Customer Reviews

French Now! Level 1 with Audio Compact Discs

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

 

 

Since this edition has some CD's and an answer key to the questions, it is now complete.

This one is perfect for a true beginner. There is a lot of information in this book, but it builds on what you have learned before. It is good as a course book for self study. The French on the CD's is spoken slow enough for even a beginner to understand.

The stories and situations are interesting and relate mostly to the everyday lives of a French family. They are not like the typical boring stories about planning vacations and how to book a hotel or how to buy airplane tickets, like too many other French books. Anyone can enjoy this. The context is relaxed and not the uptight business talk.

So, if you are looking for something to start with, something that has exercises/answers, CD's that correspond with the text, explanations of grammar, and a decent glossary, then you want this book.
This book is not for an intermedient student, it is for a beginner. After you have finished this book, you will have a solid foundation and be ready for further study.

I've been using French Now for years with my students. The unfortunate problems are the following:

CDs aren't worth it
tons of printing mistakes
there is NO SEQUEL-- HUGE PROBLEM
it seems like the author gets lazy towards the end with the stories.
there needs to be accompanying workbooks

it's the most affordable book on the market and has about 500 pages. It's worth the money if you want something to get you started with. However, as a teacher, I find it purely a guide. I provide supplementary materials.

THERE NEEDS TO BE A FRENCH NOW 2!

I am a French instructor and I recently selected this text for an adult class I taught. I am SO sorry I did not look at it more carefully beforehand.

1. It is FULL of errors. All kinds from verb conjugation to spelling to the wrong answer in the key in the back.

2. The irregular present tense verbs are presented too late in the textbook.

3. My students said they needed a dictionary to look up words not provided in the glossary.

4. Personally I would have liked to see it cover the imparfait and compare it to uses with the passé composé.

I was VERY disappointed as I love this author's "501 French Verbs." Do not buy this book until they edit it thoroughly in a new edition.

I bought this book to help me review the French language as I have been out of practice for a number of years, and I liked that this book looked extensive and had audio CDs to go with it. I discovered that the CDs really aren't worth it as they have nothing to do with any of the exercises in the book. ALL the audio stuff is located at the back of the book. On one hand, some of the verbs they decide to use are good in that it familiarizes the person using the book with the verbs, but on the other, I felt they were too advanced for a beginning level book.

This book is laid out very well. Although I did find a few errors, all in all, it is a very good book for beginners.

It looks good at first, but my complaint is that the Audio CD's have no relationship to the text! None what-so-ever. I'm shocked and disappointed. It seems that the publisher packaged it this way just to make it look good and to entice you to buy it. Totally useless if you ask me. We returned it.

Beautiful book, loaded with excellent information for the beginning French student. Mine came complete with cd's to help with the whole learning experence.i would highly recommend this set to anyone interested in learning French..Kathryn

It's a great book. I use it in French class! It's really good with the grammar and vocabulary... for the listing comes the book with CD, but it's to quick for me... it's probably useful when you done with the book! I would recommend to study with the book and to use other materials for the listing and speaking practice!
Enjoy French!

It was a Christmas gift and exactly what my daughter wanted. She was very pleased

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