Customer Reviews

Easy French Step-by-Step

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

 

 

As a French tutor and French native, I love this book. It teaches all aspects of the French language: Conversation, Grammar, Vocabulary and includes excellent Exercises (with answers in the back).
I recommend it highly to everyone, both beginners and those wanting to perfect his or her skills.

I love this book. It is easy to read and it is easy to carry. I use it as a reference book because I have never taken French before. Sometimes when I am unable to understand, the authors' explanations are simple and easy to read. I really like the book. I also have the Spanish one, and I like it too.

A great book to get you started with French. Learn the vocabulary and grammar and then go for some reading practice, eg. with A B C Petits Contes (French Edition) and Nouveaux Contes de Fées pour les Petits Enfants: Fairy Tales in French (French Edition).

I purchased this book to review and reinforce what I already know about beginner-level French. I think "mastering" the basics (I use the term loosely) is key to building a solid foundation in French grammar--much like practicing scales on piano even if you're a virtuoso. The explanations and examples are clear, and the exercises are fun to do.

Hello. I have had this book for a few months now. I would like to say that it has been a big help. First of all, I'm a junior in high school who's taking French and desperately needed a study guide. Well this was it. What I love about this is all the exercises that it comes with. Every chapter has around 12 sections of exercises where you get to practice what you have acquired the few pages before. Thanks to this book (and summer tutoring), I have learned enough French that I was able to skip second year of French at my school.

Some important notes:
If you don't know anything about the French language, you'll find this book a hard one (Even though it's a Step-by-Step self study guide). For one thing, there is not a book in the world that can ever teach you the pronunciation needed. As for me, I had my French teacher give me a whole summer of French tutoring for free. That really helped with correct enunciation. I would recommend to the absolute beginner (especially those who are monolingual) to get in contact with mentor to help explain the difficult part of prounounciation. As you may or may not know, 80% of French words have mute endings that might or might not get pronounced depending on the next syllable. You really want someone to guide you if you're a beginner. Also, before you dive into this book, understand these few concepts:

(First List)
- Verbal Aspects
- Verbal Tenses
- Verbal Moods (especially the subjunctive)
- Direct Objects
- Indirect Objects
- Antecedent
- Relative clauses
- Verb Valency

If you have a curious mind (like the one I do) Google and learn the following:

(Second List)
- Why does French have grammatical gender?
- Why does every adjective have to agree in number and in gender with the main noun?

You see, by learning the things in the first list, I was better able to grasp the difficult aspects required to speak any language (Pun intended). Believe it or not, verbs are like rocket-science. They are really hard to understand unless you practice them everyday. This book doesn't cover the items in the first list very well. I recommend you look them up before beginning this book.

The second list, you curious minded folks, is not actually going to help you learn any French nor make this book a better read. (Yes, you read that right.) Instead, this list (the 2nd one) will help keep you from getting discouraged of learning French. By knowing and acknowledging the fundamental principles driving Romantic languages, you'll understand why French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and many other languages have abstract nouns with sex (chairs have boobies? doors are chicks now?) that we, English speaking folk, find so foreign yet so enticing. (Yes, in French, the chair you are sitting on is female and the door as well. Treat them nice!)

To conclude, I recommend this book. Who wouldn't, n'est pas? [neh-pAH]

I had looked for this version at our local book-seller and they did not carry the series. Such a shame because it is a great book for learning a second language and has fabulous resources for verbs and grammar.

This is a great book! Yes, you will learn French up to an intermediate level if you complete the book. It builds upon itself with each lesson and new chapter. I just don't understand the negative reviews. You need to give the book a chance. Each Chapter has constant reviewed words in it and difference breaks for vocabullary study. I highly recommend it!

If you are dedicated to learning French, use a notebook, and use Google Translate(or another source) for checking your pronouncation.... you will be a pro. I also recommend using your notebook to write regular sentences and conversation that you use and hear every day and then practice translating them and speaking them in French. Challenge yourself.... ask yourself questions in French. YOU WILL LEARN FRENCH AND BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN CONVERSATION. You have to try to succeed. It really is not that hard. Good luck.

I got this book for my son, who used to take French is school, and now is employed and wanted to improve his French. He's really pleased with the level of readings, with the methodical progress, and the overall layout of the book. I highly recommend!

I find the book useful and full of helpful knowledge , but I had to learn some basics before I could use it. This is a good book and I use it every day.

This book is an excellent course to learn French. It contains an expanding vocabulary, sentence structure and easy to follow step by step guide. Building a French conversation that is usable is easy.