back and forth between the English and French, phrase by phrase.

The selection may be good, I don't know, but this book is not fit for the purpose stated in the title. The editor has no regard or empathy for a language student in the early phase of their journey. I actually had more, but still limited, success reading French Stories / Contes Français (A Dual-Language Book), even though it's not pitched as a "first reader".

I am fairly new to the French language which I am learning on my own. I am a passionate linguist and it's so far my fifth language. English is not my first language either, but after many years in this country it is now almost like my native one. I am still reading this book and I am enjoining every bit of it. It is a collection of short stories by famous French writers of the past spanning over 400 years of French literature. It gives me an opportunity not only to broaden my French vocabulary, but also to learn about great French novelists of the past. I am not giving this book a 5 because I find that often the translation is not "word by word", but rather contextual. I still often need to look up words in the dictionary, which I hoped I could avoid by purchasing a dual language book. I do understand however that literal translation into another language is sometimes just impossible, you just have to get the meaning of the sentence as a whole rather dissect it word by word because it would not make sense if it would be translated that way. A humble suggestion to future readers of this book would be to first read the entire story in French without looking at the English version, then read it in English, then read it again in French. When you read it in French the second time you then can "guess" at the meaning of most words you missed at first saving you the time to use the dictionary.

Appelbaum's *First French Reader* is a delightful dual-language sampling of works by significant modern French authors. In addition to the authors listed in the product description, one will also find works by René Descartes, Gustave Flaubert, George Sand, Jules Verne, Émile Zola, and Alphonse Daudet (and numerous others). The selections are short: Most are approximately two pages long.

Buy this book if you are contemplating studying French literature and are unsure as to which authors suit your taste and reading ability. Surely you will find one or more in this collection that will whet your appetite for their longer works.

Be sure to read Appelbaum's introduction, which provides concise commentary on each author and provides a little context for their work. As he cautions, the ordering for the works is based on the writers' dates of birth: Appelbaum does not attempt to order or grade them based on difficulty (because "difficulty" is in the eyes of the individual reader).

So go ahead and enjoy tasting each one. Appelbaum's able English translations will surely prevent your contracting any form of indigestion.

I have a beginner's knowledge of french but this is way beyond me. These are stories of classical literature. Sartres did not write elementary french, believe me.

Once I get to an ADVANCED level, I may love this book. But I don't understand much of it right now.

I am trying to brush up my French language skills. I found the dual language reader a help. It provides immediate reinforcement and I don't have to look up every word that I cannot remember. I liked some stories better than others. For a returning reader to french this is a good way to start.

It's a great book for people who have learned all the basic rules of French grammar, know the verb conjugations, etc., and are ready to go to the next step in French reading comprehension. Stanley Appelbaum makes faithful translations that are direct as possible.

This text - with its English translations - of standard French literary giants (think 'Three Musketeers') is just ok. It is not a text
for use in teaching beginners to French. I would say students would have needed to have taken at least a H.S. advanced course & be able to
handle reading, speaking and grammar fairly easily. This would, of course, include knowledge of vocabulary and conjugation. I found that the
English 'translation' actually didn't sit too well side-by-side on the pages w/the French text and it was a fairly stilted and literal trans-
lation at that. This would be a good book for an intermediate class that wanted to have some fun w/reading through a sort of Cliff Notes type
of literature. (Think : summer classes, classes at the Y, classes for seniors who already know some French) Otherwise, find a better book for
beginners - there are lots out there. I can't truly recommend it for what it is. Maybe others might like it. In the hands of an experienced
teacher who uses this w/ other sources, it might just pass as 'ok.' A definite pass in my opinion.

This book is intended for those that have some French under their belt. There are English translations, but you catch yourself looking more at that. Not really a bad thing that the translation is there. Decent short stories to help learn phrasing and conjugation. Would buy if you have at least one year of French