Customer Reviews

French in 10 Minutes a Day®

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It would be hard to go past the "...in 10 minutes a day" series for the absolute beginner - the French title is no exception.

It clearly sets out everything the beginner needs to know, and omits superfluous information like verb conjugations, which could confuse a beginner and put them off studying the language later on in more depth.

A particularly useful and practical thing about this book is the use of labels which you can stick on household items, so as to familiarise yourself with their equivalent in French, and flash cards that you can cut out and take with you on your journey - very handy and thoughtful additions.

For the absolute beginner, or someone who learnt French at school and wants to brush up, French in 10 minutes a day is an excellent introduction/refresher to the language.

French in 10 Minutes a Day is a great introduction to conversational French. The enclosed flash cards and the little vocabulary enhancing stickers are both great ideas. You will spend more than 10 minutes a day with this book but surely this comes as no surprise. And you will be able to speak French-for-the-tourist when finished.

I couldn't put this book down!! I drove my husband nuts by putting all the stickers on everything standing still. I carried the flashcards everywhere. I equate it to a first semester college language class. Don't expect miracles, just enjoy learning the language. My only gripe about this book is that you don't hear the language being spoken. I watched our DVDs in French to get used to the speed of the native speakers.

I have traveled to St. Martin the past three years and decided to learn beginning French to increase my enjoyment of visits to the French side of the island.

For a beginner, this book is very effective. It is set up in small manageable segments to cover roughly 25 different topics (key questions, numbers, days and time, key verbs, family members, menu items, etc.).

I like the concept of spending 10 - 15 minutes everyday (although there are numerous segments that take much more than 10 minutes to learn). I especially like the English pronunciation that is shown above the French words during each lesson to assist proper pronunciation.

I supplement this book with audio-cassette series from Pimsleur Language Series and a Random House French-English and English-French dictionary. I find "French in 10 Minutes a Day" is a very helpful complement to the cassettes.

I would recommend "French in 10 Minutes a Day" as a helpful workbook to a motivated beginner.

As a beginner to learning the French language, I find this workbook very easy to use. It makes learning interesting because it incorporates fun activities that keep it from being tedious and boring. The pronunciations make sense, and the book starts off with key words that are frequently used. Placing the word labels around my house has been a great way to practice every day.

This is a great way to learn the basics. The workbook concept works for me as I learn better if I write down concepts. The only way this could be improved would be if a audio aid for pronounciation would be provided.

Other books start off with random words and have no flow but this book starts you off with the basics and helps you learn the most important words first. This book is easy to follow and it is actually effective.

While it might take more than 10 minutes a day, It does seem to take a systematic approach to learn a language. The book contains worksheets that helps to get the point fixed in your mind by seeing, saying (it starts you out with both the word and it's phonetic equivalent to help), and writing the word under discussion. The book also contains stickers that can be applied to items around your home to remind you of the word used to describe that item. There are also flash cards that can be used to test your knowledge and keep you sharp. It works well to do it with a partner, but you might want to each get your own book.

I bought these right after returning from Paris knowing I was going back the following year. I didn't know one word of French before these CD's and when I returned to Paris I felt quite competent getting around. I wasn't fluent by any means, but these CD's focus on what you need to know as a traveler i.e. asking basic questions, making reservations, going to the post office, airport terms, ordering food, menu item names, names of shops and conjugation of common verbs. I learned a tremendous amount just by listening to the CD's. The use of different people on the CD's introduces various accents and helps reinforce pronunciation. The workbook lessons are a nice beginner level and follow the CD's and are good to reinforce the spellings and vocabulary. There is a glossary in the back which is also helpful. I highly recommend this set to anyone wanting a good first step to learning French or just wanting to be able to get around France on vacation. It made a huge difference in my confidence from the first year, not knowing a word to being able to walk into a place asking for a table, ordering my meal and paying completely in French.

I bought this book for preparation of travelling to France in the future.

This book;
- is written in plain English.
- has lots of illustrations and is fun to learn French.
- has Exercises, Cross Word Games, etc. on each steps.
- includes effective study aids, e.g. Flash Cards, Sticky Labels,
Beverage and Menu Guide.

To sum up, this is an ideal "self-study" French language book to start with, not to mention "10 Minutes a Day Audio CD Series" make a great companion for the book.